Nagoya, Japan

1-3 April 2005

I left in the morning from Santa Barbara, flying first to San Francisco.

Above: Boarding at SBA

Right: Walkway between domestic and international terminals at SFO

Left: The International Terminal at SFO

Right: View of United's international gates from the Red Carpet Club

Thanks to the International Date Line, it was Saturday afternoon upon arrival in Japan.

Left: Boarding the train to Nagoya after arrival at Centrair, the Central Japan International Airport

I took the train into the city, then walked to my hotel.

Right: Kanayama station in Nagoya

Left: The TV tower, and the Tokyu Hands department store

The TV tower had a nice view of the lit-up city, unfortunately surrounded by a chain link fence.

Right: View from the TV tower observation deck

I stayed at the Nagoya Kanaya Hotel, with a small, but very clean room. I didn't eat at the "Texas Cafe and Grill" on the first floor. On TV I was able to pick from several Japanese baseball games (after hitting home runs, players received large stuffed animals on their way back to the dugout), Japanese talk shows, and a program teaching those who know Japanese how to speak Russian.

Above: View from my ninth floor window

Left: A small hotel room

Below: The Nagoya City Art Museum

The next morning I got up early and walked around some more.

Left: The Oasis 21 park

I went to the Panorama House, on top of the JR Central Towers

Right: Nagoya Castle

I headed back to the airport to go back to SFO. There were thousands of local tourists there just to see the new airport.

Above: The main entrance hall

Left: The Sky Deck

3-5% of the people I saw in public areas were wearing face masks.

Right: Inside the international terminal

Left: Children's play area in the international terminal

Right: Our departure gate

Below: The Star Alliance Lounge

Left: The plane gets ready to go back to SFO