Saturday May 23, 2009

Hikone Castle was the

last cultural visit done in Japan. This castle is the most famous historical site in Hikone, Shiga prefecture and one of the oldest in Japan. The castle tour was very nice and interesting; it is surrounded by a magnificent nature and the castle is build on the top of the hill where you can see Hikone city from above. After the Castle tour, we had farewell dinner with two JCMU representatives where they gave each one of us a certificate from JCMU. After that, our group took the train to Osaka where we spend one night at a hotel close to the airport. Oh my god, this hotel has the smallest room I've ever seen but also has everything what a room need, it was really amazing. At night we walked around Osaka city and had our last dinner in Japan, it was kind of sad because we were recalling everything we did in this trip.

Friday May 22, 2009

Today we did a tour of TOYOTA plant in Nagoya. Toyota has several plants in Japan; the one we visited called Motomachi where they produce three main models: Crown, Mark X and Estima. The plant tour was exciting; we were able to see the welding and assembly process of the cars. The welding process is made by robots that weld about 400 body parts to form a car. The latest welding line can handle multiple models on a single line and produce precisely finished car bodies. As for the assembly process, engines, wheels and other body parts are installed. After being fully assembled, vehicles are tested and verified in the final inspection before being shipped. After the plant visit, we visited the Toyota showroom where we saw the latest car models (Crown, Toyota, Lexus…) and innovations (robots) of Toyota.

Thursday May 21, 2009

Today, we were planning to do a field trip to Osaka and to visit the American Chamber of Commerce and attend a lecture about the Japanese style management. But unfortunately the swine flu in Osaka was spreading by a fast rate in the area and all schools and universities in that region closed what caused the cancellation of our program for today. As a backup plan, we visited the Hikone Chamber of Commerce and Industries (HCCI) where we had a meeting with the Associate Deputy Director of international affairs of Shiga Prefecture and with the Managing Director and Secretary General of Hikone Chamber. In the meeting we learned about Hikone's history and its major industries. After the lecture, our group visited the Hikone old shopping area which has a revitalized down town. There you can find all sort of small shops and restaurants which are really nice, it gives you the feeling of a new old town especially when you walk on the street which is very narrow and the buildings and shops are very close to each others. We visited a shop that sells samurai costumes; it was really fun we started trying those costumes on and took tons of pictures. Also, we visited Mr.Odagaki’s art studio which is located in his nice Japanese house. The Japanese Hospitality is more than great!