No trip is complete without some photography. I chose to visit Shirakawago and Takayama in the middle of this journey.
Shirakawago was nice. Not as nice as it would have been in winter with all the snow and the light-up festival. But I was happy there seemed to be more gweilo and HK people than mainlanders. I had a great time taking photos and flying my Mavic.
For Nagoya, sadly I couldn’t find any place photogenic. I didn’t go to the Nagoya Castle. In fact I avoid all ancient Japanese castle because they all look the same. They have the same architecture style, the same guard rivers, the same foundation stones, the same white walls, and the same green-coloured roof. Instead I went to two museums on the only full day I was in Nagoya.
One of the museums was a good surprise. After my unagi lunch at Houraiken (蓬萊軒), I saw a poster of a Doraemon exhibition in the very same building. I went to the exhibition and it was about how other artists depict Doraemon. One artist imagined what would it be like to be with Doraemon in the digital age. She showed pictures of her and Doraemon dating and taking HK girl-style selfies and posting them on social media. There was also this gorgeous big backdrop made by Takashi Murakami (村上隆). Imagine what it would be like if the same exhibition was held in HK? Well I don’t have to imagine. I’ve seen the crowd in Pixar exhibition and the anicent Egypt exhibition. You can’t properly experience art in that crowd.
When I briefly browsed around a lifestyle store, there was a corner explaining their company’s history. This company, Noritake, makes all sorts of stuff, from household utensils to electronic chips. Then I was attracted to this: porcelain dental crowns and tooth stone models. It turned out (according to them) their porcelain was so good it found its way into dental application. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the little bit of dentistry in this trip.
