Nagoya's story begins long before its castle. The ancient Atsuta Shrine, dating to roughly 100 AD, is said to house the legendary sword Kusanagi no Tsurugi, one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan, making it the second-most venerable shrine in the country after Ise Grand Shrine. But the city's decisive moment came in 1610, when Tokugawa Ieyasu relocated the capital of Owari Province from Kiyosu to a more strategic position here. Some 60,000 residents moved with the castle, and the town of Nagoya was born. Three titans of the Sengoku period -- Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu -- all came from the greater Nagoya area, and the decisive 1560 Battle of Okehazama, where Nobunaga defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto against long odds, took place just outside the modern city limits.

By the early twentieth century Nagoya had transformed into an industrial powerhouse. Mitsubishi Aircraft Company set up operations here in 1920, and the region's factories would go on to produce between 40 and 50 percent of Japan's combat aircraft during the Pacific War, including the famous Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter. That output made Nagoya a prime target: American bombing raids beginning in 1942 eventually destroyed nearly a quarter of the city, including Nagoya Castle, which was serving as a military command post when it burned on May 14, 1945. The castle was painstakingly restored by 1959, its famous golden kinshachi dolphins gleaming atop the roof once more. That same year, the devastating Ise-wan Typhoon flooded and severely damaged the city, testing its resilience yet again. Nagoya rebuilt both times, earning a reputation as one of the most tenacious cities in Japan.

Modern Nagoya is the engine room of Japan's export economy. Toyota, Lexus, Denso, and a constellation of automotive suppliers have headquarters in and around the city, and the Port of Nagoya is Japan's largest by international trade value, handling much of Toyota's global shipments. The aviation tradition continues as well: Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation is headquartered at Nagoya Airfield in Komaki, and the surrounding region remains a center for aerospace manufacturing. But the industrial story runs deeper than cars and planes. Nagoya's ceramic heritage stretches back centuries, with traditions in Seto ware and Tokoname ware feeding into modern industrial ceramics by companies like NGK. The Noritake porcelain factory, open to visitors, bridges old craftsmanship and industrial scale. Even the world's largest train station by floor area -- Nagoya Station -- serves as a daily reminder of the city's role as a transportation linchpin.

UNESCO designates Nagoya a "Design City," and the distinction is well earned. Under the patronage of the Owari branch of the Tokugawa clan, arts flourished for sixteen generations. The Tokugawa Art Museum holds designated national treasures, including some of the oldest scrolls of The Tale of Genji. The city's artisan traditions -- Arimatsu tie-dyed fabrics requiring up to twelve months of knotting, hand-painted wax candles, silk Yuzen dyeing, and the cloisonne enamelware called shippo -- are not museum relics but living crafts. Nagoya even gave its name to the most commonly worn obi sash in Japan, invented by a local seamstress in the 1920s and popularized by Tokyo's geisha. Every month, the Nagoya Noh Theater stages performances in a tradition stretching back to the feudal lords, and the world premiere of the original Godzilla film took place here on October 27, 1954.

Nagoya-meshi is a culinary world unto itself. Tebasaki chicken wings glazed in sweet sauce and showered with sesame seeds, miso katsu pork cutlets drenched in rich red miso, kishimen flat noodles in light soy broth, hitsumabushi grilled eel served three different ways in a single meal -- the local food culture is bold, unapologetic, and unlike anything found in Tokyo or Osaka. The city pulses with festivals year-round: the June Atsuta Festival at the ancient shrine, the July Port Festival, and the October Nagoya Festival fill the streets with floats, performances, and crowds. Nagoya is set to host the 2026 Asian Games, becoming only the third Japanese city to hold the event after Tokyo in 1958 and Hiroshima in 1994, adding another chapter to a story that stretches from samurai battlefields to the cutting edge of modern industry.