A visit to downtown Nagoya

Saturday was my first trip on the subway, and also a first look at the heart of Nagoya. It's maybe a twenty minute trip by subway, and we're by no means living in the sticks, so that should give an indication of just how large this city really is.

The downtown area and the subway, like the rest of the city, is impressively clean. I've never ridden in a subway car without rider-inflicted damage... the underground in London always had scratches and graffiti, torn seats and stuck gum. The Nagoya subway was spotless - even the windows were clean! Getting around was reasonably straightforward too, since most signs and announcements were in both English and Japanese.

Sakae Station was a different matter; you exit the subway into what is essentially an underground mall. So busy! Restaurants and stores are spread in all directions, and simply getting out of the station at the correct exit can be pretty difficult.

We were visiting the area for a bit of sightseeing / shopping at some of the large downtown stores like Loft and Tokyo Hands. These department stores are crazy, carrying everything from groceries to bicycles on their multiple floors. Tokyo Hands was a little claustrophobic for me, since the shelves were packed very closely together, but Loft was more western in scale. (which makes sense since the goods they carry are also more western in style) They also don't like photography (I found this out the hard way) so photos from the stores are unfortunately absent.

Navigating the crowds was tiring, and at the end of the day I was happy to return to the apartment. I can see where those stores could be useful when you have a shopping agenda, but for browsing it's a pretty exhausting process!