If there is one major spot in Japan that visitors somehow tend not to make a beeline for, it is Nagoya.
The Japan National Tourist Organization confidently declares in its leaflet on Nagoya that the country's fourth-biggest city "abounds in places of scenic and historic interest." But then that leaflet lists as second among Nagoya's must-see attractions a TV tower, which -- even the most sympathetic observer would have to concede -- does share considerable points of similarity with every other TV mast they have ever seen.
Before feasting their eyes on Nagoya TV Tower, however, wise visitors check out an older piece of local history. At its zenith, in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, Nagoya Castle was one of the greatest bastions in the country -- with a soaring 48-meter-high donjon famously surmounted by a handsome pair of kinshachi (golden dolphins).
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