Nagoya: History

Pre-20th-Century History

Nagoya rose to power as a castle town in Japan's feudal age. Three of Japan's great historical heroes, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, were born here or nearby; Tokugawa Ieyasu built the castle Nagoya-jō from 1610 to 1614 for one of his sons.

Modern History

Not much of the past remains. During WWII, the city was mostly destroyed by US aerial bombing, which also ruined most of Nagoya-jō. In the decades afterward, Nagoya became a leading example of Japan's phoenixlike rise from the ashes, establishing itself as a high-technology centre in automobiles, aviation, machine tools, fine ceramics and robotics manufacture, as well as a major production centre for Japan's furniture and textile industries.

Recent History

Nagoya continues to claim an idiosyncratic position among Japanese cities, being both an industrial powerhouse and a relatively pleasant, open city. March 2000 saw the opening of Nagoya station, known locally as Meieki, a city in itself with shops, restaurants, hotels and observation decks in two gleaming towers. It's the city's most useful landmark.

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