Kids won’t have to follow after their parents all day when out and about in Nagoya. Japanese like their electronic games and gadgets and there are plenty of games centres sprinkled around the city. Popular outdoor attractions for the younger ones include the huge Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens as well as the modern aquarium.

Costa del Sol
This building would be easy to pass by, thinking it’s a hotel or restaurant. But the younger generation immediately knows what’s behind its walls when seeing the word ‘Sega’ beneath its name. This is one of the city’s nicer game centres, offering all the latest Sega video games on one floor, while the other floor is host to music games and those omnipresent arcade gadgets, camera booths. Do not be surprised if you find as many gaming adults as there are children. Phone: +81 52 962 8686

Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens
These grounds offer an expansive haven, home to one of Asia’s largest zoos as well as botanical gardens and a fun park. Popular favourites in the zoo include lions, tigers and elephants as well as bears and giraffes. The Koala exhibit is also well visited and the tiny medaka tropical fish once accompanied one of Japan’s astronauts on the space shuttle. The Higashiyama Sky Tower offers observation decks and a 100 meter-high restaurant, which affords spectacular panoramic views of the area. Phone: +81 52 782 2111

Port of Nagoya Aquarium
One of Japan’s newest and largest aquariums, this one breaks up its marine life into five diverse environments representative of the Pacific Ocean. The aquarium’s natural displays are heavily supported by multimedia displays and it also conducts scientific research such as breeding sea turtles and other marine life. Particularly popular are the penguin exhibit and the underwater tunnel. The aquarium can be found at the port’s Garden Pier next to many other attractions. Phone: +81 52 654 7080

YYY Plaza
This building was made for kids. On the first floor is a range of shops selling children’s clothing, toys, picture books as well as other themed items while the second floor is a large open romping land for kids. There are several large, plastic animals on which to rock back and forth, though kids will find the plastic ball swimming pool more appealing. Phone: +81 52 834 2130

While Nagoya may be better known for its business acumen and focus on industry, Japan as a country is home to ancient cultural traditions and the city offers a surprising wealth of cultural highlights, including a modern theatre, several fine museums and a leading international design centre.

International Design Centre
One of the nicknames Nagoya has assumed for itself is Design City and this is not too far-fetched bearing in mind all the manufacturing concentrated in the area. However, this does not mean that this many-sided facility focuses solely on the everyday aspects of design. This centre houses a multi-purpose hall, library, gallery and a museum with a permanent exhibit, all complete with state-of-the-art multimedia facilities. It also hosts regular exhibitions, international seminars and events. Phone: +81 52 265 2100; website: http://www.idcn.jp.

Matsuzakaya Museum
Supported by the department store it is housed in, this small museum holds regular exhibitions that rival the city’s much larger, publicly funded museums. Shows may include self-produced exhibits on particular themes, genres or artists, or can consist of a travelling collection from other important, domestic and international museums. Works may also vary significantly, from traditional Japanese culture to modern graphics. Phone: +81 52 264 3611

Nagoya City Art Museum
When it opened its doors in 1988, just ahead of the city’s centenary celebrations, this museum added a new dimension to Nagoya’s cultural scene. Its permanent collection features works by major local artists and several of the internationally recognised artists that influenced them, including Modigliani and Chagall, in addition to Mexican Renaissance artists Jose Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. There are regular special exhibitions with both domestic and international artists. Phone: +81 52 212 0001.

Nagoya Nohgakudo
This modern theatre for a traditional art is equipped with high-tech wireless headphones with commentaries (occasionally in English) for members of the audience who require help to appreciate the decidedly stylised drama form of noh. The natural, lush young pine painted on the rear panel of the stage is the subject of much controversy, replacing the more traditional ancient sculpted tree. Performances are generally held on weekends, but days and times vary. Phone: +81 52 231 0088

Parco Gallery
This small gallery is housed within a large department store, as is often the case in Japan. It is unique as its exhibitions often focus on the fashionable and trendy. It is also one of the few galleries in the city where regular exhibits of quality photography are on display, especially by portrait and fashion photographers. Phone: +81 52 264 8370.

Showa Art Museum
Seeds for green tea are believed to have been brought into Japan by the priest Saicho in 805 AD. By the 15th century, the cult of tea ceremonies was widely practiced throughout the country. The Showa Art Museum specialises in tea cult items, which account for almost 80 per cent of the Goto Hoonkai Foundation’s collection. Exhibits include paintings, calligraphy, Raku and Seto tea bowls and Kakiemon porcelain. Only a few pieces are exhibited at any one time. Phone: +81 52 832 5851

Tokugawa Art Museum
Housed on the grounds of a former mansion owned by the Tokugawa family, this notable museum boasts the original entry gate and a guardhouse still intact. Exhibits include thousands of documents, samurai armour, helmets, swords, matchlocks, pottery, lacquer ware, noh costumes and masks as well as paintings that formerly belonged to the Tokugawa family, including items inherited from the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu. Phone: +81 52 935 6262

Nagoya offers plenty of shopping and dining options, with pretty much everything you could possibly want available here. Each district has its own shopping and dining outlets, often flocked together in or around air-conditioned malls.

While not as well-known as some other cities in Japan when it comes to culinary enjoyment, Nagoya residents are known to be picky consumers, so quality is usually consistently high, no matter where you go. Cuisines from other cultures are also appreciated.

There is a large selection of traditional Japanese, as well as international cooking in Nagoya. Try high-class Japanese cuisine at Ryotei Chiyoda or tasty yakitori at Shige Yakitori Dining Bar.

American fast food is represented by McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken, or Sizzler if you fancy a steak. Popular French and Italian restaurants are often run by chefs who have studied for months or even years in the native country of their cooking style.

The shopping and business districts offer numerous eating establishments of every kind imaginable. There are always one or two floors offering light dining and quick snacks in department stores and shopping malls. Family restaurants can be found on main thoroughfares. Corner coffee shops usually offer a simple lunch set. Specially-priced lunch sets are widely available between 11:00 and 14:00. And this being Japan, most inexpensive, casual dining establishments will have a window displaying prices and detailed, full-size models of dishes served.

Nagoya is famous for its many underground shopping malls, while Nadya Park is a usual art-deco-type complex, very popular with the younger crowd. This cool and hip store has many imported items that can’t be found elsewhere in Japan, and is also a great place to get that elusive souvenir.
Osu Kannon offers old style shopping arcades crammed with mom-and-pop stores, 100-yen shops, traditional crafts and second-hand computers. Here you can find a little bit of everything.

While many Japanese love their glitzy shopping malls, the city’s many green parks bear testimony to the important role nature landscaping plays in traditional Japanese culture. For more action, watch a baseball game or venture out of the city to watch the unique art of cormorant fishing.

Baseball
Nagoya Dome is packed to capacity on a Dragons game day, making this stadium a feared venue among opposing teams. Try to sit near the cheering section where everyone will be donning blue and white and cheering in harmony with the cheerleaders out in front. The atmosphere can be cut with a knife when the Dragons take on the Tokyo Giants, but all matches are played in good spirits and most foreigners leave ecstatic. Nagoya Dome is also host to world-class musicians that regularly pass through town.

Cormorant Fishing
Two places near Nagoya offer the spectacle of cormorant fishing each summer night (excluding full moon or the two or three days after heavy rains). This ancient 300-year-old Japanese method of fishing features trained ukai seabirds plunging into the water looking for ayu, a small Japanese trout. At sundown, suspended cages containing fires are hung at the fronts of long wooden boats to attract the ayu, at which point cormorants on leashes are released into the water. To make sure that the cormorants don’t gulp down the fish, rings are placed around the birds’ necks.

Meiji Village Outdoor Museum
This museum, which transformed almost 60 buildings into an attractive park, preserves the architectural heritage of the Meiji and Taisho periods. The majority of the structures are in Western style, including government buildings, a post office, schools and churches. Particularly noteworthy are the remnants from the Imperial Hotel and foreigners’ residences from the ‘treaty port’ cities of Nagasaki and Kobe. Phone: +81 568 67 0314.

Parks
Parks can be found throughout the city and play an important role in improving the city’s appearance as well as providing its people with a place to relax and unwind. There are a total of 1,237 parks in the city, covering an area of 1,397 hectares. Some of the most popular parks include The Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens, but also the Tsuruma, M eijo, Mizuho and other parks which attract thousands of visitors all through the year. There is also the large Hisaya-odori Park in downtown Nagoya with its TV Tower.