Planes, trains and automobiles (and rain)

Another day in Nagoya, except this time, the weather is ABYSMAL. Rain - consistent, cold, winter rain - all day. Unsure of what exactly to do, I hit Google in the hope of finding enclosed attractions, and I found out that Toyota are largely based in the Nagoya area. This is great for 2 reasons:

1 - The Toyota Automobile Museum is about an hour away by train, and is entirely enclosed
2 - You can book free tours around one of the Toyota assembly plants

The museum made the ideal thing to do on a rainy day, so off I went via a combination of subway and a private railway line (the Linimo, Japan's first MagLev railway - click here for more information).

The Toyota Automobile Museum is not, as you might imagine, a museum of purely Toyota cars. Rather, it traces the history of the automobile from the first steam cars through to the late 1990s (the newest car on display is a prototype Toyota Prius hybrid car). This covers all manufacturers from all over the world, spread over 2 large floors (one for Japanese cars, one for cars from other countries), plus a special exhibit in the annex. The vehicles on display are all lovingly restored and displayed (with both Japanese and English notes, too) and it's all really rather impressive. The only problem is that the lighting isn't great for photos (at least not for small cameras), but it's all very pleasing to the eye and a good way to kill a few hours.

On to point 2, the factory tour. You have to reserve this 2 or more weeks in advance, so I need to look at my dates and find a convenient time. However, from what I hear (and I only hear good things about this), you get picked up and taken to one of Toyota's current production plants. Here you get a guided tour (even in English if you ask) of both the hand-production line, where people work to put cars together, and of the welding plant, where the huge robots work to weld all the major component parts of the chassis together.

The best part? It's free. Absolutely free. I don't know why Toyota feel the need to be so generous, but I'm not going to complain, and I think I'll take them up on the offer. You can't take photos, but obviously you can write about it, so I should be able to put up an entry about that in a few weeks time.

Oh, and while I'm in a technological frame of mind, watch out for the first airplane manufactured by Mitsubishi, currently in development. I got talking to a guy from Chicago last night, who was over here working on Mitsubishi's very first (a 100 seat small passenger aircraft, if you really want to know). It must be a tough market to break into but they're going to try, so if that interests you, keep an eye out.

Anyway, enough of the technological stuff, even if I am in Japan. It just all makes a refreshing change from shrines, temples and castles, at least until Okinawa serves up its mix of tropical waters and mangrove swamps, which should prove to be absolutely beautiful.

Take care everyone,
James