The industrial city of Nagoya (名古屋市) is largely identical to the Japanese prefecture of Aichi as its metropolitan area in the Chūbu region.
The city center can be roughly defined as a diamond between the
JR-Nagoya train stations (= main station), Meijōkoen (名城公園駅, subway) in
the north, Chikusa (千種駅, JR) in the east and Kanayama (金山駅, JR and
subway) in the south.
Suburbs are, in a semicircle from east to
west: Yokkaichi (四日市市), Kuwana (桑名市) (both Mie Prefecture), Ama (あま市) a
dormitory town, Kitanagoya (北名古屋市) and the neighboring Toyoyama are
purely industrial locations with numerous Nissei returnees from Brazil
who have brought some of their culture and food with them, Fujigaoka
(藤が丘) in Meitō-ku, Nagakute (長久手市) where the Expo 2005 took place,
Nisshin (日進市) and Ōbu (大府市).
Large cities further away are Gifu
in the north and Toyota in the west.
Skyscrapers. The Nagoya train station building is considered the
tallest in the world, it has a total of 40 floors. There is a huge
shopping street beneath the building and under the forecourt. On the
opposite side is the Midland Square building, the tallest in central
Japan at 247m high. It was opened in 2007. The building contains office
floors and exhibition rooms for the Toyota company, as well as a
shopping mall. Other architecturally interesting skyscrapers are the
Lucent Tower and the Mode Gakuen Spiral Tower.
Nagoya Castle (名古屋城;
subway: Nagoyajo, formerly Shiyakusho). It was destroyed in World War
II, but has been completely restored. The main tower is closed until
2028 for renovation.
Zoo and Botanical Garden (東山動植物園),
愛知県名古屋市千種区東山元町3-70 . Zoo with over 125 species of animals as well as a
greenhouse with gardens and an amusement park. Suitable for children
with a petting zoo, Ferris wheel, pond with pedal boats and observation
tower. Open: Tues.-Sun. 9 a.m.-4.50 p.m. Price: 500 ¥.
SCMaglev and Railway Park (リニア・鉄道館), 3 Chome-2-2 Kinjofuto, Minato
Ward (Kinjofuto Station (金城ふ頭駅) stop no.: AN11). JR Central Railway
Museum. Open: Wed.-Mon. 10.00-17.30. Price: ¥1000, simulators extra.
Maritime Museum (名古屋海洋博物館, Nagoya Marine Museum; 3rd and 4th floors in
the Nagoya Port Building). Open: 9.30 a.m. - 5.30 p.m. Price: ¥2030 with
Fuji Antarctic Museum and observation deck.
City Museum (名古屋海洋博物館),
愛知県名古屋市瑞穂区瑞穂通1-27-1 (Sakurayama station, stop number: S11) . Open:
Tue.-Sun. 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Brother Company Museum, 5-15
Shioiricho, Mizuho Ward (Horita Station, 100m to the north). Open:
Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Toyota Technology Museum (トヨタ産業技術記念館), 4
Chome-1-35 Noritakeshinmachi, Nishi Ward. Former factory with
exhibitions on vehicle and textile machines as well as exhibits on the
early days of the car manufacturer. Open: Tues.-Sun. 9.30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Furukawa Art Museum (古川美術館), 愛知県名古屋市千種区池下町2丁目50番地 (Ikeshita Station,
stop number: H14). A beautiful Japanese garden and an old traditional
house where tea is served. There is also a modern small museum building
with high-quality temporary exhibitions. Open: Tues.-Sun. 10 a.m. - 5
p.m. In Shirakawa Park City Art Museum (名古屋市美術館, Nagoya City Art
Museum), 愛知県名古屋市中区栄二丁目17番25号 (Fushimi Station, Exit 5; Osuka Station
nnon, exit 4.) . Permanent and temporary exhibition. Open: Tue.-Sun.
9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday to 8 p.m.
Nagoya City Science Museum
1 Legoland Japan (レゴランド・ジャパン), 2-2-1 Kinjofuto, Minato-ku, Nagoya,
Aichi (Bahnhof Kinjofuto (金城府頭駅) Haltestellennr.: AN11). Hours:
10:00-16:00. Prices: Full ¥4600, Kids ¥3400, includes combat shoes with
sealife; with shipping from ¥14350.
2 Chikusa Sports Center
(名古屋市千草スポーツセンター). u.a. Schwimmbad. Hours: 9:00-22:00.
Tourist information is available at the JR-Nagoya and Kanayama train
stations and in the basement of the Oasis21 iCenter bus station (with
luggage storage until 8 p.m.). From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. they speak at least
English and also sell tickets for the Me~guru city tours (daily except
Mondays).
By plane
There are two airports near Nagoya.
Nagoya Airfield
The first is the former main airport, Nagoya Airfield
(IATA: NKM), which used to have the IATA designation NGO. This airport
is now a small regional airport and should not be confused with its
successor.
Chūbu Centrair International Airport
Nagoya's
international airport is Chūbu Centrair International Airport (IATA:
NGO), which is about 30 minutes south of Nagoya. From Germany, Lufthansa
offers direct flights from Frankfurt/Main. There are also numerous
flights to various national and international destinations.
The
Meitetsu Airport Line connects the airport to Nagoya Station in 28
minutes using the fast so-called μSKY trains. There are also other,
slower and cheaper, connections to Nagoya and the surrounding area.
By train
The JR Tōkaidō Shinkansen line goes through Nagoya. It
goes from Tokyo to Shin Ōsaka.
The JR Takayama line goes from
Nagoya to the Japanese Alps to Takayama.
By ship
Long-distance
ferries connect Nagoya with Tomakomai (苫小牧市 on Hokkaidō) via Sendai.
Toba
From Kowa port with a change in Irago to Toba on the Ise
Peninsula.
Single trips cost ¥ 210-340 depending on the zone, express buses ¥
220, night buses ¥ 420; day tickets (bus+subway) ¥870, subway only 24
hours ¥760, weekend ticket ¥620.
Can be purchased at all machines in
the subway. Single and day tickets can also be purchased from the driver
on buses. (As of Nov 2022)
You can pay with the local Manaca
card, which is compatible with those in other major Japanese areas and
can be used just like the nationwide cards.
Buses
As
everywhere in Japan, there are numerous buses that are only labeled in
Japanese. Many lines start at the train station. Route map (Japanese).
Further information can be found on the multilingual website of the city
buses, although detailed timetable information etc. is only available in
Japanese.
There is a ring line in the city center.
The
Yutorito line (“Guideway Bus Shidami Line”) is a route that partially
runs on a separate track.
Night bus lines (Mon-Fri only):
Sakae (栄駅) ↔ Fujigaoka
Sakae ↔ Takabata (高畑駅)
The ring lines
of the individual city districts are aimed primarily at older residents,
who travel in minibuses from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the normal price.
Subway
Nagoya has a well-developed subway network. It is not as
dense as in Tokyo, for example, but is more comparable to German cities.
Private railways
In addition to the subway, there are various
regional trains with stops in and around Nagoya, which are operated by
Japan Rail, Meitetsu (“Nagoya Railroad” also airport trains) and
Kintetsu (with good connections to Kansai). These are often faster to
cover larger distances in urban areas.
The entire city center of Nagoya offers a wide range of shopping opportunities. A concentration can be seen around the train station and west of Ōtsu-dōri Street. In the middle between these two centers, the density of shops decreases.
There is a high concentration of hotels around the train stations,
especially around Nagoya Station and along Nishiki Dori. In Nagoya you
can find plenty of Japanese chains from well-known international chains
such as Hilton, Mariott, Best Western and Crowne Plaza. There are hotels
for every taste, ranging from one to five stars.
Hostels
Trip
& Sleep (トリップ＆スリープ ホステル), 3 Chome-27-29 Osu, Naka-ku. with washing
machines.
Bath house
Sannō Onsen Kita-no-Yu (山ののの; Sannō Station, stop no.
NH35). Open: 9.00-24.00. Price: ¥ 750.
Urban Quar Spa & Living, Naka
Ward, Fujimicho, 16-17 キャッスルンンン. Open: 6.00-1.30. Price: 3 hrs ¥ 850,
Weekend ¥ 950.
Ozone Onsen Yu no Shiro (大のの城), Higashi Ward,
Higashiozonecho, 28-7 大のの 大 (Bhf. Ozone, 300 m). 12 Pools + Sauna.
Reception on the 2nd floor, bathroom on the 3rd floor. Open: 6.00-1.00.
Price: ¥ 780, Weekend ¥ 850.
Despite its size, Nagoya is not particularly internationally oriented. Although there are many signs in English in public areas such as the railway, English is much less common compared to Tokyo. Especially in restaurants or shops, it often happens that the employees speak little or no English. However, due to general willingness to help, you can usually communicate even without knowledge of Japanese. However, it is highly recommended to learn or write down a few important sentences in Japanese.
Nagoya extends north of Ise Bay across the central part of the
extensive and fertile Nōbi Plain. The highest elevation is therefore the
198.3 m high hill Tōgoku-san (東谷山) in the extreme northeast of the city
on the border with Seto.
The city's most important river is the
1st order river Shōnai-gawa with its many tributaries, as well as the
2nd order river systems of the Tempaku-gawa (天白川) and Nikkō-gawa (日光川).
The metropolitan area of Nagoya (名古屋圏, ~-ken) or Chūkyō (中京[圏],
~-ken, roughly: "[region] between the capitals" in reference to Tokyo
and the former capital of Japan, Kyoto), which extends around the entire
Ise Bay and thus also into the prefectures of Gifu and Mie, covers 7072
km² with 9.1 million inhabitants (2015) and is the third largest in
Japan after the metropolitan areas of Tokyo-Yokohama and
Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe.
The characters used to write the place name can be read literally as
a "well-known, old house". However, these are ateji, i.e. they were
chosen mainly because of their pronunciation in order to write a
previously existing homonymous term, the meaning of which is no longer
known today.
Thus, the oldest evidence for the place name in the
late Heian period is the fief (shōen) Nagoya-shō (那古野荘), which was owned
by Taira no Shigeko (Kenshū-mon'in; 1142-1176), a wife of the Tennō
Go-Shirakawa and mother of the Tennō Takakura.
Later, instead of
the lettering 野 'field, grassland', the eponymous 屋 'house' was used to
designate the manor house. Alternative spellings besides this 那古屋 were
also 名護屋 and 名古屋, although the latter prevailed later. This mansion was
located in the present-day Nagono district of Nishi-ku District. For
那古野, the distinction came up as the pronunciation of the very Nagono in
which the last character was spoken in the Japanese reading no, instead
of the other two in the Sinojapanese reading ya. The earlier
pronunciation for this spelling is still found in the name of the Nagoya
Shrine (那古野神社, Nagoya-jinja).
After the construction of Nagoya
Castle, the surrounding castle town (jōkamachi) also received this name,
while to the southwest, the village of Nagono continued to exist
independently until it was incorporated in August 1898.
A
historical name for Nagoya was also Hōsa (蓬左), which means "to the left
of the Atsuta Shrine", which was also equated with the mythological
island of Hōrai.
The city was already known in the Middle Ages as a commercial center and the main town of the Owari province. Oda Nobunaga was born in 1534 in Nagono Castle, predecessor of Nagoya Castle. In 1555, he moved to Kiyosu Castle, thus shifting the center of power in central Japan to Kiyosu. in 1610, the castle of Nagoya was rebuilt by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Subsequently, Nagoya again became the clear center of Owari. After the Tokugawa family secured their power as Shōgun, the first Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu passed the city of Nagoya to his 7th son.
Of the historical buildings, only a few survived the war. Most of
them were completely destroyed during the Second World War during the
air raids on Nagoya, especially on May 14/17, 1945. The castle was
partially rebuilt in 1959, the castle tower is famous for its two
approximately 2 m high gilded shachi (鯱) on the gable ends. The cultural
treasure of the Owari branch of the Tokugawa family is exhibited today
in the private Tokugawa Art Museum. This important art collection from
all cultural epochs contains a number of national treasures.
On
September 26, 1959, the southern part of the city was devastated by the
Ise-wan typhoon.
On December 20, 1878, the city became the administrative unit
Nagoya-ku (名古屋区), which became today's Nagoya-shi on April 1, 1889 with
the introduction of modern Japanese municipal system. At that time the
municipal area was 13.34 km2. The first expansion of the area took place
on March 23, 1896 with parts (0.80 km2) of the village (mura) Gokizō
(御器所村). On August 22, 1898, the village of Nagono (那古野村) and parts of
Furusawa (古沢村) were incorporated (both together 2.15 km2), as well as on
June 1, 1907, the district-affiliated city (chō) Atsuta (熱田町; 1.25 km2),
which at that time also received the remaining parts of Furusawa. A
month later, on July 16, parts (14.39 km2) of Ousu (小碓町) followed, and
on October 1, 1909, parts of Gokizō and Chikusa (千種町) followed, both
1.27 km2. On August 22, 1921, a wave of amalgamation took place in which
more than half of the municipalities of Aichi District, as well as
several from Nishikasugai District, were completely amalgamated. These
were
Arako (荒子子),
Tokyo (常盤村),
Nakamura (中中),
Aichi
(愛知町),
Yahata (八幡村),
Yobitsugi (呼続町),
Kasadera (笠寺村; already
parts of it on February 20th),
Ousu,
Gokizō,
Chikusa,
Higashiyama (山山山),
Rokugō (六郷村),
Shimizu (清水町),
Sugimura (杉村),
Kinjō (金城村) and
Biwajima (枇杷島町).
The urban area grew more than
threefold from 38.26 to 149.56 km2. On March 3, 1928, the district of
Yagoto (天; 0.01 km2) from Tempaku (天天) was added, on June 15, 1930,
parts (0.01 km2) from Shōnai (庄内町) and on July 15, 1931, parts (<0.01
km2) from Shimonoisshiki (下之一色色). The rest of the latter two then
followed together with Hogino (萩野村) on March 1, 1937, a total of 8.84
km2. During the war period, no further amalgamations took place, which
only began again in 1950 – on April 5, Itaka (猪高村) and the remaining
Tempaku (both together 43.71 km2), as well as on April 1. October
Kusunoki (山), Yamada (山山), Tomita ( Tom) and Nan'yō (南陽町) – all four
together 42.09 km2. In 1963, the independent city of Moriyama (山山山;
34.01 km2) followed on February 15 and Narumi (鳴海町; 26.30 km2) on April
1. The last incorporation took place on December 1, 1964 with Ōdaka (大大)
and Arimatsu (大) – both together 11.39 km2.
The mayor of Nagoya from April 2009 to 2024 was Takashi Kawamura, who
was confirmed in office in a "return election" in February 2011 and the
regular elections in April 2013 and April 2017. After a scandal
surrounding an attempted recall falsification against the governor of
Aichi, Hideaki Ōmura, who once came into office with Kawamura's support,
he was re-elected in April 2021 with around 52% of the vote,
comparatively narrowly against the former city councilor Toshiaki Yokoi,
who was supported by the established parties (LDP, KDP, Kōmeitō, DVP and
non-binding from KPJ and SDP; around 46%) and two other candidates.
Kawamura, a former member of the national parliament for the Democratic
Party, founded his own party, Genzei Nippon ("Tax Cut Japan"), in 2010
to push through his tax cut plans, which had previously been rejected by
both major parties in the city council. In the 2024 lower house
election, Kawamura is attempting to switch to national politics as a
candidate of the Conservative Party of Japan (Nippon Hoshutō) in the
Aichi 1 constituency and thus automatically lost his office at the start
of the campaign. The new mayoral election is scheduled for November 24.
The 68-member city council (Nagoya-shikai) was re-elected in the
unified regional elections in April 2023. The Liberal Democratic Party
remained the strongest party with 20 seats, Genzei Nippon increased its
number of seats to 14, making it the second strongest party again, KDP
won 13 seats and Kōmeitō 12.
The Nagoya districts elect a total
of 31 representatives to the 102-member Aichi Prefectural Parliament. 11
districts are two-mandate constituencies in which a seat split between
the two strongest camps is likely. Prefectural parliamentary elections
in Aichi also take place in a single electoral cycle.
The city of
Nagoya is divided into five constituencies (Aichi 1 to 5) for the
national lower house, one of which also includes some suburbs. In the
2021 lower house election, the Liberal Democrats won three of them, KDP
and DVP one each.
Nagoya Protocol
The Nagoya Protocol is an
international environmental agreement adopted on October 29, 2010 in
Nagoya to implement the goals of the UN Convention on Biological
Diversity, which entered into force on October 12, 2014. It regulates
access to genetic resources and fair sharing of benefits.
According to a study from 2014, the greater Nagoya area generated a
gross domestic product of 364 billion US dollars (GDP). In the ranking
of the world's strongest metropolitan regions, it was ranked 22nd and
third in Japan behind Tokyo and the Osaka-Kobe region.
The most
important economic sectors are the automotive and mechanical engineering
industries. The Toyota corporation is based in the nearby city of the
same name, Toyota. Other manufacturers such as the Toyota subsidiary
Lexus and suppliers such as Denso, Aisin Seiki and the original ceramic
company NGK Spark Plug, which now specializes in spark plugs, and its
offshoot NGK Insulators are also based in the greater Nagoya area.
Another world-famous company from Nagoya is the manufacturer Brother
Industries, which is best known for its printers and fax machines. A
more recent company founded in Nagoya is the Mitsubishi Aircraft
Corporation.
University
Nagoya is home to Nagoya University and Nagoya
Municipal University. There is also the private Nanzan University, which
was founded by the Steyler missionaries and has become more well-known
through the Center for Japanese Studies (CJS).
Nagoya has a subway network consisting of 6 lines. The two largest
railway companies are JR Central and Meitetsu, and Kintetsu is also
important. The central railway junction is Nagoya Station with the JR
Central Towers, which is considered the tallest station building in the
world.
As the center of the automobile industry, Nagoya has very
well-developed roads by Japanese standards, and the proportion of
private cars in total traffic is correspondingly high (around 70%
compared to 30-50% in other Japanese metropolises). The area of the
city is surrounded by the Nagoya motorway network.
On February
17, 2005, the new Central Japan International Airport, called Centrair,
opened on an artificial island in the sea off the city of Tokoname,
largely replacing the old Nagoya Airport. The airport was built for Expo
2005.
Nagoya is home to the J. League football team Nagoya Grampus Eight,
whose games are played at the Paloma Mizuho Stadium.
Nagoya is
home to the baseball team Chūnichi Dragons, whose games are played at
the Nagoya Dome.
Nagoya is also the host city of the
Nagoya Women's Marathon.