First post in english: Nagoya Castle

Ok, I'll try to write in a correct way, but its difficult - the little I know about english I'm starting to forget, and my overall english is being japanised. I guess this is part of the transformation between a normal guy to a japanese =)

Because there's been a long time since I wrote the last real post, I don't remember much of what happened in these days. But I took some pictures, so it'll be easier to tell my tales so far.

Oh! Maybe I have some new readers now, with this english thing. For you that don't know the purpose of this blog, I'll tell: its just a diary of my life here in japan. Its the place to put pictures, crazy japanese stuff, ideas of life and some bad jokes too. Argue with me in any point, I just love opposite points of view.

As far as I know, I'm living in Nagoya, Aichi Ken, Japan, to study in my Master Course. My thesis theme is Consistency Control for wireless real time games. I know that you didn't asked that, but now that I know the details of the project, its nice to say.

Well, my japanese course is over. I made the presentation in japanese with the aid of my power powerpoint, and everything went A-OK. The funny thing is that I even danced with the japanese teacher one of the traditional dances of my state. Of course it was all planned, but fun anyway.

Just before the course's end, one of the japanese teachers, Miss. Koinuma, took us to the Nagoya Castle. Its a big castle, the post card of the city. It was built by Tokugawa Ieyasu in the Edo period (about 1600 DC), destroyed in the 45's war and then rebuilt from the ashes. Like other old japanese castles, this one now is a big museum and an endless source of souvenirs.

I have no idea what these flags mean. The parasol is very common here too.

So I went there with the teacher and my chinese classmates. The good thing is that I used Kyo San's camera, so the pictures became a little better then my cel phone's. In the entrance, another of those 'technology x tradition' common scenes in japan.

Automatic ticket selling machine. The entrance was 500yen.

One of the first impressions of the castle: it is huge! I'm not experienced in these types of castles, but I was impressed by the size of the place and the castle itself. Around the castle there are vast open areas that used to be a little city, and big walls with deep dykes served to protect the constructions. The feudal period in Japan wasn't much different then the one we learnt in the traditional medieval europe history class, I guess.

Slaves working on the garden.

I felt sorry for these guys, the sun was whipping our backs and heads in a furious attempt to improve the drink selling machines industry.

The thing in the front is just a guard house.

This crane is there to put back the dolphins of the castle. WTF, you say, and I'll explain: in the roof of the castle there are 2 golden Kinshachi-jo, a dolphin-like creature that protects houses. Kin means gold, and shachi is a type of mythical killer-whale creature that god knows why all the pages in english call 'dolphin'.

Anyway they were strooling through the Expo, and now are returning to its original place. The funny thing is that each of the killer-dolphin weights 88kg of pure 18k gold, and they are still there. I remember about the Jules Rimet trophy, won by Brazil in the 1970's World Cup - it was stolen and melted by black-hearted badguys. As my father says, 'You can't compare unequals.'

Back to the castle... inside, lots of floors (seven?) with uninteressing materials: representations of the old japanese lifestyle, some huge katanas and armors, dead beetles and other things you would expect in a legendary castle. In the stairs, the blind people can read orientations written in braille, and the ones that can't climb the stairs (or are too lazy for that) can use the elevator - non existent in the original castle's version, of course.

In the top floor, a souvenir store! They sell everything from keyrings to wood toy swords. You can also have a panoramic view of the city, which looks, in the 4 directions, just like this:

The big horizontal line are the train/expressway lines, a very common asset here in japan.

This picture reminded me of the Central Park in the USA, although I never been there. I guess I'm seeing too much TV.

In the end the castle was a little disappointing, much worse then the Kyousu Castle. Maybe because we couldn't take pictures inside or dress like samurais and warriors, maybe because everybody says its beautiful, contributing to the false expectations.

That was my trip... I'd like to thank those who went there with me, it was a very pleasant time.

Unfortunately Yuen san is not with us anymore. He came back to China :p