Day 13: Cars and a Shinkansen

Monday March 7th, 2011 by Perry van Schaijk

Before going to Toyota everybody ate the breakfast they bought yesterday. This time, we traveled by chartered bus. As we would be going to Kyoto in the afternoon and would not come back to the hotel anymore, everybody had to bring their belongings. With some difficulty we finally managed to fit everything into the bus.

Toyota showed us how they make cars in their factory. The Toyota assembly line is constantly moving, transporting multiple types of cars. Workers and cars stand on the same conveyor belt and so do the tools they use. Every worker has a specific task to complete before the car gets to the next station. Toyota implemented many features to enlarge the throughput of the belt. For example, all boxes containing parts have a light on them. When the light is green, the part is needed in this step and when it is blue it is needed but the worker already picked it up. Another part of the factory housed a practice area where you could test your skills at assembling a car. Most of us tried to do some of these “games” but they proved to be far more difficult than they looked. At the end of the tour we had the opportunity to take a look at the welding shop where we got an impressive view of numerous, simultaneously moving robot arms.

The next item on the agenda was the Toyota museum. At the entrance were two robots, one could actually play the trumpet with his “mouth”. The other robot demonstrated Toyota’s vision on future transportation. Toyota’s vision is that everybody should have his or her own transportation device which can be used in cities and on highways. The rest of the museum showed new technologies of Toyota, including fuel cells, but also showed the history of the company. The end of the tour presented the latest car models Toyota produces.

After Toyota, we moved on to Kyoto. Unfortunately, we had to take a minor detour as a participant had left his suit in the hotel. After riding the Shinkansen once again, the muscles of the participants were tested one last time before entering the hotel as it took many stairs to get to and from the subway in Kyoto. Checking in went smoothly and now everyone is enjoying their free time in a city full of cultural beauty.

Day 12: Traveling Japanese style

Monday March 7th, 2011 by Mike Wilmer

We spent ten days of our time in Japan in Tokyo. We visited quite a few places in Tokyo and although there is much more to see, it was time to continue our journey in Japan to Nagoya.

Since it is a sheer impossibility to travel with a group of 32 people including luggage, we needed to split the group into smaller groups, traveling separately. As the first groups arrived at Tokyo station the Shinkansen (bullet train) was already waiting. This N700 series Shinkansen was a comfortable train to travel with, but more importantly, it was speedy. The ride from Tokyo to Nagoya (about 350 km) took a mere 1 hour and 44 minutes. After storing our luggage in the back of the car we tried to find a place at the right window. Unfortunately these seats where already taken since everyone wanted to see mount Fuji, and so we chose other seats. Another group was lucky enough to obtain a nice spot near the window on the right side. This resulted in some nice pictures of marvelous mount Fuji. Upon arrival in Nagoya, we had to wait for 30 minutes until the whole group was complete again and we could travel to the hotel. After checking in to the hotel everyone was free to explore Nagoya by themselves.

It’s almost midnight as I am writing this post, still enjoying the view from the 14th floor of our hotel. I have not yet heard all of today’s stories from the participants - some of them might still be out - but the next lines present a summary of the stories told by the people who have already returned to the hotel.

Most of the participants left the hotel to visit Nagoya castle. This castle in the center of Nagoya houses a museum and an observation deck. From the small windows of the observation deck a large part of the city can be seen, especially since Nagoya does not have as many skyscrapers as Tokyo does. While the museum told us more about the history of Nagoya and the castle. It also displayed some of the original parts that were saved from the bombings during the second world war.

For a much better overview of Nagoya it was also possible to enter the JR central towers. This headquarters of the Japanese Railway Company was open to the public. The sights were not as good as some of us had hoped for. The top floor was filled with offices and stores. Our quest for the best view led us to Midland Square. This building, even higher than the JR central towers,  had an outside observation deck from where you could look out over the city. Nagoya is seven times smaller than Tokyo but also from this point you could only see buildings. Too large to comprehend.