By express train (not bullet train) Nagoya is only 2.5 or 3 hours away from Amagasaki, so we went to visit for a day and a half. We had lunch at her cousin's okonomiyaki restaurant. Her aunt is a waitress there, so we got to meet her as well. They were very sweet to us, and gave us free ice cream. Okonomiyaki is cooked like a pancake, on a griddle, except the batter is filled with cabbage, onion, meat, seafood, etc. It's topped with a sweet sauce, mayonnaise, and dried fish flakes. Bob's okonomiyaki was shaped like a heart. 
As we were leaving, her cousin recommended we go see the Nagoya Daibutsu (statue of Great Buddha) at a temple nearby. The temple itself looked like it had come from South Asia, not Japan-- there were statues of elephants all around, and the altar was gilded and very ornate. Japanese temples tend to go more for the simplicity-is-beauty aesthetic. We walked around the inside of the temple, where there were many framed documents on the wall proving the temple's connection to Sri Lanka. I'm not sure why there was a Sri Lankan-style temple in the middle of Nagoya, but it was really neat to see. It was so different from the other temples I've seen. And the Great Buddha himself was quite impressive.
Then we went to a park in the city center, with a large viewing platform, several stories high, from which we watched the sunset. We had dinner reservations for 7:30, so we had some time to kill. First we found a hotel for the night, and then Kayoko took us to a huge 100-yen store, where we happily wandered around for quite some time. For dinner, we went to a Moroccan restaurant called Casablanca. It's been such a long time since I had Middle Eastern or Mediterranean food! I read in my Japan guidebook that there was a Moroccan restaurant in Nagoya with belly-dancing shows on the weekends, and I immediately asked Kayoko if she wanted to go. I don't think she had eaten that type of food before, but I think she liked it. We all ordered a set meal, so we were in there for at least 2 hours, watching the show and finishing all the food they brought us.The next day, Bob and I headed out to the Tokugawa Art Museum. The Tokugawa clan was from Nagoya, and the museum is a display of Edo-period life. The best part was that most of the items were displayed in context-- for instance, there was a reconstructed teahouse inside the museum, in which the tea wares were all set up. The next room had a real Noh stage,
around which were displayed costumes, props, and masks. It made it easy to see how everything was used. They also had an impressive collection of swords, samurai armor, scrolls, and books. Some of the scrolls dated from the Heian period (794- 1185 AD) but most objects were a bit newer, usually from the 17th century. Afterwards, we met up with Kayoko and her uncle for lunch. One of the local specialties of Nagoya is kishimen-somen, a type of wide, flat noodle. You can't really go anywhere in Japan without hearing about all the local specialties, and Kayoko insisted we had to try kishimen-somen. It was quite tasty-- apparently you can't get these noodles anywhere else in Japan. Although Kansai is definitely my favorite region in Japan, the Nagoya/ central Japan region also has a lot to offer. I hope I get to go back sometime- I really want to visit Nagano and the Japanese Alps.
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