Nagoya Take 4

Yesterday, we took a quick trip to Nagoya.  I think we are still recovering from our busy week long trip, so we took it easy.  We visited the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology.  The museum starts with a huge room that tells the story of the textile industry and how Toyoda first made looms and sold them.  They explained how different fabrics are made and had a demonstration showing how cotton is spun into thread.  It was pretty cool.  They had glass thread that is used for fire retardant curtains.  They also had a bunch of looms that they would turn on and we could see how cloth is made.  It’s pretty interesting to see how much work it was back in the day to make cloth and the technological advancements.  It gave me a new appreciation for my clothes.  This was the part of the museum I found the most interesting. 

Different raw materials- like cotton, flax, silk, etc. 

Demonstration of how cotton was made into thread.

More advancements on processing cotton.

  Then, the museum transitioned into the automotive industry.  The eldest son of Toyoda traveled to the US and Europe and saw how much automobiles were used and how behind Japan was in its use of automobiles.  So, he decided they should start making cars.  At first, because of the war, the government only wanted them to make trucks even though they wanted to make passenger cars.  We got to see how they took apart a Chevrolet and combined what they liked about different cars into what they were making.  The first truck they made wasn’t very good, so they set out to make many improvements.  The loom and the automobile business ended up separating and the name eventually changed from Toyoda to Toyota.

 There was a section displaying different engines and components of engines and how they worked.  I was thinking that my brother and dad would have loved this part.  They also had demonstrations of how the cars are manufactured in the factory. They had one new hybrid model of car that they are working on that should be able to travel 24 km on electricity.  It was a very large museum and we enjoyed it.

What their first car looked like.

Row of different engines.

How cars are made in the factory.

This is the new hybrid car they are developing.

Robots that play instruments.
Unfortunately, we missed the performing times.

 We then visited Tokugawa-en which is a garden.  Although the reviews on tripadvisor were very positive, I don’t think those people have been to many Japanese gardens because this one was nothing special.  We spent a little time there and then just came back home.