Tours in Nagoya

Start with the food, because Nagoya does. Order hitsumabushi and the eel arrives over rice in a wooden tub, and you are meant to eat it in stages: first as it comes, then with the condiments, then as a soup with hot tea poured over. Locals will tell you to try all three. Miso shows up everywhere else too, dark and heavy, on cutlets, in noodles, in stews. This is a city that likes its flavours strong.

Nagoya is not a postcard city, and that works in its favour. It is a working place, built around industry and wide roads, and the pleasure is in how quickly it goes quiet. Around Kanayama, a busy transport hub, you can walk a few minutes and find yourself in temple grounds where the traffic noise drops away. That contrast is the real Nagoya. Ganko-ji is a good example, a small temple with a contemporary art studio on its grounds, where ikebana is treated as sculpture rather than something to look at politely.

Atsuta Shrine is the other place to give real time. Old trees close in over the gravel paths, and the walk from the entrance to the main hall takes you out of the city without leaving it. Bring comfortable shoes, because you will want to wander slowly. The shrine's Sword Hall is part of the draw, and the whole visit sits well beside a long lunch.

Then there is Nagoya Castle, which most visitors expect to see, with its golden roof ornaments catching the light over the moat. We do not have a tour there yet, but a local guide can take the request. The same goes for Osu Kannon and the lively shopping arcades around it, or the Toyota museums for anyone curious about the city's factory-town character. Ask, and we will find someone who knows the way.