The exploring continued on day two of my first official weekend. Rather than borrowing my room-mate's bike again, I headed out to the department store near my apartment to buy my own.

Buying a bike in Japan is not as simple as it is at home. Although there is very little crime here, bike theft is a problem. As a crack-down measure, all bikes are registered with the police. Normally, buying something doesn't require any talking, a simple exchange of money will suffice. Registering a product with the police, however, is a different story. Luckily, I had brought a form with my name and address on it, written in Japanese, for the staff to look at. Even so, the process took quite a while. But, about 20 minutes later I was cruising the sidewalk (bikes aren't allowed on the roads here....although riding on the sidewalk often seems more dangerous to me) on my shiny new red bike...all for the low dough price of Y10,000 (about $100). I have named her "The Red Rocket". The basket on the front is particularly nifty (baskets aren't considered nerdy here, as everyone drives granny-bikes with similar baskets).

From the bike shop I heaed towards Sakae, which is the main downtown district in Nagoya. I stopped by a small temple on the way there, just long enough to take a few pictures. From there I went to the TV tower in the centre of town. Rather impressive views from the top; I lucked out in that the sky had cleared by the time I got to the top.

After a half hour of gawking at the city, I headed down to check out another lookout. This one, called "Oasis 21" is not far form the base of the tower, but not nearly as high. It is an oval-shaped structure about ten storeys high, with a giant pool or "Oasis" covering the top (refer to the pictures to get a better idea) .

By this point it had started to get dark. It is often the case that cities become livlier at night. This couldn't be more true in Japan. The lights along the streets are truly amazing. Add to that the fact that it's Christmas and all the trees are decorated and you have a rather beautiful sight.