The daytrip we’d planned for the public holiday on Monday last week did end up happening, and it was great! Luca, Alice and I went to Gamagori, a city right on the ocean, or rather Mikawa Bay. It was really nice to see some beautiful water views after living inland for a month. We walked straight from the station to the shore in front of Takeshima, a small island lush with trees and connected to the mainland by a 400-metre-long bridge. Having woken up typically late, I ate my konbini breakfast in the neat park while Luca and Alice waited patiently. Huge raptors circled overhead, probably attracted by the nearby food stalls. At last we walked (with dozens of others) across the bridge, through a torii gate and onto Takeshima.

We went up several flights of stairs into a beautiful shrine tucked inside the dense woodland. Then we descended back down to the rocky foreshore and slowly circumnavigated the island. It really was very pretty indeed, I wish I had taken more and better photos. There were jellyfish, butterflies, striking rock formations and verdant plants of all kinds.

Raptors flying against a blue sky.

Takeshima and its bridge viewed from the Gamagori coast.

Tourists exploring Takeshima's shores.

A butterfly visiting a flowering shrub on Takeshima.

We worked up a good thirst and returned to Gamagori, and eventually found a cafe where we could sit down to drink something. It was run by a very elderly Japanese couple out of what must have been a room of their house and looked like it had been there for ages. We weren’t able to order food, though, having arrived outside of lunch hours, so we had an early dinner at a different cafe when we got back to Okazaki and then parted ways. I’d forgotten to wear sunscreen and my nose was slightly sunburned, but otherwise it was a lovely experience.

Tuesday was rainy so I stayed in, and three days of classes passed uneventfully after that. Saturday was shaping up to be a bit of a nothing day as well, but Luca messaged me that since the weather was going to be good (contrary to previous expectations), we should have a drink somewhere (an idea I’d floated on Monday). After scouring Google Maps, I decided we should head into Nagoya. We met up around 5, caught the train, and arrived at Sakae subway station in central Nagoya at about 6.

It was the largest city Luca had ever been to, so we walked around a bit and took it in. We weren’t in the same place I’d gone with Ryusei, either, so it was new to me too. There was a lot more greenery around than there is in our part of Okazaki, which also lacks an inviting central space for meeting up and hanging out like the park above Sakae station. It was so nice and refreshing that for only the second time in the trip I seriously wondered if I should’ve chosen to attend a language school located somewhere else.

We visited a few shops, then queued for miso katsu (a Nagoya specialty, delicious), and finally set off to a bar I’d identified earlier as a promising destination.

I’ll finish writing about the rest of the night next time, because this post is already a week late and overlong!