Toyota Factory Tour!!

At breakfast this morning, Ken still hadn't opened the jam. Rawr. I really want jam. I was thinking about trying to open it under hot water, but it wasn't worth it. I just had peanut butter on my bread. I'm seriously craving jam though!

I ate alone again today, but while Yuko was doing the dishes, I told her I was going to the Toyota Factory today. She thought that was really cool and told me she and Ken have never been.

When I left for school, it was pouring outside. Sadness. 

I decided today would be the day I finally got a bike pass. So I did it! It was a bit hard communicating with the bike worker, but I managed to figure things out. Filling out the form was really easy because I've filled out so many of those! I know now to always put "26" in for the year instead of "14" because Japan counts years based on the emperors. When I first came here and didn't realize that, I was confused as to why the forms I had to turn in were all due in 2026 lol.

I bought a pass for a month. It should be 1300 for students, but it ended up costing me 1700 because of the stupid tax increase. But at least I'll still be saving a lot of money!

Then I hopped on the 8:07 train to school.

I made Kondo sensei laugh in class again today. She filmed us reading this folky ale the past two days and told us today that well be watching it tomorrow. Ugh. I hate seeing myself on camera. So I was all like "ashita yasumu tsumori desu." 

(I plan to be absent tomorrow)

And she thought that was funny and told me not to do that haha.

I was like "nanchatte!"

When class ended at 10:50, I ran to the cafeteria to get misokatsudon!! And guess what??

For some reason they gave us 6 slices of katsu today instead of the usual 4! Omg! It was awesome!!

And then because I really wanted to try the sweet potato ice cream Minju had gotten yesterday, I went to Lawson's to buy some.

When I got back to the table, everyone thought it was super awesome and wanted to know if it tasted good.

It's so cool because it actually looks and tastes like a sweet potato! It was delicious!!

(Looks like a sweet potato! Since Asian sweet potatoes are yellow inside)

(It had sweet potato flavored jam inside too! Mmmm so good!)

Ah it was amazing! I'm gonna have to get it again sometime. Although I want to try the red bean ice cream too.

After lunch, Esteban and I went to watch Departures, this week's movie for Folklore in the library. We did it together, so we got a big flat screen tv, because they're reserved for pairs! 

We were only able to watch 20 minutes of it, but it seemed pretty interesting so far.

Then we went over to the CJS building to meet up for the field trip. They had a giant bus for all of us. I sat next to Emma.

(Bus selfie!)

And we were off! It took about an hour to get to the factory. 

At the factory, we got out and met our tour guide. She showed us some of the new Toyota cars and gave a history of the company. She spoke in all Japanese, but luckily the displays were all also in English. We also saw a movie of the base of the car being made. They dumped all the bases in a huge bucket of paint so they were painted too! We didn't spend too long in there before we got on the bus to drive over to another part of the factory. We probably could have walked but maybe they drove us because it was raining?

In the next area, we actually got to see the robots making the cars! It was pretty cool. We weren't allowed to take pictures though. :(

They said white was the most popular color for cars in Japan, and there sure were a lot of white cars! All the cars we saw being made were only one of three colors: white, silver, or black. Weird. We noticed one guy applying the rubber trim to the inside of the doors!

My second favorite part of the factory was the little hands on games they had to show you what it's like to work in a factory. There were various things you had to do in a certain time limit, so it was a race against the clock. The one Emma and I played was one where you had to flip these pieces that were red on one side and yellow on the other so that the opposite color showed. Like if they all started out red, you had to make them all yellow. It was hard! Emma beat me, haha and managed to do it in the 14 second time limit.

There were some other games that we didn't get a chance to play. But we did try this rope game where you had to wind the rope around different pegs in a certain direction and order. That was really hard too!

Then we watched more cars being made. At the end of the tour, when we walked outside the factory, there were some cars on display. This was my favorite part because there was a hot pink car!! It was so beautiful! I really wanted a picture with it, but they still wouldn't let us take pictures even though we were outside. But they did take a picture of all of us in front of it!!

There was also a car with all these tiles glued on it. The tiles were all signed by factory workers I guessed. And the on the tiles on the front, a cute character was drawn.

Then we all got back on the bus and our tour guide came with us as we headed to the Toyota museum. Here we were allowed to take pictures!

When we first walked in, we saw two cars and two Toyota Partner robots on display. 

One robot was like a moving chair kind if car thing. One of the staff came over and let us sit in it!

(Whoo!)

(It changed colors!)

The other robot was holding a trumpet!

The sign said he would be playing a song in 7 minutes, so while we waited we went over to the car area and took pictures in the cars!

(I liked the color of this one!)

(You couldn't get in this car :/ )

Then we went back over and saw the robot play! He was so cute!!

After he finished his song, we walked around the rest of the museum. 

(Cool car that's wheel chair accessible)

(Racecar that looked used!)

(Cute staff uniforms from the 60s)

(More robots!)

(Hybrid car)

Then there was this awesome driving simulation game! Esteban and I did it together. We each sat in a little fake car. You put a seatbelt on and you had a pedal and a brake. You went through different obstacles like ice on the road, fog, crazy drivers, and flat tires and you had to brake or steer to keep from crashing. It was hard and the chamber shook a ton when you crashed and the seat belt got all tight. I got really good at driving on the ice. I just pumped the brake every so often and by the end I could go over ice patches no problem!

At one part, I drove up a hill on the side of the rode accidentally and my chamber shook like crazy! Everyone watching outside laughed.

(Me failing)

When it was over, I accidentally took off my seatbelt too soon and my car thing tipped sideways, haha. It was still crooked after I got out!

We didn't have much time so not everyone got to try the simulation, which sucked. :/

Then Emma (who'd gone before Esteban and me) and I walked back over to the lobby area.

(We took this picture)

(And I took this one)

Then the robot with the trumpet started playing again. He played Over the Rainbow!! Here's a movie I took of it:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=TLuGy3Y9J3Y

The lady working there told us he actually had lips and released air, so he was really playing the trumpet!! So awesome!

Then it was time to go. There was a lot of traffic, so it took a while to get to Akaike Eki. Emma got off at Akaike because it was closer to her house than Nanzan. I ate this apple pie thing I bought from Lawson's earlier (for the bear sticker) because I was getting kind of hungry. It tasted just like American apple pie!

Then the bus took those of us not getting off at Akaike back to Nanzan. From there, Rana, Rafa, this guy Joe, Esteban, and I took the subway. Everyone but Esteban and me got off at Aratama Bashi. Then Esteban and I travelled together the rest of the way home. The train home was delayed and then when we got on, it was really packed. Mendokusai! (That means suckish. Like taihen, but it's an adjective).

At home, as I was about to open the door, Yuko came out. She was going to pick Miya up from Kumon, I think. She asked me if it was raining. It had finally stopped!

Ken was already home. Yuko came back with Miya shortly after. I did my homework, which was a sakubun about some holiday in the US (I chose the 4th of July). Then we had dinner.

We had curry for dinner. Mmmm. I'd been craving that recently!

During dinner I told everyone about the Toyota factory and museum.

Then I finished my homework and went to sleep. I was pretty tired from the field trip!

(Oyasumi nasai!)