Toyota Car Factory
On Tuesday I went on a class trip to the Toyota car factory in Toyota city. Before our scheduled tour of the factory we went to the Toyota museum, which had various exhibitions about Toyota’s past, current practices and future plans. The exhibits at the museum were pretty ordinary and I’ve never really been interested in cars. The highlights were two scheduled performances we got to see. The first was of this amazing robot designed by Toyota that can play the trumpet. It performed three songs and the MC for the performance explained the robot’s mouth actually moves like a human’s. We also saw this girl drive around in front of us in this futuristic car that resembled a moon buggy. Rather than using a steering wheel everything is controlled by a touch pad.
We then got on a coach and drove to one of the Toyota factories with a guide. We got a few looks from the Japanese people with us who were obviously surprised that a load of foreigners were taking the tour in Japanese. The tour was overall more interesting than the museum. I was especially impressed how one operation we were shown was done purely by robotic arms working together. We also got to see some “interesting” English on a sign near the exit. In Japanese the sign said politely “Please Don’t Touch” and according to my Taiwanese friend the Chinese was the same. However, the English on the sign was “Keep Your Hands Off”. My English classmate and I found it funny and also enjoyed explaining to the non-English speakers what it meant. Apparently one of the Toyota people heard us making a commotion so maybe they’ll change it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take a photo as taking pictures was banned in the factory.
For lunch we went to a restaurant in the Toyota complex. I had the “Specially Made Lunch” after I couldn’t order my original choice. It turned out to be some fried chicken, spaghetti, a fried egg and some fruit. Definitely one of the blandest meals I’ve had in a long time. We then made our way back home on the train. I think everyone had a good time on the trip and it was good to get out of the classroom for once.
We then got on a coach and drove to one of the Toyota factories with a guide. We got a few looks from the Japanese people with us who were obviously surprised that a load of foreigners were taking the tour in Japanese. The tour was overall more interesting than the museum. I was especially impressed how one operation we were shown was done purely by robotic arms working together. We also got to see some “interesting” English on a sign near the exit. In Japanese the sign said politely “Please Don’t Touch” and according to my Taiwanese friend the Chinese was the same. However, the English on the sign was “Keep Your Hands Off”. My English classmate and I found it funny and also enjoyed explaining to the non-English speakers what it meant. Apparently one of the Toyota people heard us making a commotion so maybe they’ll change it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take a photo as taking pictures was banned in the factory.
For lunch we went to a restaurant in the Toyota complex. I had the “Specially Made Lunch” after I couldn’t order my original choice. It turned out to be some fried chicken, spaghetti, a fried egg and some fruit. Definitely one of the blandest meals I’ve had in a long time. We then made our way back home on the train. I think everyone had a good time on the trip and it was good to get out of the classroom for once.