A week ago my friend Mami and I went to Inuyama. Inuyama is about 30 minutes by train from Nagoya, so it makes a good day trip for those who want to get out of the city. Mami and I didn’t make plans prior to going to Inuyama, so we just kind of figured things out along the way. =P

As we headed towards Meitetsu Station, I picked up a flyer that advertised a ticket package for Inuyama. For 1,340 yen it includes a round trip ticket from Nagoya, admission to Inuyama Castle, plus three discount vouchers to use at the shops and restaurants inside the town. It was such a good deal that we ended up buying the ticket package after getting to Inuyama Station. Luckily the station attendants were able to cancel the initial charges on our IC cards and let us use the package. That’s how much lack of planning we did prior to going haha.

There are a few attractions in Inuyama including the Monkey Park, Little World and Meiji Mura. In the summer they also have something called cormorant fishing or ukai in Japanese, where fishermen use the trained birds, fire and nets to catch fish. I haven’t had the chance to experience this yet, but from the videos I’ve seen it looks pretty amazing.

However, the one (and only) thing we ended up doing that day was visiting Inuyama Castle. The castle was originally built in 1537 and it is one of 12 surviving Japanese castles built before the Edo period. It’s also the only privately owned castle in Japan. I’ve been to many castles in Japan already, many of which are much larger than Inuyama Castle, but it’s definitely a different experience visiting an original castle.

After we arrived at the station, it took us about 20 minutes to reach the castle. Along the way we passed by many shops and restaurants which still preserved the traditional castle town look. There weren’t many tourists in the area and the streets seemed quiet even for a weekday, so we took our time until we reach the castle grounds.

Once we got to the castle, we exchanged our vouchers at the entrance and got our admission tickets. To go inside the castle we had to first remove our shoes then take a few flights of stairs before we reached the top. The stairs were pretty steep but it was well lit so we didn’t have any problems going up or down. Once we made it to the top I was welcomed by a beautiful view of the city.

After we finished touring the castle and the grounds, we made our way back to the town to find a spot for lunch. We were lucky we managed to find this amazing roast beef restaurant which served a set lunch for only 1,000 yen.

It had started drizzling when we left the castle but it turned into an outright downpour by the time we finished eating, so Mami and I decided to head back towards the train station. Along the way we stopped by one of the first stores we scoped out and spent time picking out a pair of geta sandals. We were the only ones in the shop and spent about 30 minutes trying on different pairs. At least between the two of us we bought four pairs!

We also stopped by this food court area which was styled from the Showa period, including old Sapporo beer posters and a retro phone booth. They also had this stage set up towards the back with a pay-as-you-go karaoke machine. Mami and I were a little intrigued by it and asked one of the staff if the machine only lets you pick really old songs like enka. We were happy to find out that the song list gets updated daily. Lol. Since there was no one else inside the building except for a few shop owners, Mami and I decided to take over the stage and inserted 100 yen to pick out our song selections. It was such a random discovery but soooo fun to try out at the same time. =P

One of the last things we did before leaving Inuyama was get dessert. I don’t remember the name of the dessert we ate but it had shaved ice at the bottom, with ice cream and huge chunks of fresh peaches on top. I don’t know how we managed to eat so much that day but I was super happy with all the food we ate. I hope I’ll have the chance to go back to Inuyama once more this summer to watch the ukai fishing!