What are some good day trips from Nagoya?

Question

I don't have a car so I'll be taking the train, bus. Also, I'm open to any ideas (e.g. temples, nature reserves, shopping areas, oddities)

Answer 1

I personally am not a castle fan; I'm a shrine fan. I have been to almost all the places mentioned in the previous post, any of which would make for a nice little jaunt on a rainy day. If you go to the paper Buddha in Gifu you should eat at the Natural Cafe. It's within walking distance--very cool. You could see Gifu castle (take cable car up, hike down), Inaba Jinja, and the paper Buddha all in the same day.
Takayama would take awhile and be a rather expensive train ride, but you should go there at least once. In Takayama I recommend visiting the traditional sakayasan--you can buy little cups of freshly brewed sake and sit around a fire. It is the most delicious sake ever!
On another day you could also go in the opposite direction, towards Toyohashi. In Toyohashi you can take a ferry to Ise. If you choose a beautiful sunny spring day you will NOT be sorry! To be on the open sea!! I have only been to Ise once; I would love to go back some time. It's one of the largest, if not the largest shinto shrine in Japan. The trees are enormous and you see lots of worshippers hugging and praying to trees. The town is also v cute w lots of shops selling traditional little things ala Takayama.

Answer 2

I just got back from Nagoya last week and I've been in the area a few times. I plan to do a story about things to do and see in an hour radius of Nagoya one of these days.

There's a bunch of castles - 7 to be exact counting the one in Nagoya:
*Nagoya Castle - large reconstructed castle with musuem
*Ogaki Castle - small reconstructed one with some cherry blossom trees and samurai statue.
http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/4544/ogaki1xj.jpg
*Gifu Castle - small reconstructed castle on top of a tall hill which was a favorite of Oda Nobunaga
*Okazeki Castle - middle-sized reconstructed one where Tokugawa Ieyasu was from
*Kiyosu Castle - small but nice reconstructed castle with a rock garden in the front and a red lacquer bridge in front
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/703/p1010872rc7.jpg
*Hikone Castle - situated on Lake Biwa has great views from the top and great to visit during the Cherry Blossom season. It's not a reconstruction except for the metal staricases.
*Inuyama Castle - the oldest preserved castle in Japan perched over the River

For a shrine that'll make you blush and laugh is Tagata Jingu which has a fertility festival ever March 15th.
http://samuraidave.wordpress.com/2007/02/08/japanese-fertility-festival-has-a-prominent-guest-of-honor/

In Gifu there's a temple with a large size Buddha which was made from sutra scrolls and gilded over with bronze.

If you're a history buff between Nagoya and Hikone there's the battlefield of Sekigahara which has some monuments marking where certain commanders were.

From May to October in Inuyama and Gifu you can witness ukai - comorant fishing. For about 3000 Yen you can get in one of the boats and float down the river a bit and watch the ukai fishermen with their torchlit boats float by.

Also in reach is Takayama (about 2 hours) which has an old Edo town feel and Meiji Village which is an open air musuem of various buildings collected around Japan.

Answer 3

You can go to Meiji Village in which Japan in Meiji period (1868-1912) is preserved.

It's just 1 hour or so by train from Nagoya.