24 Hours in NAGOYA!! Meiji-Mura Cultural Park (Frank Lloyd Wright Imperial Hotel)
We arrived at Nagoya station around 12:30 and tried to find a locker to stash our bags in. Eventually we found three unoccupied lockers and paid the fee with our Suica cards (400 yen for a medium). We then took the Meitetsu Inuyama Line to Inuyama station. This was a local smaller train and took just under one hour. We then switched to the bus which we caught just outside the station (turn left when you exit and it’s the first bus stop). You can use your Suica card to tap on to the bus as well and then off at the end of the trip. The total for the trip was 500 Yen. The bus ride took twenty minutes. We drove through yellowing (golden) rice fields and then up a mountain, arriving at Meijimura.
We lined up and paid 2500 Yen to enter the HUGE park. The grounds were extensive, spanning five large areas . Meijimura is a collection of historical buildings from around Japan that have been brought to Nagoya and preserved to be seen by locals and tourists alike. We spent about five hours here, seeing many different types of buildings. We saw some university buildings and the science facilities, an old sake brewery, Koban (police stations), tea houses, government buildings, embassies, a jail, a bath house, a kabuki theatre and much more. The main tourist draw is the lobby of the Imperial Hotel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and moved piece by piece from Tokyo to Nagoya. Only the lobby exists now, but the building was gorgeous and so detailed, with its filtered light and moody ambiance.
We made our way back to the bus at 5:00pm, as the museum was closing. They played Auld Lang Syne to signal that they were closing the park (which I have heard is done in Japan, but had never experienced until now). We then had to run through the park to catch the bus to the train station, or we would have to risk taking the last bus back and maybe not get a spot on the bus. We caught the bus, but it was very full and we had to stand shoulder to shoulder with a lot of other people, while others were not allowed on. Thankfully the bus ride was only twenty minutes back to the station where we once again caught the Meitetsu line back to Nagoya station. At Nagoya station we collected our bags and took the Sakura subways line two stops to Marunochi station where our hotel “APA Nagoyamaranochi Ekimae” was located.
We checked into the hotel no problem and were given keys to our two rooms, as well as a key for the women’s bath. We were on the 9th floor and our room was right beside Hariths.
We dropped our bags off and rested until about 8:30pm when we headed to Coco Curry down the street for some dinner. It was lightly raining but not too badly. I ordered a veggie curry with mushrooms and less rice (200g) and a lovely spice level of 4 (as well as an oolong tea). Level 4 spice was right at my limit. I found it pretty spicy. Jives ordered a level 6 and reacted much like I did. The total bill came to 1135 Yen.
We then headed back to our room for the night, stopping at a conbini along the way to purchase grapefruit flavoured strong zero to enjoy in our room. Once we went back to the room Jives and I headed up to the 14th floor to enjoy the hotel’s onsen. We donned our hotel provided yukata and took our towels and room slippers.
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