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Noritake Gardens - Nagoya Friday 9 Feb 24
Next was a post-prandial stroll of abut 20 minutes on a clear blue afternoon to the Noritake Gardens, site of the original Noritake Factory. A bit of an homage to both of our mothers, who as fashionable brides of the 1950s, both had Noritake dinner sets. Pretty sure my mum's is Legate a pretty blue and white embossed design which was released in Japan in 1956. Mum and Dad were married in 1959, so that seems about right. we also visited the craft centre (¥300 each, senior price) which contained painstaking detail about the history of bone china in Japan, and the technical processes of making, firing, glazing etc. It was quite interesting, and very detailed. Good English on the displays too. You are supposed to be able to watch the "artisans at work", but as it was getting towards closing time, I think a few had gone home. Still, we managed to see the very painstaking finishing of a cute child's piece (a teddy bear with a heart and balloon) with a tiny paint brush and clay slurry to attach the various pieces before firing. It gave me some insight into why Noritake is so expensive, as we were given the impression that every piece in this range was hand finished. We also saw gold edging being applied to a massively ornate teapot. Not at all to my taste, but impressive nonetheless.
The we went into the "lifestyle centre" aka the shop selling the awares. I have never felt so anxious to be a clumsy gaijin with big feet and a winter coat! There was some seriously expensive china in this shop including this tea cup and saucer for ¥104,500 (around $1,100) and thecommemorative annual plates for ¥250,000-383,000 ($2,600- $4,000)
. I was so stressed that one of us was going to break something that I could not wait to go outside! TBH, none of it was realy to my taste.
Meandered through the gardens, and enjoyed the warm late afternoon sun sitting by a (man made) babbling brook with koi in the Noritake Garden, and also visted the pretty and serene Noritake shrine, which was used by family and employees of the original factory (which is no longer operational).
Home via the Japan Post ATM. As I've mentioned elsewhere, you do still need a bit of cash in Japan, so we took out ¥50,000 using Macquarie debit card. Got a great exchange rate of ¥98.2 to $1, and no bank fees. JP ATMs charge ¥220 (about $2.20) per transaction, so it's not very much at all on a larger transaction. It's the same at 7/11 Bank ATMs too. Such a great deal, way better than a travel money card (Qantas Money, I'm calling you out here) or exchanging before you leave home (travelex etc). Just don't use ATMs at either of the airports, as I understand they charge higher fees and give a worse exchange rate.
Then we headed back to JR Takashimaya food court for a lovely dinner involving deep fried bread puffs filled with different flavours of curry (Matsuura bakery) and some little cakes for desert.
Next was a post-prandial stroll of abut 20 minutes on a clear blue afternoon to the Noritake Gardens, site of the original Noritake Factory. A bit of an homage to both of our mothers, who as fashionable brides of the 1950s, both had Noritake dinner sets. Pretty sure my mum's is Legate a pretty blue and white embossed design which was released in Japan in 1956. Mum and Dad were married in 1959, so that seems about right. we also visited the craft centre (¥300 each, senior price) which contained painstaking detail about the history of bone china in Japan, and the technical processes of making, firing, glazing etc. It was quite interesting, and very detailed. Good English on the displays too. You are supposed to be able to watch the "artisans at work", but as it was getting towards closing time, I think a few had gone home. Still, we managed to see the very painstaking finishing of a cute child's piece (a teddy bear with a heart and balloon) with a tiny paint brush and clay slurry to attach the various pieces before firing. It gave me some insight into why Noritake is so expensive, as we were given the impression that every piece in this range was hand finished. We also saw gold edging being applied to a massively ornate teapot. Not at all to my taste, but impressive nonetheless.
The we went into the "lifestyle centre" aka the shop selling the awares. I have never felt so anxious to be a clumsy gaijin with big feet and a winter coat! There was some seriously expensive china in this shop including this tea cup and saucer for ¥104,500 (around $1,100) and thecommemorative annual plates for ¥250,000-383,000 ($2,600- $4,000)
. I was so stressed that one of us was going to break something that I could not wait to go outside! TBH, none of it was realy to my taste.Meandered through the gardens, and enjoyed the warm late afternoon sun sitting by a (man made) babbling brook with koi in the Noritake Garden, and also visted the pretty and serene Noritake shrine, which was used by family and employees of the original factory (which is no longer operational).
Home via the Japan Post ATM. As I've mentioned elsewhere, you do still need a bit of cash in Japan, so we took out ¥50,000 using Macquarie debit card. Got a great exchange rate of ¥98.2 to $1, and no bank fees. JP ATMs charge ¥220 (about $2.20) per transaction, so it's not very much at all on a larger transaction. It's the same at 7/11 Bank ATMs too. Such a great deal, way better than a travel money card (Qantas Money, I'm calling you out here) or exchanging before you leave home (travelex etc). Just don't use ATMs at either of the airports, as I understand they charge higher fees and give a worse exchange rate.
Then we headed back to JR Takashimaya food court for a lovely dinner involving deep fried bread puffs filled with different flavours of curry (Matsuura bakery) and some little cakes for desert.
(Nagoya Castle otoh, meh)
(coughu Matsuyama, Uwajima, Marugame, Kochi, Maruoka & Hirosaki, hmmm I can see some difficulties here....)
