NAGOYA, JAPAN- The cherry blossoms have long since fallen, but we trade one beauty for another. Along with September comes the scent of autumn; overhead, American planes fly in training formation. The sound impedes into the relative stillness of Nagoya Castle and village.
Rice fields populate the surroundings, with a few factories interspersed. The cars of their workers make up most of the scenery there. But in the midst of these enviros, there is Nagoya Castle.
Smalls statues of dogs populate the front of the castle. It is perhaps a homage to this quirkiness that Wes Anderson made “Isle of Dogs.”
Inside the castle, each floor has displayed photographs from emperors and samurais past. The sense of feudalism is strong here. Each of the steps leading up to the top of the castle are tall. They don’t quite fit the gait of the average Japanese, but it is inspiring to see the older generations scale up nimbly. It makes one’s own footfall try to move even more gingerly, by comparison.
Miles from Nagoya Castle, the sister radio tower looks down over the metropolis that is present-day Nagoya. Stationary shops beckon one inside. It is uniformly quiet on these streets. Especially in the morning, the loudest noise that can be heard are the trains. Local trains, trains that extend beyond the city, and high-speed rails. These alternate into the station. The Vending machines that dispense toys based on slim probabilities, called gashapons, sit docilely behind closed doors, unlike in the evenings, when children and grown children tap away at the vending arms. School children can be seen walking to school, monitors minding the crosswalks. Omurice is being served inside the Denny’s, open 24 hours, as it is described by Murakami in one long night After Dark.
It is in these moments when the day is still that one can experience the everyday. Of going to the bank when it opens at 9 AM and having the employees clap as one walks in. Of the act of mailing a postcard, which requires the physicality of inquiring postal service officers exact amounts for currency. Underneath an elevated railway, a clap of rain starts to fall. Everyone is running into the awning of the coffee shop, where people peer out in curiosity into the heart of Nagoya.
postcardsfromanne.com 