February 26, 2015

Japan Trip Day 1: First thing to do when landed, なご家 & 铃の屋

For full itinerary, check out my Japan Trip 2014: 9D8N Hiroshima & Kyushu Area.

Getting into Nagoya City:

1. By Train (Meitetsu Line) to Nagoya Station = limited express: 870 yen (33 mins); uSky: 1230 yen (28 mins)

2. By Airport Bus to Downtown Nagoya (Sakae/Fushimi area) = 1000 yen (about 50 mins)

We took the train to Nagoya Station. One can top up 360 yen for first class car on the limited express for extra room legs and more comfortable seats.

We bought the JR Rail Pass which allowed us to travel everywhere.
So the first thing to do at Nagoya Station => we looked out for the Japan Rail Pass Exchange Counter. We were given the JR Rail Pass passport card after filling in the required information and we had our Japan Rail Pass activated (for next day use).

Do go to the Shinkansen and JR Line Ticket Counter to pre-reserve Shinkansen (bullet train) seats after collected the JR Rail Pass passport card. Remember to check the bullet train schedule online and mark down a few rides in case the preferred one is full. We had all our long journey rides pre-reserved beforehand and we sat back and relax throughout our journey. Not to worry if you do not get your preferred ride, there are plenty of non reserved seats too. just be earlier a bit to queue for the seats.

When every important thing was settled, we leisurely strolled around and had a small meal in なご家 NAGOYA ramen house; slurped up a bowl of ramen and their yummy gyoza.

First bowl of ramen of the trip, so rich so yummy!

NAGOYA なご家
名古屋市中村区名駅1-1-4
JR名古屋駅名古屋中央通り
〒450-0002
Opens at 11am till 11pm (Last order 10.30pm)

Dropped our luggage and travelled down to Sakae, Nagoya.

Nagoya TV Tower

Oasis 21 オアシス21
Located adjacent to Nagoya TV Tower, this is an environmental friendly area making the utmost use of nature without placing additional burden to the earth. It housed the Spaceship Aqua – a huge glass roof floating on air; Field of Green – the grass land, bus terminal, shops and Galaxy Platform – basement platform for events use. Wasn’t able to check out the Spaceship Aqua as we were there after 9pm. Well, next time bah.

Oasis 21
1-11-1 Higashisakura, Higashi-ku, Nagoya
Opening hours:
Spaceship Aqua 10am – 9pm
Shops 10pm – 9pm
Restaurants 10am – 10pm (Business hours vary by shop)
Entrance fee to Spaceship Aqua: FOC

We randomly picked a restaurant for dinner-supper. We went to Suzunoya 铃の屋 (とうふ料理) which is specializing in tofu dishes using the freshest ingredients from Aichi prefecture.

Kanpai

Suzunoya 铃の屋
名古屋市東区東桜1-11-1
(栄公園オアシス21地下街)
Opening hours: 10am – 10pm

Our Stay:
Hotel Wing International Nagoya.
The hotel is quite close to JR Nagoya Station; only a minute walk from Metro Marunouchi Station, and 4 minutes far from Metro Fushimi Station. Bear in mind that most subways do not have escalator/lift but only staircases. It can be quite troublesome if you are carrying huge luggage and travel by subway. Hence we hailed a taxi and came to the hotel with our luggage. It costed about 1000 to 1200 yen (for 4pax) from Nagoya Station to the hotel.

Gifts for ladies only!!! So sweet of them.
By the way, most of the hotels in Japan are equipped with all the toiletries and sleeping robes. In order to cut down the weight of the luggage, you can omit to bring along the toiletries and pajamas.