Introduction

Short Introduction

We feel obligated to start off our blog with a short introduction.  Having split much of our time over the past few years between Nagoya and the Midwest (United States), my friend and I thought it would be useful to provide yet another Japanese and American perspective on differences between the two countries.  Due to our experiences, many of our opinions have been shaped by comparing and contrasting the Nagoya area with the Midwest.

Nagoya is often relegated to "third city" status (similar to Chicago) due to its location midway between Japan's two larger metropolitan areas of Kanto (i.e., Tokyo and Yokohama) and Kansai (i.e., Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe).  Due to its industrial base with the nearby Toyota headquarters, Nagoya is often unfairly labelled as less sophisticated and less glamorous than its more well-known neighbors to the east and west.  However, similar to Chicago's growing share of the world's attention due to the next American president, Nagoya is also receiving more attention.

We hope that this blog will shed more light on one of Japan's overshadowed cities by sharing our unique perspectives on Japan and its culture.  Although this blog contains some opinions from an American contributor, most of the content will be written from the perspective of a Nagoyan.