Almost every Japanese person I spoke with told me blithely that there was nowhere worth stopping between Hakone and Kansai. That’s a distance of 300 miles; skipping over such a large swathe of the country doesn’t really sit well with me, so I decided to make a brief stop in Nagoya. Despite being a city of more than 1 million people, it regularly battles a reputation as being the most boring city in Japan. I always roll my eyes at such negative sweeping statements about huge cities, so I was looking forward to making up my own mind. So I took a look, and this is what happened.

It’s true that Nagoya doesn’t have a long list of tourist destinations, but I managed to occupy myself for a couple of days. I was mostly just pleased to be back in civilisation after spending a week in little towns in the mountains. I love the countryside but I always feel more at home in the city I have to admit.

For various and numerous reasons I won’t explain, it’s typical in Japan to tear down and rebuild everything before it gets too old. As a consequence, most mid-size cities look pretty similar to one another. It even seems to be a given that every city has some kind of large Eiffel Tower knock off in the middle. In this respect, Nagoya is no different. I was bemused to see that the business that had earned pride of place right underneath the tower was a British pub. I didn’t stop by as that would have been dreadfully gauche.

The highlight of my visit was the Tokugawa Art Museum, which contained some exquisite artifacts of national and historical significance. I was especially impressed by the collection of antique lacquer boxes. I’m not one to get excited about a box usually, but the craftsmanship and designs were beautiful. They were also in incredible condition despite being from the 10th century in some cases; it was hard to wrap my head around. Sadly, this museum (and many others like it across Japan) prohibit the taking of photos which is such a pain! I do have piccies from the adjoining garden though so let’s admire those.

The forecast for my second day here was looking good so I decided to get out of the city to make the most of it. I took a train south to catch a ferry to Shinojima. I chose it simply because it looked like it had a nice beach. I turned out to be the only white tourist on the island all day, receiving suspicious side-eye and cheerful konnichiwa’s from the locals in equal measure. The views I got while walking around were lovely and the vibes sitting on the ferry were immaculate. So I had a nice time.

Aside from visiting a few places for food and drinks, that’s pretty much all I achieved during my visit to Nagoya. Is it a boring city? I doubt it would ever be the highlight of anyone’s trip across Japan but it was a pleasant enough stop for a couple of days. This time, the point of my trip is to better understand and gain an appreciation for the real Japan. I want to see beyond the headline tourist sites that every visitor on a two week trip to Japan could see. For that reason, I was pleased with my visit. I got a glimpse of what living in Japan is really like for many people. It also means that next time I’m here I can zoom through on the shinkansen guilt free, cus I’ve been there, done that. Cheers Nagoya!