Day 9

Today Amanda and I decided that we wanted to go back to Nagoya. This is so that we could go to the Noritake factory. Schuchardt and Jason went with us. When we got to the station we took a Nozumi train (the really fast bullet train) and it only took us a half hour to get back to Nagoya. The factory was pretty interesting. First you go through a building where it shows you all the different steps in the process of making Noritake china, and this is also active working area so you get to see people actually working on pieces. After this we went through the museum. I wasn’t nearly as excited about this as Amanda who loved everything, but then again she is ‘Otaku’ about tea and china. It was still interesting to see. Jason threw a pot and painted the Franklin crest on a plate while we were there. We stayed at what is called the Noritake Garden till 2 and then we came back to Kyoto. We folded cranes and listened to music until dinner, which was similar to the first night except that was with chicken and pork and tempura. The best part of dinner was the dessert because it was melon. Susan had explained that this melon can sell for 100$ because they only sell ones that are perfectly round. It really was one of the best pieces of melon I have ever had. Oh and a word to the wise if served this melon sit next to someone who doesn’t like melon so that you can nonchalantly offer to take theirs as well. Nagoya is has still be my favorite place visited but whether that is because of the great experiences there or the city itself I am not sure. Well, until tomorrow.