- Good morning, everyone.
I have just woken up from a one hour nap.
I sleep very well on planes.
I don't know why.
It's like as soon as I sit down, I just pass out.
Today, I am back up in central Japan.
I'm really excited because I get
to continue my journey exploring the folklore
of Japanese ninja.
So it turns out three videos weren't enough.
There's still so much more to explore in Japan
about the ninja culture and today in Nagoya,
we're going to continue that journey starting here
at the airport.
(Japanese folk music plays)
Okay, so this is the international departure area
of the Chubu Centrair Airport
and this is where all the fun happens.
Because of the Chubu's Airport location in central Japan,
it is close to a lot of the historical sites pertaining
to samurai and ninja and so with that in mind,
they're really trying to up their branding
to encourage people who want to visit some
of the most historical, the most important ninja
and samurai sites to do so through the Chubu Airport.
And here in the departure area above the gate,
you can see that they have ninja hanging
from the gates, which is wild.
And as we go through the airport,
we're going to find other little bits and pieces
of ninja, I don't know, memorabilia.
The Chubu Airport's international departure area is a lot
of fun to walk around in.
Modeled after old-fashioned downtown shopping arcades
and streets, it's a taste of olden days Japan
in a modern day setting.
(speaks Japanese)
- (speaks Japanese)
- This game is only available here in the airport
until mid-December so sadly if you're coming
in like the new year, you would probably won't get
to try it, but hopefully if this one does well,
they'll do more in the future.
I'm really excited to try it now though.
Let's take a look.
With a full body of motion sensing gear
and a virtual reality helmet,
you're fully immersed in a horror game
where you fight off zombies with your katana.
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die.
(record scratching)
Of course to anyone else watching,
it appears a little less heroic.
After doing the free experience you get a photo,
a VR photo of you surrounded by monsters,
and the bottom is actually a free admission
to both Iga and the Koga Ninja Villages,
which are the famous,
the most famous ninja villages in Japan.
So this is a really cool event
and I hope they do more of these.
So a lot of people pass by Nagoya
without ever actually stopping to check it out
and see what's here usually
because of the way that the Shinkansen works.
When people by the rail pass, a lot of tourists
will get their rail pass in Tokyo
and they'll take the Shinkansen straight
to Kyoto Osaka without stopping
and checking out Nagoya
and that makes Nagoya very sad.
It makes Nagoya feel very left out.
And so what I think is actually really great
about Nagoya especially if you're a budget traveler
and you're trying to save some coins,
is that it is centrally located
between the three major tourism hot spots.
So if you want to stay in Nagoya
and get like a cheaper hotel here
or a cheaper Air BNB or a cheaper yokon
and like stay here and then spend that money
on your transportation to and
from the major tourism locations,
that's one way to do it.
So anyway, now we're leave the airport.
We're gonna check out Nagoya Castle
and see what else is going on in the city.
(gentle music)
So we've arrived at Nagoya Castle just in time
to see Tokugawa Ieyasu make an appearance,
the man, the legend.
And after doing a short speech, he's here
with a group of people lining up to take photos.
He takes his role very seriously.
Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first shogun
of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan,
which effectively ruled Japan for over 200 years.
It is said that some of Tokugawa Ieyasu's success
can be attributed to his arsenal of ninjas he had working
for him as spies.
- (speaks Japanese)
- Thank you.
I like him.
One of the most famous ninjas in history is Hattori Hanzo
who belonged to Tokugawa Ieyasu.
It is said that after saving his life,
Hattori and his ninjas were the key to Tokugawa's success
in becoming the ruler of Japan.
- (speaks Japanese)
- [Woman] Interesting.
- Interesting, yeah.
- [Woman] Interesting.
- Thank you.
- [Woman] Back in the day, ninjas were spies sent
to collect information on their enemies.
But these days, the ninja are tasked
with helping people around the castle pointing
out historical facts and giving tourism recommendations.
If it weren't for the ninja, I would've never known
that there were deer in the moat surrounding Nagoya Castle.
Did you know that?
Wow.
- (speaks Japanese)
- [Woman] Wait what?
That's right, Nagoya Castle's currently being deconstructed.
- (speaks Japanese)
- [Female Ninja] (speaks Japanese)
- [Woman] (speaks Japanese)
- [Female Ninga] (speaks Japanese)
- [Woman] (speaks Japanese)
- (speaks Japanese)
- [Woman] (speaks Japanese)
- [Female Ninga] (speaks Japanese)
- [Woman] (speaks Japanese)
- [Female Ninga] (speaks Japanese)
- [Woman] (speaks Japanese)
So if you come all the way out to Nagoya Castle,
you should try this manju.
And they have different flavors
so if you don't like bean paste,
you can always get chocolate.
- [Male Ninja] Chocolate.
- [Woman] Or you can get custard and green tea.
- Green tea.
- [Woman] Custard, yay.
- (speaks Japanese)
(laughs)
- One thing that I really like about talking
to the ninja here today is that they're all very young,
but they're very energetic, they're very positive
and polite and they're like very eager
to teach people about this history of Nagoya
and Nagoya Castle and the shogun and ninja
and it's been a great learning experience walking
around the castle and hearing, you know,
how things were back in the day.
And now they're gonna show me a quick little ninja show
which is a show of coordinated attacks,
a little performance based on how I suppose ninja used
to fight in the olden days.
So let's see what they come up with.
- (speaks Japanese)
(Japanese folk music plays)
(grunts)
(speaks Japanese)
- [All] (speaks Japanese)
- It's getting darker.
We've left the castle and the castle,
the castle's like right there.
So we've left the castle.
We haven't gone too far.
We've left and we've come to the left side
of the building and we're here at (speaks Japanese)
which is a strip of shops, cafes, and I think gift shops
and restaurants and it's designed kind of
to have this kind of retro feel resembling the olden days,
the kind of restaurants and stuff
that you'd find near the castle in the olden days.
So we're gonna take a walk through here
and just see if there's anything interesting worth popping
in for like a snack, I don't know, I'm hungry.
You know how it is.
It's got tofu soft cream.
This ice cream made with whole tofu
and then down below, you can have ice cream
that's covered in edible gold and it's nine dollars,
but apparently it's, I mean, it's the famous food
of this area.
It's one of the novelty foods that you can only get
in this area.
Over the next few years, Nagoya Castle
will be getting a makeover, but during that time,
Tokugawa Ieyasu and his ninja will be there
to happily entertain guests.
They're a lot of fun and put on a great show.
I definitely recommend it.
Next time, we'll be visiting Nabari in Mie prefecture
where we visit the old ninja province of Iga.
Can't wait to show you what's there.
Talk to you again soon.
Bye!
I should've lost some weight
before trying to pull myself up.
(cheerful music)