Biking for Sushi

So, I finally figured out to (mostly) effectively search for food on google maps.  I also found out the name for conveyor belt sushi (回転寿司) so I searched nicely and found a few nice locations.  There are some chains in Nagoya too.  So I decided to go to this one in Kurokawa (dark river?) since I haven't been there yet and was interested how the area looks like.  I always pass under Kurokawa when going downtown by the subway.  Here is the map of the whole voyage (from the awesome iPhone app - iMapMyRide):

You can look at the map at http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/fullscreen/28135672/ .  The numbers in circles are km markers.  So, the whole thing was about 22km today.

Basically, first I set off to find the place.  Getting to Kurokawa was pretty easy, just following the same main road from my place.  Just when I was trying to take the first picture, my camera nicely told me that my battery is dead (should remember to charge that thing more often!).  So, I had to take the pics with my phone - which is not too bad since they are all geo-tagged but they will not look as nice.

Along the road to Kurokawa:

 This is basically Kurokawa.  The thing at the top is 2 levels of highway (Nagoya Expressway #1) which is basically the main highway that goes through town (always quite high in the air).

 This is the sushi place that I found and later went to.  However, it was still only around 4pm and the place opens at 5.  So from there, I set off to go to Sakae to return some movies I rented.

 First, I biked along one of the main Kurokawa roads but didn't find anything really different from the main city centers.

 Found a Honda dealership:

 At the bottom of this (probably) apartment building are stores and an entrance to the Kurokawa subway station:

 Now this was rather interesting.  The 2 levels of highway make a few loops around - not sure why but probably for cars to get on/off without taking much space.

 This is a large canal that I already took quite a lot of pictures of in various parts of town.  It seems to go on for quite a long distance.  In the middle of the highway loops are buildings - good idea!

 Then I started following the main highway road (along the road on the bottom).  Found another location of the belt sushi place from Oasis21 and the mall that I posted pics of in the last food blog:

 I reached the train tracks of a local train and started following them:

 This interesting building is the Nagoya City Municipal Government Museum.  Overall, this is the Shiyakusho area - which houses the city and provincial governments.

 I noticed a familiar tower so I knew I was getting near Sakae.  I've never come this way before so it was interesting.  I basically managed to enter from the back of Oasis21.

 The destination - Sunshine Sakae!

 Once I dropped off the movies, I started heading back up.  But, I took a different route - more towards Nagoya Train Station.

 You can see the on-ramp to the Nagoya Expressway Ring Route:

 The sun was starting to set.  I basically went around Nagoya Castle and Meijo Park.

 This nice street with trees in the middle runs parallel to Nagoya Castle grounds (which are to the left on this picture):

 There is that same canal again near Nagoya Castle:

 This is the intersection near the Sengencho subway station (on the Tsurumai line).  Another highway is above me.

 Then I started following the highway north.  They were fixing the sidewalks and such so it was a bit bumpy.

 From the other side with brand new sidewalks - looks nice.  There were tall apartment buildings all the way along the highway.

I finally made it to the road that connects to Kurokawa.  Then about the 17km mark, I  managed to reach the sushi place.  It was around 5:45pm so the place was rather crowded.  I waited about 10 minutes for a seat.  Then the eating began.  Not sure what this was but tasted ok:

 Some kind of clam - a bit crunchy texture but good:

 Tasty salmon:

 Squids:

 Some salad:

 Tuna:

 Very tasty seared shrimp:

 And some seared white fish:

Altogether, it was 8 dishes - the cost around $17.  Very tasty!

Then I started heading back home.  I took a different route - smaller roads and north of the large road I took before.  Found some large density housing complexes - basically like 10 huge apartment buildings in groups:

And after 17km and a few hours, I made it home with some tasty sushi in my stomach!  Good trip.