Day 9: Nagoya

This morning we were up much earlier than at any other day so far, 6am. After a late night last night, it was hardly surprising that we all fell asleep on our first trip on the Shinkansen. We had had our big luggage forwarded for ease of transport and spent about half an hour admiring the speed at which these trains flew past the station whilst waiting for our own. There were quite a few failed attempts to capture a photo of the train as it flew by, but with plenty of more opportunities in this trip, I am sure we will capture an image soon.

Our first stop was Toyota, located conveniently in Toyota City. The museum we first visited showcased Toyota cars, their racing cars, as well as how the Prius works and a trumpet playing robot which played "Over the Rainbow" for us. Everyone took the opportunity to admire and sit in some very high-tech equipment, demonstrating the cutting edge Japan we all imagine.

Lexus in Main Showroom

Alas, only an automatic

Trumpet playing robot

Plugged in Prius

Pretty colour! 

One of the race cars

And the racing gear

Undercarriage of a Prius

Toyota Mobility Device - super comfy actually

After some time spent in the museum, we went on a tour of the Motomachi Manufacturing plant - which makes luxury end cars such as the Crown, Mark X and Estima. During the tour we saw the assembly line - which reminded me of working in Despatch at Bradken - and the welding line - which was performed primarily by robots. The welding line has to be, so far, the highlight of the tour. Watching the robots spring to life as the car bodies moved along the production line, performing movements with efficiency and accuracy, was wonderful. It was also really exciting to be inside a different form of manufacturing plant and observe the ways technology has been integrated to increase efficiency amongst manual labour workers - ideas that could be replicated in other types of plants. 

We had lunch at the restaurant, which was a wide selection of foods inside a bento box. I had various types of chicken, all were delicious although a bit fatty. Afterwards, because we had some spare time, we grabbed a drink from Starbucks and played Old Maid. We were supposed to be heading to the Tokugawa Art Museum, but due to public holidays it was closed. So instead, we went to Nagoya Castle. This castle is in the middle of being rebuilt after it was destroyed in 1945 during US Air Raids but so far the art work and construction is amazing. From the outside it is visually incredible too, with copper roofing and deer living in the moat. We also were able to admire a unique way that umbrellas are stored (as it was raining when we arrived), using a cool little locking system around the handle and your key can only unlock your umbrella. Both Steve and I agreed that it was an incredibly unique castle, very different to the European Castles we had seen in the past.

Emergency Watch Tower

The currently under construction entrance to the housing area

Two tigers on gold leaf - Japan doesn't have tigers so they relied on animal skins to paint these. They assumed females were spotted - very funny.

The meeting room - highest rank sat on highest floor level

Copper Roof turns green with corrosion

Still many pretty autumn colours to be seen

Moat Deer

We were asked to take a photo with these guys - who are apparently local celebrities. They were pretty awesome

Our next stop was a shopping strip and Buddhist temple. Because it was a little late, we didn't go inside the temple and instead spent the next one and a half hours we spent exploring the shopping arcade. Josh and I found a few video game arcade stores and I beat him at a game of Mario Kart.

Buddhist Temple Entrance - you could hear the chanting from outside

Some neat graffiti I saw on my way to the shopping strip

Dinner was incredible. We tasted local delicacies including: fried chicken wings with pepper and sesame seeds,  crumbed pork with sweet miso soy sauce and fresh water eel. Fresh water eel tasted like flathead - so that was actually quite pleasant, although I couldn't eat much of it due to the amount of food that had been served previously. As the dishes are not served concurrently, it is hard to judge how much space you need to leave for the next dish - particularly if you don't know if you will like it or not.

We said goodbye to Nagoya and caught the Shinkansen to Kyoto. We nearly missed out stop though as Kaoru fell asleep and no one was sure if this was our stop. Fortunately they had an English speaking voice over to say Kyoto. The hotel is nice - if the bathroom is a little on the small side. Tomorrow we shall be visiting another castle and then going sightseeing in this ancient city. Fortunately, there is a little bit of a sleep in tomorrow - which I could really use.