Sites in the Nagoya Area so far

So far we've done a little bit of touring around and are busy trying to decide where all we want to go while we are here and how to get there. There is a lot to see! Here are some tidbits:

We went to a tour of the Asahi brewery. Our tour guide was very nice and spoke Eigo (English)! This was a fun day, and we got to sample delicious varieties after the tour. I think the plan was that they wanted you to drink plenty of Asahi beer and then hit the gift shop. To be a good citizen, I did just that and so did Aaron.

We have also checked out Nagoya Castle. This is a rebuilt castle (much of Japan was bombed during WWII and has been restored). We went for a samurai reenactment that was fairly cheesy, but there were still swords and throwing stars so what more does one need for an exciting day?

Aaron scared everyone when he got a hold of a sword:

We also went to a Fire Festival in April in Gifu. This was a popular event and definitely not for those with any claustrophobic tendencies!

Basically, sake fueled men carried these shrine type things through the streets of Gifu. They looked very heavy and they also had giant bells to ring. Then once all the different villages had their shrine into the main area, the madness of fire starting began. It was pretty neat, and scary all at the same time. I'm not used to the fireworks being quite that close to me:)