Nagoya: Land of Toyota
Kamala:
“I don’t know what we’ll do in Nagoya,” Linda lamented aloud on the train there. But there has been lots do to around Nagoya, and perhaps the most surprisingly riveting activity was the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology.
We learned that the Toyota company that we know today—efficient, well-made car powerhouse—began as a manufacturer of automatic looms in the textile industry and went by the name Toyoda. The family is from Nagoya and still lives here today, so it’s a big part of the city identity. We got a quick lesson on the development of various fibers and saw some impressive looms clanking away—we even got to watch a loom make us a polyester towel!
The rest of the museum showed off the development of their cars, including their very sleek and classy AA, the first passenger car in Japan! There were some tiny, adorable trucks and some other nice-looking cars, including the first Corolla—who knew it used to be a cutie?—and the first Celica from 1970 in a fun, flashy teal. The cherry on top was when the robot in the front entrance played a short violin concert for us.
We had a vague plan to go see the Nagoya Castle, but ended up at the Noritake garden, museum and Diamond Cafe. They’re known for fancy china that none of us were particularly taken with—though I did find a suribashi for smashing sesame seeds to take home with me. This was followed by a little desato: an adorable stack of tiramisu pancakes.
From there, we decided to walk back to our neighborhood, and on the way we encountered a few arcades with shrines, a hanging elephant, and a confectionary shop that delighted us all. Linda and Lori went in on some seasonal treats.
As we neared the river, we found some historic old buildings that used to be bathhouses and decided to check them out. One of them led us to a gallery with wooden bowls made of kaki wood. Dusk began to fall as we crossed the river, and looking for a meal, we entered into the warm wooden interior of Senriki. There was a flurry of misunderstandings and general confusion on the ordering front, but our server was very patient and eventually set us up with a delicious and visually stunning dinner set. Linda and Lori even walked back afterwards to give her some chocolates for the time and effort she spent on us.
