Moving to Purin Heaven

After two nights in the hostel, I was on the move again. Interac had booked me and another trainee into a hotel for the training period and I’d be damned if I missed out on free accommodation! This did, however, mean another journey with the 10000000000kg suitcase plus extras. Luckily the hotel was only one stop from Nagoya station, in an area called Kanayama – and I didn’t get lost!!! (shocku!)

I got to the hotel, into my room, and promptly proceeded to throw most of the contents of my suitcase everywhere.

The area around Kanayama station – a ‘mall’ called Kanayama Asunal – is super nice, with loads of great places to eat and a few quirky shops that I will eventually go back to for bits and pieces for my flat. I wandered there for dinner the first night and after a kindly staff member took pity on me, managed to place my order. A lot of the Japanese sort of fast-food restaurants have a system where you choose your meal and then order it by paying at a vending machine style thing. Everything is in Japanese, can you imagine!
When you find the right button – or are shown it – you get a ticket and your order goes through to the kitchen. You wait until your number is called, then collect and have at it! It was super hot out, the moving having not helped, so I got zaru soba (cold soba noodles with a dipping sauce) with fried shrimp, and it was exactly what I needed!

Dutiful slurping of noodles complete, my purin-hound nose hunted down the best purin I’ve ever had, at a place called Pastel which is a small chain here. They sell little pots of creamy, caramel-y goodness, and I had one every day I stayed in Kanayama.

That’s right.

Every.

Day.

It was glorious.