And now once again something done in my (very rare) free time. I was on a short weekend trip to Nagoya. That could be arranged, because a tour from Shizuoka with the Shinkansen doesn’t take that long.
First I looked at the Atsuta-jingū. In this shrine is the main enshrined kami (“god”) Atsuta-no-ō-mi-kami, another name for Amaterasu-ō-mi-kami, who is worshipped as the sun goddess and founder of the Japanese imperial house, is worshipped. I just say that I liked this shrine very much, a beautiful one.
Next I wanted to have a look at the castle, but it was closed due to renovation work. The main tower’s new construction is now being changed inside from the concrete construction to the original wooden construction. So only the garden and the Hommaru palace were looked at. The Hommaru Palace was built after the unification together with the castle and served as a provincial residence and government office. It was a national treasure and appreciated as a masterpiece of architecture. Everything was destroyed during the Second World War and has been restored bit by bit since 2009. Really very beautiful architecture.
I was also in the Osu shopping streets and at the Osu Kannon temple. (And I found another small shrine, as there are many of them all over Japan at every spot in every size.)
Before I returned home at noon, I had a look at the aquarium in the harbour on Sunday morning. It was nice, but I felt sorry for the animals with their limited space. I myself saw a marine animal in a tank for the last time in Germany a long time ago (I don’t think I’ve ever been in a pure aquarium before), but I think these tanks were all bigger…. (and I thought they were small already). With hesitation, because I’m not sure if I remember it correctly.
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