Nagoya Day 1

Dec. 12th

Took the Shinkansen Hikari to Nagoya to visit relatives. There was a bit of confusion at the train station. I was told to meet them at the “Gold Clock Tower” but they were waitng near the “Silver Clock Tower”. No biggie.

Had a great home made lunch of salmon sushi, inari and oden with plenty of beer. That night we went to Korona World. It’s a sort of family entertainment complex with a multi-plex, arcade, restaurants and karaoke but the centerpiece is a sauna and bath house. I guess it’s not considered an onsen because the water source is not a naturally heated spring. In addtion to a wide array of indoor and outdoor baths they have the largest sauna I’ve ever seen. It’s a huge room with three adjunct “stone sauna” rooms. In the middle of the main room there are large steel doors with rail tracks coming out. There’s a fence around the tracks and a parabolic reflector above. On a schedule, the doors open to reveal a giant oven. There are two mining carts full of rocks basking in the oven. The carts enter the room and the doors close behind it. A rush of heat bounces off the parabolic reflector and fills the room (click the link to see the video).

We finished up with another round of baths and I was ready to crash out for the evening.