Issue 7, May/June 2007 Is a Publication of the Aichi Prefectural Government San Francisco Office What’s Up Aichi －Timely Tourist Information On Aichi Prefecture And The Surrounding Central Japan Region－

Yanagibashi Central Market away with a good deal don’t require Expo Lives on at Moricoro Park translation. You may even find yourself It happens to even the savviest of travelers. standing next to one of the city’s master If you were one of the few people on Earth Despite all of your efforts to get some chefs trying to swing a bargain on what will who did not make it to Aichi for the 2005 shut-eye on the flight over, on your first eventually become his special of the day. World Expo, you can still enjoy a night in a foreign country you find yourself mini-Expo experience at the newly opened wide awake at 3 am with only unintelligible With nearly 400 shops, there is plenty to Aichi Expo Memorial Park. Nicknamed TV programs to keep you company. By see aside from fresh fish at Yanagibashi Moricoro Park for cuddly/creepy green mid-afternoon the next day, your Central Market. Unique food stuffs are for Expo mascots Morizo and Kiccoro (see painstakingly planned itinerary goes up in sale in quaint shops specializing in pickled our newsletter banner above), the facility smoke because you can’t keep your eyes vegetables, seaweed, local teas and opened completely on March 25 and open long enough to enjoy even the most produce. You can even pick up a set of houses favorites from the event as well as novel experience. cutlery that is up to sushi chef standards. brand new attractions.

Being surrounded by so much food is sure Many a child, and not a few adults, left the to make you hungry, and as you might Expo in tears when Satsuki and Mei’s expect, some of Nagoya’s best sushi is House proved too big of a hit to available in or near Yanagibashi Central accommodate all of the fans knocking at Market. Maruhachi Sushi is a unique the popular animated characters’ door. The 24-hour sushi shop located near the house, a recreation of the characters’ southeast entrance. Don’t be fooled by the abode in the widely adored film My restaurant’s appearance, which more Neighbor Tottoro, gave anime fans a rare closely resembles a backstreet pawnshop chance to walk through the world of

than a dining establishment. A rugged sign Miyazaki Hayao, Japan’s most beloved Workers skillfully ready the day’s catch for sale touts the painstakingly devised advertising animator. Decorated in 1950s style all the slogan: “Delicious! Cheap!” and regulars Nagoya has the perfect solution for way down to its toilet, the house was also pouring out the front door back the claim jet-lagged travelers trying to make the artificially aged, making it a popular up. You might be taken aback when the most of a tight travel schedule. attraction for visitors with a penchant for friendly sushi chefs place your orders Yanagibashi Central Market architecture. Now park patrons can directly onto the countertop, but rest (Yanagibashi Chuo Shijo), located just a explore the house without having to fight assured they are not forgetting anything. short walk from Nagoya station and near off Expo-size crowds as admission is The gesture demonstrates their confidence many of the city’s major hotels in the limited to 700 (350 on weekdays). in the fish’s freshness and the restaurant’s Meieki district, wakes up as early as you cleanliness. Try one of Maruhachi’s do, and a visit to the market provides a original creations with hilarious names rare and fascinating look into perhaps the inspired by recent headlines. most exciting element of Japanese cuisine: fresh fish. Tokiwazushi is another popular sushi restaurant located on the first floor of the Open to the general public at 4 am, market’s Marunaka Foodstuff Center’s Yanagibashi Central Market earns its second building. The intimate nickname, “Central Japan’s Kitchen,” by establishment is a popular place for offering the freshest fish from around the work-trodden “salarymen” to loosen their world and the rich waters of nearby Ise, ©Nibariki ties and take a load off. At ¥100 ($.84) per Chita and Mikawa Bays. An early morning Enter the world of anime at Moricoro Park piece of sushi (each order is two pieces), walk through the market dazzles all of the Tokiwazushi is a great place to try a wide senses. Workers effortlessly carve up the A ride on Moricoro Park’s 88-meter-high variety of the freshest fish without breaking morning’s colorful catch of giant tuna, Giant Ferris Wheel affords visitors a great the bank. The restaurant, open until 1 am blowfish, jumbo shrimp and other nautical view of the park’s other offerings including on weeknights, is perfect for wide-awake delights. The unpleasant smell found in a traditional tea house located inside of a travelers craving a midnight snack. most fish markets back home is Japanese garden. Youngsters will enjoy the chance to get back to nature in the conspicuously absent, replaced by the Yanagibashi Central Market is a short walk water, wind and forest sections of the inviting fragrance of sea breeze in the from Nagoya Station. Exit the station to Natural Playground and, if they have any heart of the city. And you may not Sakura Street (Sakura dori) and walk four energy left, can participate in a workshop understand the language, but the sound of blocks before making a right at the at the International Year of the Child good-natured haggling and the satisfied Nagoya Daini-Saitama Building and Memorial Hall. look on customers’ faces when they walk continuing for two blocks. Moricoro Park makes a great sunny day been transferred from Shizuoka to the there are plenty of thrilling theatrics getaway from the city. Take the museum, and visitors to the traditional nonetheless. Aside from the exciting bouts Higashiyama line to Fujigaoka and transfer home will see how the author who between an ever-internationalizing group to the Linimo maglev for Ai Chikyu Haku conveyed Japan’s charm to the west of dedicated wrestlers, fans are treated to Kinen Koen station. immersed himself in the local culture. You graceful ceremonies that preserve the can get a glimpse of Meiji era Nagoya at sport’s nobility. While some uninitiated Meiji Era Time-Warp in Inuyama Tomatsu House, a typical tradesman’s spectators might at first find the rituals residence that has been relocated from the elusive and the matches short-lived, a little With the arrival of mild spring weather, city. The Nakai Sake Brewery offers up patience and an open mind will allow many travelers to Japan may have a hard Nintoshu, a local brew with a 400-year sumo’s splendor to be revealed. time convincing themselves to spend a history, as well as contemporary snacks. whole day inside of a museum. With all of Other highlights are Ekiraku-an tea Feel the tension build as the wrestlers the temptations of the outdoors to be house, the Cabinet Library and the lobby stare each other down and fans cheer on enjoyed, it’s hard to make time for—uh of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed their favorites in Aichi Prefectural …what’s it called again? Oh Imperial Hotel. Gymnasium, near Nagoya Castle. You’ll yeah—“learning.” know when the local hero, Kotomitsuki, is

Visitors can enter many of the museum’s about to take the ring by the roars echoing For tourists who would like to take in the through the intimate venue and the fresh breeze, but still want to keep the ol’ buildings, and inside they’ll be rewarded again with a look at Meiji period furniture heightened look of focus on the elegantly noggin active, Museum Meiji Mura is a clad referee’s face. one-of-a-kind outdoor architectural and items related to the preservation and acquisition of the structures. museum located on 247 acres of Hida Kisogawa Quasi-National Park. In addition to architecture, museum patrons have a chance to experience the The museum boasts over 60 buildings humble beginnings of Japan’s now from the Meiji period (1868-1912), during impressive infrastructure. Early Meiji era which Japan, having just opened up to the streetcars and steam locomotives world after closing itself off nearly transport passengers around the completely to outside contacts in the Edo museum’s “districts,” and posting a period, became more welcoming of ideas handwritten postcard from the Uji-Yamada and visitors from abroad. This new Post Office, transferred to the museum ©Nihon Sumo Kyokai Imagine their embarrassment when they openness to the outside world had a clear from neighboring Mie prefecture, provides showed up in the same outfit influence on Japan’s architecture as a taste of a bygone, more personal era western-influenced designs were blended long forgotten in today’s age of e-mail. Although any day is sure to provide plenty with traditional styles developed during the of flab-slapping falls and belly-bumping Edo period. Later, however, war and rapid Admission to Museum Meiji Mura is ¥1600 brawls, spectators who are able to snag reconstruction led to many of these (approximately $13) for adults. An extra tickets for the final day of the tournament buildings being destroyed to make room charge buys you a pass for the Meiji era will enjoy the most hotly contested for modern structures. Enthusiastic efforts trains and buses. The museum is best matches. Stick around for the award to preserve the most valuable of these reached from Nagoya by train on the ceremony, in which the tournament champ architectural treasures culminated in Meitestu line to Inuyama where visitors humbly accepts a giant trophy befitting the today’s Museum Meiji Mura. can take a 20-minute bus ride from the bigger-than-life sport and year’s supplies station’s east exit. of fattening foods one after the other.

Nagoya Sumo to Celebrate 50 Years For more information or to purchase tickets for this year’s Nagoya Sumo Now is the time to plan your trip to Aichi if Tournament, visit the tournament’s English you have a hankering for watching website: http://event.chunichi.co.jp/sumo half-naked obese men grapple with each /e/top_e.html other. (And if we’re really honest with ourselves, who doesn’t?) The Nagoya Sumo Tournament is right around the corner, and tickets go on sale on May 17.

Aichi Prefectural Government The main entrance of the Imperial Palace Hotel The Nagoya Sumo Tournament, which San Francisco Office takes place from July 8 to July 22, is one c/o JETRO San Francisco Visitors enjoy the fruits of the museum’s of six grand sumo tournaments held ¥ forward-thinking founders and enter a 235 Pine Street Suite 1700 throughout the year in Japan. This year San Francisco CA 94104 virtual time-warp that has a way of evoking th the tournament’s 50 anniversary Phone: 415-392-1333 ex 252 nostalgia even for a previously unfamiliar celebrations will add to the excitement. era. Among the priceless buildings located Fax: 415-788-6927 on the museum grounds are the former You won’t find any chair throwing or Email: [email protected] home of Soseki Natsume, Japan’s most pile-drivers in this traditional sport, which Akihiro Oyaizu, Douglas Shelton renowned novelist. Lafcadio Hearn’s has its roots in ancient Shinto ceremonies summer home, built in 1868, has also and was later adapted by samurai, but