... and sort of had a plan!
A long time dream got fulfilled recently, I went to Japan!
Most of the trip was for stuff like this:
of which i won't bore you guys with too much.
it was part of a trip with 110 rollercoaster enthousiasts who listen to a Dutch podcast about themeparks, but there where some days in the schedule free to do your own stuff.
So on 1 free day, i took a Shinkansen from Osaka to Nagoya, rented a car there and drove around interesting bits i circled beforehand.
First stop in the mighty Toyota Roomy: Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, a musuem which shows the history of Toyota and the whole change to producing cars. Including some still 'working' machines from the production lines of times gone by!
Designing and prototyping the first Toyota, the AA, in the 30s.
And the production line making them
Toyota Starlet block machining line
Steps in making forged rods, one machine was 'running' after a press of a button to stamp the rods.
Then i went on to the Toyota Automobile museum, where a replica of the first Toyota is (the only surviving real one, as far as is known, is in a museum in the Netherlands)
Nice collection of cars, but the museum itself is quite small. Interesting visit, but wouldn't go here just for this museum.
Weird to find a French car wearing Dutch plates in a Japanese Toyota museum.
The oldest Datsun believed to be still around, 1932!
After walking around for an hour, i had their 'famous' factory curry in the museum cafe and went on with my day
Sorry for the stupid portrait picture, but i totally forgot to make some decent photo's here:
Did get some parts to fix my broken Suzuki Cappuccino from this UpGarage though, so that's a win!
After that i went to a famous AE86 shop to get some parts for ivan141 and my cars, sadly he didn't have the stuff in stock i wanted, but did get some parts for Ivan his AE86, and a look in a very cool, oldschool partsshop!
After a little chat about cool old cars via Google Translate, i went to my last stop of the day:
Nothing can prepare you for the sensory overload that is a Japanese superstore...
Everything beeps and bongs at you, talks to you, or is blinking all of the lights.
Took the hire car back (just in time, i maximised the 12 hour i had the rental car for!)
I took the Shinkansen back to Osaka and had a look at my haul of the day
AE86 rearview mirror, Nardi wooden steering wheel, forged pistons for a Cappuccino and some stickers.
All in all, a great day!
The next couple of days consisted of more of this:
A long time dream got fulfilled recently, I went to Japan!
Most of the trip was for stuff like this:
of which i won't bore you guys with too much.
it was part of a trip with 110 rollercoaster enthousiasts who listen to a Dutch podcast about themeparks, but there where some days in the schedule free to do your own stuff.
So on 1 free day, i took a Shinkansen from Osaka to Nagoya, rented a car there and drove around interesting bits i circled beforehand.
First stop in the mighty Toyota Roomy: Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, a musuem which shows the history of Toyota and the whole change to producing cars. Including some still 'working' machines from the production lines of times gone by!
Designing and prototyping the first Toyota, the AA, in the 30s.
And the production line making them
Toyota Starlet block machining line
Steps in making forged rods, one machine was 'running' after a press of a button to stamp the rods.
Then i went on to the Toyota Automobile museum, where a replica of the first Toyota is (the only surviving real one, as far as is known, is in a museum in the Netherlands)
Nice collection of cars, but the museum itself is quite small. Interesting visit, but wouldn't go here just for this museum.
Weird to find a French car wearing Dutch plates in a Japanese Toyota museum.
The oldest Datsun believed to be still around, 1932!
After walking around for an hour, i had their 'famous' factory curry in the museum cafe and went on with my day
Sorry for the stupid portrait picture, but i totally forgot to make some decent photo's here:
Did get some parts to fix my broken Suzuki Cappuccino from this UpGarage though, so that's a win!
After that i went to a famous AE86 shop to get some parts for ivan141 and my cars, sadly he didn't have the stuff in stock i wanted, but did get some parts for Ivan his AE86, and a look in a very cool, oldschool partsshop!
After a little chat about cool old cars via Google Translate, i went to my last stop of the day:
Nothing can prepare you for the sensory overload that is a Japanese superstore...
Everything beeps and bongs at you, talks to you, or is blinking all of the lights.
Took the hire car back (just in time, i maximised the 12 hour i had the rental car for!)
I took the Shinkansen back to Osaka and had a look at my haul of the day
AE86 rearview mirror, Nardi wooden steering wheel, forged pistons for a Cappuccino and some stickers.
All in all, a great day!
The next couple of days consisted of more of this:
