Okayama : Nagoya : Ena

Up early. I think I know now why Japan is known as the Land of the Rising Sun!

We travel to Ena today and as we have to transfer at Okayama and Nagoya enroute, we will value-add at each stop. Both are big cities: population Okayama almost 2 million; Nagoya 9.5 million.

As usual, it is a lovely walk back out of the historic district where we have been stating - so quiet without the hordes of people that will appear later.

We manage to catch a train earlier than planned because of plenty of contingency built in. It has its advantages sometimes. Mind you, we only JUST caught the earlier train by the time we pfaffed about scrutinising the board to find which platform then rushed to the lift down with literally 30 secs left (train was at the platform!) - we scooted on! Phew.

Standing room only: school kids and commuters. Fortunately only about a 30 min.trip.

And VERY useful to arrive at Okayama early as we REALLY pfaffed around with the coin lockers (to leave our bags) and were retrieved by a group of girls.

So the plan here is to visit the Korakuen garden which open at 8 a.m. Okayama was bombed by American forces during the war.

It was about a 1.5 kms walk there and we arrived just after opening. Entry via the South Gate meant we could do a circuit around the gardens across to the Main Gate.

It was THE most delightful morning: cool in the shade (20 deg C already), bright sunny day. NO CROWDS 👏!

Korakuen is a beautiful landscape garden and is one of Japan's three best gardens. The local feudal lord ordered the construction of Korakuen in 1687 as a place of entertainment for the ruling family and a location for receiving important guests.

We had allowed 1.5 hours here. By an hour it was enough and the crowds were starting and the light was getting glary. 

It was quite lovely and relaxing and as we headed back to the station we happened upon a GREAT little cafe along the way (the smell of the coffee was what drew us in and they were roasting beans here). Bonus!

Arrived at the station and QR-coded in through the Shinkansen gates (with assistance!) only to realise the lockers were back on the other side of the barrier … argh. The kind gate attendant let us back through. Bags retrieved seamlessly (how clever are we?). And back through Shinkansen gates with pleading eyes and many arigatos to the attendant.

I think we have broken every possible rule in regard to train travel in Japan!

Just about … we located our platform but pfaffed about again finding our car location by the numbers (there are two entry points for each car) on the platform and pfaffed about some more trying to work out which of the two for our car to stand at and we shifted back and forth between two spots (the spot is according to the seat number: we stuffed this up last Shinkansen journey when we boarded via the wrong door and had to battle our way to our seats against the flow of passengers going the other way - argh!! 😢).

Thank goodness (yet again) for small suitcases!

This train to Nagoya takes about an hour and a half.

Nagoya is Japan’s largest seaport.

At Nagoya Stn. we couldn’t find the coin lockers but a delightful young man with more than passably good English helped us. Unfortunately the largest lockers were all taken. 

So we walked - lugging ALL our bags (is this why they are called ‘luggage’??) - the 1.3 kms to the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry & Technology. Fortunately they had lockers!

This museum is on the site of the original factory. I had no idea it started as Toyoda Automatic Loom Works founded by Sakichi Toyoda in 1926.

Kiichiro Toyoda (son of Sakichi) spearheaded the creation of the first Toyota automobile and the founding of Toyota Motor Corporation in 1937.

From the old - to the new robotic technology):

It was excellent; our little boys in Melbourne would ❤️ this!

And why did ‘Toyoda’ become ‘Toyota’ I hear you ask? 1. The name sounded better. 2. ‘Toyota’ can be written with 8 strokes in Japanese, which is an auspicious number believed to bring luck and prosperity. 3. It helped differentiate the new company from the family and their original loom business.

We had to keep an eye on the time. Whilst we did not have a train booking for our last leg to Ena today (semi-fast local train), I did not want to get into Ena late.

Today is officially Day 1 of our Nakasendō Way hike and dinner is scheduled  for 6 p.m.

ATM my feet are killing me !! 14 kms so far.

We gobbled down a pastry we had bought at the supermarket a couple of days ago, a banana and MF-san bought a drink at the station. And we enjoyed relaxing on the train as we left the city behind and it became rural.

An hour to Ena. Population about 50,000; much smaller than Okayama and Nagoya! 

As I passed through the scanner at the station, the red alarm went off: What now I thought? Turns out I didn’t have enough yen on my Suica card. Very easy to top up thank goodness. And as there were only a handful of people getting off here, it didn’t cause any drama. But note to self: check the balance!

Pretty little place.

By the time we walked from the station and checked in, it was 4 p.m. and if we were to visit the Hiroshige Art Museum before it closed at 5 p.m., we needed to ‘high-tail’ it.

The museum houses a lovely exhibition of a series of 70 Ukuyo-e woodblock prints - the Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaidō (another name for the Nakasendō) - made by Keisai Eisen starting in 1835 and Utagawa Hiroshige (his replacement) who completed them in 1838.

Back to our delightful inn as the sun set over the river

We had our onsen booked for 6 p.m. - this one is a private one and can be used by couples (whoopee!). 

Then dinner after. I managed to pack ready for tomorrow in between.

Dinner was an absolute delight. About 11 different little courses starting with an assortment of pickled vegetables, going through Spanish mackerel and ending with pumpkin pudding. Oishi!!

We are on futons tonight.

Walked 16.5 kms today!