Nagoya

Nagoya, Japan's fourth largest city, was formed in 1612 when the construction of Nagoya Castle led to the establishment of a small town.

The Japanese shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, Lord of Nagoya Castle, and his successors encouraged the growth of cultural arts such as Noh and Kabuki theatre, Japanese dance, tea and incense ceremonies and flower arrangement. All of these traditional arts can still be enjoyed in Nagoya today. As a consequence of its cultural history, Nagoya is home to flourishing ceramics, textile, dyeing, and carpentry industries.

Located at the geographic centre of Japan, Nagoya is now an important transportation nucleus. Many of Japan's high-tech industries, including the automobile, aviation, machine tools and industrial robot industries are based in and around Nagoya. In total, the Nagoya area is responsible for approximately 1% of the world's industrial output, as well as being an important convention city known for its high standards of urban design and city planning.

The Nagoya skyline is today dominated by the giant towers of the JR Central project, but there are few other skyscrapers of any size alongside them.