From Thursday through Saturday our group left Nagoya for a very exciting adventure! With a very early morning start by bus, we first landed at Koito Manufacturing Co. (Shizuoka Factory). Here we received a brief introduction into the world of advance LED headlamps and a short factory tour. I had never really looked at a headlamp beyond the exterior shape, but what goes on inside is amazing and Koito is at the top of the industry producing for Toyota and the top-of-the-line Lexus models as well as LED lighting for the aircraft industry. 
Our group then headed to Yamaha Motors! Here we walked through the factory where it was very
interesting to watch the bikes transform through each stage of the assembly line. The entrance of the factory hosted a beautiful showroom of Yamaha's products and history. While motorcycles are 60% of their products, they also produce marine and snow vehicles, and other power products. I don't know what it is about being in a factory like this one that just
gets my blood pumping... but it is this feeling that is leading my career desires.
After a very long day and probably a little too much time on the bus, we ended in Yokohama for the night. Here we feasted on an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. This was a great chance to try the amazing Japan Chinese food I'd been hearing about. We then spent the night walking around the city and caught a beautiful view of the harbor and city.
Friday was also and early start with our next stop at the Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI). The purpose of this institute is to engage in general research on automobiles. It started as a public-service corporation of a test-research organization intended to contribute to healthy development of the automotive society. JARI's current research fields are related to environment, fuel cell, electric vehicle, intelligent transport system, active safety, crash safety, and economic analysis. Here we toured the facilities and heard about the excellent internship program they offer.
From JARI we headed to Honda Automotive R&D. At Honda, they REALLY went out of their way to cater to our group. We were first given an introduction into their "Indoor Omni-directional Car-to-Car Crash Test Facility". This facility allowed for crash testing from all angles and directions in a highly efficient building design. Our group was even allowed to view the facilities! But!...even better! They arranged for a live crash test just for our group!! We were able to view the crash from the birds-eye control tower centered over the impact site...man it was intense! After the crash we were even allowed to go onto the floor to review the damage. I cannot believe they gave us this opportunity and feel much more knowledge about about the results.
Friday night we headed to Tokyo! We stayed in Asakusa next to the Sensoji temple. Unfortunately we arrived just after closing time and missed the souvenir shops surrounding the promenade (known as Nakamise). We then divided into smaller groups in order to explore the city. There was not much time since the subways close around 11pm, but our group managed to eat a delicious Indian dinner and see the lights of Shinjuko!
Saturday was a very long and winding day on the bus. We spent the day sightseeing at Hakone (at the foot of Mt. Fugi) where there were natural hot springs and we enjoyed an egg boiled in the hot spring water. This area was the result of the eruption of Mt. Kamiyama about 3000 years ago! We then stopped for lunch at Ashinko where we had a beautiful, yet eerie view of Lake Ashi. This area was known for its view of Mt. Fugi, but on a very foggy day, I don't know that any of us realize the mountain was out there.
Due to time and weather we did not make it to our last destination, but it was nice to get back earlier than planned. We were EXHAUSTED! The trip was amazing and we did so much....but we also spent entirely too much time cramped on a bus and had lots of sleep to catch up on. Looking back at the trip, I realize the best part was getting to know our Nagoya University
classmates...really for the first time. They live across town from us (around the University) and we really haven't gotten a chance to talk to those that are not our tutors. They are all a wonderful group of students and I hope we get to spend more time together before the trip is over.
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