1 November 2024
Too much underground
Nagoya Sakae and Mirai Tower
Too much of Nagoya is underground. I remember reading that the 2 largest underground shopping areas in Japan are both in Nagoya. They are about 2km apart.
The station area is one half, and then Sakae is the other.
When I was last here I remember Sakae being bigger than the station part, but now it seems opposite, with a lot more new things built around the station and integrated into the underground labyrinth.
It is a bit strange that so much is underground here, as it is not really ever cold even in winter. I suspect that this can be to the detriment of the above ground. A tale of two cities, above and below.
All of that is irrelevant tonight, as below ground is the winner, because it is once again raining. Tomorrow, more rain, a lot more, then none for a week if the forecast is to be believed.
Yes, I will stand in the rain with a non water proof camera on an overpass just to take a photo.
Here is Mirai tower in Sakae. A good thing about a bit of rain is no one else wants to get 'the shot'. I think a bunch more shops have sprung up in the central park area above ground here since my last visit.
I remember this as being the bus station, and signs say that it still is, but I did not see a bus. You can get on the roof, I will probably do that on another night.
Underneath that roof is this. Did this use to be bus parking? Now it is called Oasis 21 and has a strange plastic floor. I will have to look back to my first visit here and check.
Underground malls really do go forever here, in multiple directions. I had no idea which way I was facing most of the time.
I decided I wanted ramen for dinner, so I looked on google maps, went up to the surface where it was almost not raining... and then walked to the nearest one with a good score. Apparently it is historical in some way, and ordering was a bit different. The machine really only had one thing to select, so I ordered it and sat down at a really old tiny wooden booth facing the kitchen with a little blind.
The blind was lifted and a guy did a bow and handed me a sheet of paper to customise my order - level of spice, noodle chewiness etc. So I filled that out and rang the bell and he came back and opened the blind again, closed it, and repeated the routine to deliver my ramen. Also, the egg was in its shell, I had to peel it, I cannot remember the last time I peeled a boiled egg.
As for the ramen, hmmmm, nothing special, not much flavour, noodles were a bit ordinary. I feel as though they are trading on history.
And for my last pic, a bridge, with lights, in the light rain.