Floor Horsemen - Aichi edition - Oct. 25, 2015

On October 25, 2015, an event called Floor Horsemen - Back to Van City, held in Kariya City, Aichi prefecture. This event originated in Vancouver, and it was created and organized by some friends. Since there are a lot of dancers that come from Japan to Vancouver, they decided to bring the event to Japan. One of the creators even came to Japan to help put it on. 

I have seen the pictures of the previous events in Vancouver, both of which occurred while I was in Japan, and I really wanted to go. When I found out that there would be an event in Japan, I knew I had to go. Unfortunately, the timing was not so convenient, but I made it work.

I took a night bus to Nagoya. It left Saitama shintoshin station at 11:45 pm on Saturday evening and arrived at 4:45 am Sunday morning. The night bus was loud and uncomfortable, so I didn't get much sleep. 

This is the bus I took. 

Upon arrival, it was dark, cold and windy and too early to do much. I found a combini (convenience store) and bought a coffee. Then I walked around debating whether to check into a hotel for a few hours. In the end, I found Denny's and ate a bit of breakfast and drank a lot of coffee. I left around 6 am. From there, I decided to explore the city. I walked to Nagoya Castle. 

One of the iconic buildings around Nagoya station.

On my way to the castle I found a shrine upon a roof. 

Then I found a larger shrine, the walls were original, but the main buildings had been rebuilt. It was closed.

This is a shrine at a historic bridge. 

I can't remember what the bridge was called. It led away from a covered market area.

My first glimpse of Nagoya Castle. It was about 3 or 4 km from the station, so it took a while to get there.

A closer shot, and the best shot. I couldn't get into the castle because... You guessed it, it was closed. 

A statue near the castle. Don't remember who he is.

Castle walls and a former moat?

Let's play a game, how many cats can you find? There were so many stray cats in Nagoya!

A part of the castle!

This is one of the original gates for the castle. I believe this is the east gate.

I found a little shrine to the fire goddess for protection against fires. 

The main shrine building and its requisite torii.

A little altar at the end of the Torii gates. 

This is Nagoya station. It has two towers. It's a nice place. At this time it was around 8 am. Still early. No shops open, just convenience stores.

After visiting the castle, I went to Starbucks for more coffee. 

After Starbucks, I wandered around the city centre a little more. I liked this building.

I went shopping, and found this motor bike. It was only ¥10,000,000.

Eventually I left Nagoya for Kariya, where the event was to be held. I arrived a bit early, so I walked around the city, but there isn't much around there. 

The event was held at a music lounge called Birdland. It was a very cool little place, filled with all sorts of interesting collectibles. The event had a very relaxed and fun vibe, and the dance floor was open for most of the event. There was a live DJ and several exhibitions. Rather than try and explain it, you can watch a recap of the event put together by the creator.

https://vimeo.com/145017201

After the event I had to get home and go to work the next day. I took the train back to Nagoya station and caught the Shinkansen back to Tokyo.

It was a wonderful one day trip on almost no sleep. I'm really glad I got to experience floor horsemen in Japan.