After crossing the Gojo Bridge we walked past the Nagoya Noh Theatre….where the Missus was smitten with this Cherry Blossom tree.
I had gotten a good dose of the Missus's love….obsession with sakura a bit earlier on the trip so I just ket Her carry on; while I took a look around.
That's a statue of Daimyo Kato Kiyomasa who was known as the premier castle builder of his day. Under orders of Ieyasu Tokugawa, several Daimyo's including Kiyomasa were tasked with rebuilding Nagoya castle which had been abandoned.
Once the Missus was done taking Her photos and admiring the sakura, we headed across the street to the entrance of Nagoya Castle.
We paid our entrance fee and stopped by the tourist office where the very friendly young lady pointed out several places of note.
Apparently, there was some kind of festival going on………not quite sure what it was about, but seeing folks in….ummm….costumes kept us smiling.
And some browsing time as well…..
All in the shadow of the Castle's Turrets.
Here's another statue of Kato Kiyomasa. Apparently, it was from this stone that he would command the building of the castle.
We headed to the other end of the castle grounds, to the East Garden.
Where we found a Tea House and decided to take a break. The Missus loves Macha….if you only knew how much She spends ordering stuff from Ippodo, Lupicia, and other places….
The Missus wanted some extra "bling" in Her tea…..
We walked back to the area of Hommaru Palace, part of which is being restored. We could actually enter and view the restoration taking place and were provided hard hats…..which made for a couple of silly hard hat photos (of course).
It was really neat to be able to check out all the elaborate construction being done.
Genkan, the entrance hall and Omote Shoin, the main hall have been restored and are open to the public. We got a chance to see the wonderful wall and partition paintings.
We had, of course, saved the Main Donjon (Tower) for last.
On the way there we passed the "Kiyomasa Stone", the largest stone in the wall said to have been put there by Kato Kiyomasa himself; though it is said that Kuroda Nagamasa was actually in charge of building this part of the wall.
We loved watching the kids take photos with the "Samurai"….in fact, we ended up taking photos with him as well (ssshhh, don't tell).
There was an interesting reproduction of the castle town along with what some of the meals looked like.
There's a replica of the Golden Kinshachi, two of which adorn the roof of the Dojon, and are symbols of Nagoya.
And a nice view from the 7th Floor as well.
After this we decided to head on out……there was some shopping that we needed to do.
But first, we just had to stop and watch the children's dance performances.
The littlest one's were really adorable.
Done with Nagoya Castle; we headed down Honmachi Dori and somehow managed to find the Nadya Park Shopping Complex. We went to the Montbell Store and bought some ultra-light Plasma 1000 down jackets. 
That done, it was getting kinda late, so we headed back toward Nagoya Station. We decided to take our chances at the Yabaton in the underground ESCA shopping center. Indeed, there was a line when we arrived….but, things moved quickly and they actually took your order while you waited in line.
So by the time we got to our table; things were just about waiting for us.
Misokatsu is one of the classic Nagoya food items….ask Taka-san at Taisho about it and he practically smacks his lips. Yabaton is probably the most well known chain of misokatsu restuarants.
I went with what Taka-san told me to order; the Teppan Misokatsu.
I shared my rice with the Missus. The miso soup was really good as well. In the teppan version of misokatsu; the tonkatsu is delivered on a hot plate lying on a bed of cabbage sizzling away. The miso sauce is then brought to the table and you can tell them how much you want.
The miso isn't overly salty; nice beany flavor, the breading on the cutlet is nice and stays crisp for a while. The pork is surprisingly tender….but man, this was a lot of pork.
The Missus got some small dishes which She enjoyed.
While everything was prepared well; this was perhaps too much of the same flavor and it was rather fatiguing after a while.
Nice meal; though I'll probably stick with some kushikatsu next time.
Misokatsu Yabaton (ESCA Shop)
ESCA Underground Shopping Center
Tsubakimachi 6 No. 9 Gosaki Esca
Tsubakicho, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya-shi, 453-0015
Hours:
11am – 10pm Daily