Farang: Nagoya

After our first night's stay in Tokyo, we began our journey southward toward Matsue. On the way, we stopped in Nagoya for a couple of days to break up the long trek. We were fortunate to find a place to stay through Couchsurfing, and our host, Paul, was fantastic. He had a really comfortable apartment and he went out of his way to make sure we were comfortable. He made us fruit shakes, lent us bicycles, and helped us navigate the Japanese baseball ticket vending machines. He also took us to a great kaiten-zushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurant and introduced us to his friends. Basically, Paul is the man and he is always welcome to stay with us.

Our guidebook described Nagoya as "industrial" and it was, but in the way that a really well-manicured corporate park is industrial. There was a lot of sculpture in public spaces, and some of the city's architecture was really visionary. We especially enjoyed our visit to the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, where we explored the permanent collection as well as a gallery that displayed the works of students from the local university. Some of the students produced really far-out stuff. The future of contemporary art is looking bright in Japan! (Question: is "the future of contemporary art" an oxymoron? Wikipedia claims contemporary art can be defined as art produced since WWII, which future art would qualify as....thoughts?)

Mmmm...tuna rolls. This photo actually makes the sushi restaurant look a lot sadder than it was. The place was huge and there was a tremendous selection. New sushi plates disappeared from the belt almost instantly.