I’ve been busy the last few days writing a Best of Nagoya article.  I spent two weeks  in and around the city in March 2008 collecting information and taking photographs, but it is only now that I am finally getting around to converting my scrawled notes into what will hopefully become coherent sentences. Unfortunately a few things have happened in Nagoya over the last couple of years that have rendered images and possible recommendations a little redundant.

The Villagio Italia an Italian themed mini mall was so kitsch  it was wonderful. It had its own Venetian canal, boutiques selling Carnevale masks, and a supermarket stocked with Italian wines, cheeses and pasta. You could even have a gelata while sitting beneath Michelangelo’s David. Unfortunately less than 2 months after my visit it closed.

Carnevale mask, Villagio Italia, Nagoya

Then a month later, Kyu the star attraction of the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium died.

Kyu Nagoya Aquarium's Killer Whale

And today, just a moment after writing about “the local textile firm that became the world’s largest automaker,” I hear that Toyota is suffering from its biggest crisis in recent history.