In Nagoya the second place I went was the Toyota history museum. I had read good things about it, and it was one of the stops on the tourist bus loop, so I thought I would give it a try even though cars aren't really my thing. It turned out to be really interesting!
I didn't know that Toyota started as a loom company, and was originally called Toyoda. Automatic shuttle replacement on looms was their goal, and there were many prototypes of different looms and mechanisms to do it!
First they shows how cotton was cleaned and turned into thread. It was pretty cool, and you could touch it at each stage and see how it got soft and spun up. Also, most of the machines had a button that would make them go, or an attendant that would do it for me! I love to interact with things!
This machine is the workings of the one above. It cleans the cotton and puts it into batting-like sheets.
These looms were all connected together, about 9 of them. They made a lot of noise when they were going. The straps go up to the ceiling and are wound around a shaft driven by motors to make them all go. The cloth hanging in the front is an example of what these looms made.
This loom made patterns in the fabric by using these punch cards. It was pretty amazing technology for the time really!
This is an example of a much more modern loom. Times sure have changed!
Moving into the car area there was one huge room with many models of cars from the early days of Toyota until modern cars like the Prius. There was also some examples of the machinery that puts together the cars on the assembly line. There was one guide who was really excited for me to push all the buttons to make them all go at the same time! It was exciting!
There were lots of examples of motors. Also, one of them showed how the motor moves in different ways in different gears - I found it quite informative.
There was also some examples of the instruments they used early on to make sure that the materials (mostly metals) that they were using were of the right strength, hardness and malleability. I was very interested in these old time-y instruments!
Here is another look at the assembly line robot area. It was huge!
Here is one of the oldest cars they had there. It was meant to mostly be a taxi, which is why the backseat is so roomy. One of the museum guides opened the doors for me and told me all about the car, and then she honked it's very loud horn! The guides were so nice, they would let you look into any car that you asked to!
On my last day in Nagoya it poured rain all day. This ruined my plans to go to a park with a waterfall, but it did give me a chance to go to Nagoya's giant science museum that houses what it claims is the world's largest planetarium (it has a diameter of 35 meters). It sure does look impressive!
I thought this was cool, it is a schematic of how a sewing machine works! I watched it for a while - it always amazes me how simple they really are!
It wasn't long before I found my corner of the museum! Look at all those molecules! I think the way they displayed them make it look so cool!
They even had a periodic table of actual elements (except the radioactive ones, of course!) I spent a lot of time looking at some of the more obscure ones that I have never seen before.
I had to see the planetarium, and it was quite impressive. The stars looked so real! But, with the presentation in Japanese and the reclining chairs and the dark, I fell asleep about half way though! Oops! But when I looked around at the end, I saw I wasn't the only one!
Osu Kannon Temple was within walking distance to my hotel, so I spent Sunday afternoon/evening there. There was a long line to go inside and ring the gong like thing. People prayed first, but I just threw a few coins in the box and shook the rope that hit the gong.
There was some really cool graffiti/street art near the temple.
Also near the temple was a
huge shopping arcade. I browsed in all the shops and ate small snacks at a few different stands instead of having a regular dinner. I love a shopping arcade!
In all, I had a great time in Nagoya! I don't usually tend to visit bigger cities, so it was a nice change. Also, the level of English signage and maps and overall support was really helpful to me! I would definitely recommend it!
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