JR Central Towers, Nagoya Station

Nagoya was never top on the list of my travel destinations in Japan. I had heard about the Toyota Automobile Museum, which sounded interesting; however, for me the area remained the manufacturing belt of Japan and I didn't consider it as a big time tourist destination.

So I actually came here for a business trip the first time. Thanks to some changes in my meeting schedule I ended up having a complete day to myself and decided to look for some interesting spots to visit. JR Central Towers, right at the bullet train station Nagoya, turned out to be a perfect place for a panoramic view across the city.

Entering the JR Central Towers building I took the elevator to the 12th floor, where the staff guided me to a second elevator to the 51st floor, the so-called Panorama Salon. It's an esthetic space, including a wine lounge, a beauty salon and a cafe—all the modern lifestyle facilities with a beautiful view of Nagoya city from on high. Enjoying a cup of coffee and the beautiful view of Nagoya Castle in the distance I waited for the sunset to take some more pictures of the surroundings.

The night view attracts quite a few people to the the so-called Sky Street on the 15th floor, an observation space from where the traffic action in front of the station below is much more visible than from the very top.

The traffic action was too tempting and I made a little time-lapse video. Watch it in HD for best effect. Enjoy!

The main traffic in Nagoya slows down considerably around 9 pm, so make sure you catch the view before the city goes into 'sleep mode'.

After that I wandered through the nearby streets. I took pictures of the JR Central Towers from street level, and for a second I felt like being in the skyscraper neighborhood of Shinjuku in Tokyo.

If you happen to pass through Nagoya to visit the castle or the Gifu mountains further north, it's definitely worth to visit the towers for the great view and some nice food and coffee.