Nagoya

In 1612, shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa established Nagoya by permitting his ninth son to build a castle here. Industry and merchant houses sprang up in the shadow of this magnificent fortress, as did pleasure quarters for samurai. Supported by taxing the rich harvests of the surrounding Nobi plain, the Tokugawa family used the castle as its power center for the next 250 years.

After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, when Japan began trade with the West in earnest, Nagoya developed rapidly. When the harbor opened to international shipping in 1907, Nagoya's industrial growth accelerated, and by the 1930s it was supporting Japanese expansionism in China with munitions and aircraft. This choice of industry was Nagoya's downfall; very little of the city was left standing after World War II.

Less than two months after the war, ambitious and extensive reconstruction plans were laid, and Nagoya began its remarkable comeback as an industrial metropolis. Today Nagoya is home to 2.2 million people living in a 520-square-km (200-square-mi) area.

Nightlife

Sakae-cho has a high concentration of restaurants and bars. By day couples and families pack its streets, flitting between boutiques and department stores, but at night the area fills mostly with patrons of shady bars called "snacks." Unless you've got a lot of cash to burn, avoid such places.