The Oasis Spaceship Aqua in Nagoya, Japan

in Pinmapple3 years ago

What does one do when you come across a spaceship in the middle of the fourth largest city in Japan? Not sure about others, but in my case, after my day time visit, I came back after dinner for some night time shots.

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So who would build a spaceship in the middle of the city center? Let me tell you a bit about it first before I talk about my visit.

This is the Oasis Spaceship Aqua and it's part of the Oasis 21 complex located in Nagoya city centre. There are four main parts to the complex. The Galaxy Platform at the lowest level is an open space surrounded by shops, I remember there wasn't much footfall around when I was there. Then there's the transportation hub with the bus terminal and the subway station. Nothing much to shout about here.

Next, there's a garden underneath the spaceship called the Field of Green. It's a pleasant place for people to sit and relax, truly a little oasis bang in the middle of the city. Perhaps one might even encounter the martians come and take them to outer space one day. Who knows? They didn't come when I was there, perhaps we were too busy playing silly shadows to see anyone/anything from outer space.
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Now let's get back to the spaceship. The Oasis Spaceship Aqua is a rooftop garden 14m above ground level. It's flanked by the 180m tall Nagoya TV Tower, the oldest TV tower in Japan. At the center of the rooftop garden is an oval shape dish measuring 6 - 10 cm deep with a surface area of 2700 square meters. It carries 150 tons of water and is shallow enough for one to get a vague peek of the steel structure underneath. Sadly you can't see it very well in the photos during daytime, but don't worry, I have that sorted for you. Just bear with me for a moment.

The fact that one is elevated above ground, with a mass of one of the world's most scarce and crucial resource by your side, makes this quite a unique landmark and visitor experience.
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I liked the fact the spaceship wasn't too crowded during my visit. There were only a handful of other visitors who looked like locals out for a stroll. But there was one other group of aunty tourists who kept on photobombing me with their obnoxious aunty poses. After they spent forever taking photos on practically every inch around the pool, they finally left us in peace and quiet. At last!!!

With the sight and sound pollution gone, I could finally feel a bit of tranquility around me. The walkway around the spaceship is 200m, that would take Usain Bolt less than 20 seconds to run a lap. I would doubt anyone could and would want to do that during their visit. Why rush things in life when you can do it calmly and peacefully?
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The spaceship was quite near our hotel, and after dinner we came back for another walk around. The ambience was totally different from daytime. Honestly, I think this is such an under rated little gem in Nagoya.
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With the high rise buildings lit up at night, the light reflected onto water. Some of the building lights changed colour frequently, as did the barriers on the side of the walkway. I think it's very neat how the barriers slanted inwards, for safety purposes of course, but they also used the angle to project additional lighting effects onto the walkway, making it so mermerising.

At night time, one can see through the water and underneath structure much clearer. The grid structure supporting the rooftop became part of the night time display. It was almost like board game - what objects from the skyline can be neatly placed inside a grid?
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Entry to the Oasis Spaceship Aqua is free of charge, and it's open from 10am to 9pm - non Covid times of course.

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By the way, if you're looking for more unusual and photogenic spots in Nagoya, you also need to check out the ferris wheel outside the Sakae Mitsukoshi department store. The Sky Boat is 42m diameter wide and consists of 28 glass cabins that takes 15 minutes to go round once. I spotted it as we were driving back after dinner, and it looked really fun. A ferris wheel hanging on the side of the building in a busy city centre. What more fun can you get than that! Pity that my short stopover in Nagoya didn't allow me enough time to try it out.
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Architec must have had fun when putting this in, thinking of the future, brighten up a city and make it welcoming to all who visit.

Pity you never had enough time to enjoy the ferris wheel as well in Nagoya, perhaps that is a good enough reason to visit again @livinguktaiwan

@tipu curate

Thanks Joan. I'm thinking it must be quite fun in the ferris to see all the cars zooming towards you!

So many places to visit after Covid! Nagoya is definitely a nice to return to as its quite well placed as a hub for many other locations. Just need Covid to go away first!!

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I don't know if it's underrated with natives: every time I have went there in my 15 years in Japan it has been busy as hell. Haven't been there since Covid started however... I can imagine not so many people go now. But anyway, with tourists, I fully agree; in fact, I think all of Nagoya is under-rated. Everyone wants to go to Tokyo or Kyoto, but Nagoya has a lot going for it. Including that spaceship ;)

Good write up 😃

Thanks!

Must have been my lucky day when I was there. When I was googling this place for some basic info, I found an article called 25 places to visit in Nagoya, the spaceship wasn't one of them!!! I thought how is that possible!!!

To be honest, we only went to Nagoya because it's convenient to start and finish our road trip for Gifu, Shima and of course Osaka/Kobe 😅. I did go to the Toyotoa Museum and SCMAGLEV and Railway Park when I was in Nagoya, those were very interesting.

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@livinguktaiwan Sounds like you were indeed lucky. I'm not surprised that a tourist article missed it though. Nagoya has a lot to offer, but most of it the people who write those articles never find because they don't really explore themselves. Probably Osu Kannon was on the list? That is one of my favorite spots in Nagoya.

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What a remarkable piece of architecture! Other urban areas and cities around the world would definitely need more of these types of environmental design features because they simply help in not only beautifying the neighborhood but also in keeping the surroundings more fresh and conducive for Mother Nature .

From a layman point of view, I think this structure is unusual but not vulgar out of place like some cities who just want to make themselves stand out and erect all sorts of weird structures.

It's always interesting to hear the professional opinion on these things. Thank you!

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I just knew there was bound to be a night shoot too. I was almost disappointed when I didn't see any photo captured during the night hour but glad that as I was reading down I finally found what I have been eager and longing to see :)
This place looks so much better at night with all the lighting and reflections.

I am imagining the green field under that giant spaceship. It must be really cool to sit out there.

I agree, the night time reflections onto the pool of water is very enchanting especially with the change in colour of lighting.

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Well shot post matey. I've always wanted to visit Japan. I've made it to South Korea in my youth but that was for work. I never really got to travel broader throughout Asia which has always been a regret. Oh, I don't know if you you still play Splinterlands, but I sent you a pack of cards around Christmas as a way of saying both Merry Christmas and thanks for all your hard work with travel content. I don't have discord atm so couldn't deliver seasons greetings to all you wonderful folk here on Hive. Keep up the great work and as always I enjoyed the visit to your blog. :)

I haven't played Splinterlands for a while been concentrating on my developing my YouTube channel in the past few months. Gaming has never been my thing though I did try to keep not be too outdated (if that makes sense) hence dabbled with Splinterlands last year. Perhaps I should get back to the game so your pack of cards don't go to waste. Either way, thank you for that, I really appreciate it!!!!

And thanks for dropping by, hope you'll be around more when you settle down.

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Oh nice, another place I love so much and will always have a place in my soul. Japan, so much beauty and I just love the people so much too. Awesome post, writing and shot's, thanks for sharing, really miss Japan and all her wonders.

I think Japan is really very unique, and has so many different faces, and places to visit. I must have been 7 or 8 times, and every time there are so many new things to see and do. My next target is Sapporo next year ..... she says

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Oh nice, that should be fun. Yea and so true when I lived their for three years I did so many things and visited so many different vibes their, in different cities.

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Looks really nice! I want to swim in that pool, looks relaxing and might be a surreal experience being able to see what's underneath you. Haha, might give you a feeling of ''flying'' while swimming. 😂

It might be a bit difficult in its current form as it's only about 6 - 10 cm deep!! But converting it to a swimming pool would be really cool!!!

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It's my first time to hear about Aqua Spaceship in Nagoya. I'm such a big fan of Japan but how come I haven't known about this? Haha. The place looks a lot better at night and you bet during Holidays like Christmas and New Year I guess. This is bookmarked! :D

In case you're also into Cos Play, the World Cosplay Summit is held in Nagoya every year, and actually in Oasis 21 in the earlier years as well. Another reason to visit!

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That would be a lot fun.Not sure though if they can organize the event during this pandemic.

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Quite interesting. I’ve been in Japan for a while but actually haven’t yet been to Nagoya.

Japan is a great country, so many places to visit. Which city are you based now?

Your fruit art is very interesting. A little tip, maybe explore a bit more of the other communities to extend your reach and network, and up your game on the images, good visuals make a lot of difference 😀

Hope you have fun on Hive

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Thank you. Good advice. I'll try to explore more communities and work on the images. I'm based in Kobe. Many beautiful places there too.
Happy you find my work interesting.

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Thanks guys!!!

Wow this is amezing pitchers 👌🤩

Wow! A very interesting architectural structure! Also I love ferris wheels! :))

This is make me want to visit japan, because that is a piece of my Dream

 3 years ago  Reveal Comment

Both spring and autumn are great for the cherry blossom and maple leaves, though I have to confess I haven't been in Japan to see the cherry blossoms yet! Must do that one year

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 3 years ago  Reveal Comment

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