I arrived at the Okazaki JR Station at 9 AM on a Sunday to meet some of my classmates and go to the Nagoya Matsuri. I had originally wanted to go to the Nagoya festival on Saturday but my ‘flu was still hanging on so I decided to rest and study a bit. I missed a couple of events on Saturday that I really wanted to see but there was still lots to see on Sunday. There was a large parade with a mock battle at the end, street musicians, bands and more. We took a local train that made several stops and took about 40 minutes  to get to Nagoya but only cost ¥600. Once at the the Nagoya station we exited the JR section and went down several floors to get on the Nagoya subway. In all there were 7 of us from class when we arrived in Nagoya. One of my classmates met a couple of friends there and decided to go with them instead so we were 6.We transferred once before exiting at the City Hall station.

Buying and using tickets is a lot less convenient than using my Suica pass but my pass did not work in Nagoya. Without a pass you have to look at a subway map, figure out where you are going and note the cost to that station. You then line up at a ticket machine and enter in the calculated amount, insert the money and get a ticket. You insert the ticket into a turnstile on the way in and when you exit at your destination. As long as you have calculated everything correctly and have not changed your mind about where you are going the gate lets you through. Otherwise an alarm goes off and you have to go and line up at the fare adjustment machine. My pass is supposed to work in Osaka and maybe Kyoto. I wonder if the pay-by-cellphone thing works everywhere?

After exiting the station we found that the major divided 4 lane road in front of the city hall had been closed to traffic for the parade that we were going to see. In spite of the road being completely closed there  were still crossing guards that made sure that you obeyed the lights and only crossed the road on a green light. It was kind of silly as there was no traffic at all. We were able to look at the 9 floats that would head up the parade as they lined up in front of city hall. They were from different areas of Nagoya and some were hundreds of years old. All had doll figures on top which moved and portrayed some story. The floats were pulled by people hauling on ropes. These floats had large wooden wheels. Turning or stopping them involved shoving blocks under the wheels to stall them. It looked quite cumbersome to do.

We wandered around for a while and watched some of the other performers and bands getting ready. It was starting to get quite crowded and it was hard to keep everyone together. Along the way we ran into 2 more classmates one of whom had driven to Nagoya on his bike which had taken about 3 hours. Once the parade started we walked down the street following the parade. We eventually split into a couple of groups which made moving around a little easier. We stopped for food along the way.

After the parade I headed back a little earlier than the others as I wanted to get back in time for supper in Okazaki.  We had walked a surprising long way and it took me about an hour to walk back to the subway station. It was dark by the time I made it home but I was in time for dinner.