Road trip!

So, I took my first road trip here in Japan. We left at 11 pm Sunday night, so we could get onto the express way before midnight. If you got onto the expressway before midnight it was only a 1100 円. If we would have left after that it would have been 7900. Eep! 

Anyway, we arrived around 5 am (we took our time at rest stops since it only takes 5 hours to get to Nagoya from Tokyo), so we went to the sea, took a nap, and watched the sun rise. Unfortunately, Nagoya is a big factory area, so the sunrises are not the most beautiful here. 

But it did have a giant turtle! 

From there we went to breakfast. Nagoya is pretty great. It has something called "Nagoya Morning." Basically, you order a drink at a cafe, and you get free food with it during breakfast hours. 

I got toast with my orange juice. It was nummy. 

From there we head to Nagoya castle! It was completed in 1612 and was built on the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu for his ninth son, Yoshinao. He was twelve at its completion. It was supposed to house his lineage (the Owari clan). It never saw battle, though, since the Edo period was quite peaceful until the Meiji Restoration. Well unless you count the bombing in WWII as battle. It has obviously been rebuilt since. But what makes Nagoya Castle famous is that it has two golden shachi on the top: one male and one female. 

This is the size of the shachi which translated means killer whale, but all the English stuff calls them dolphins >.> Weird.

They had  a museum as you headed to the top floor. Check out this gun!

I want all my doors painted. But I want Fox Trot Comics on them. Just Kidding!

Ok at the top, I was looking out the window, and what did I see? It was not popcorn on the apricot tree, that's for sure. We had finished enjoying the view, so we raced out! Of course when we got to the bottom, they were gone! However, as we were heading to the exit, we caught up to them.

For the life of me I can't remember the name of the anime, but they speak like a samurai in it. The turtle was especially adorable. 

Afterwards, we headed for food and then to Atsuta-jingu, one of three shrines that holds one of the three sacred treasures of Japan. This shrine held the Kusanagi no Tsurigi or the Grass-cutting sword. This sword apparently saved the life of a legendary warrior, Yamato Takeru, when he was lured into a field by a warlord, and the warlord set the field on fire. Takeru used the sword to get rid of the fuel (i.e. the grass) around him, when he noticed the sword controlled the wind. He made the fire larger and sent it towards the warlord =D.

However, they do not keep that on display. 

This is the main shrine. I think the sword is behind here >.>

Huh! The Kusanagi no Tsurigi?! No, silly. This massive sword is for cutting down not only the samurai, but also the horse he's riding on. Think Sephiroth. Who, you ask? Go play FFVII. 

Keeping with tradition, I drew a fortune and got another daikichi (Greatest Luck). But later at a restaurant I drew a koimikuji (love fortune) and got suekichi (uncertain luck). So there is balance in the universe again. 

OH and for some reason there were 5 chickens just wandering around the grounds...it's the year of the tiger. There should have been tigers.

From there we tried out our hands at making pottery. Seeing as how my hands were completely covered in muddy-goodness, I did not take any pictures. Forgive me. 

I got to drive around the rest stop since I don't have my international license. I kept thinking "hidarigawa" (left-side).

This is a rest stop at Suwa. There is a big lake in the middle, and they have an amazing fireworks festival in the summer (so I'm told). It was gorgeous at night. That's the best picture I could take though.

Anyway, we got back around 11pm, and I don't know about Kazuki, but I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and went to sleep. It's good to know I'm still young enough to pull all-nighters =P .