Aimee`s Adventures In Japan: October 2004

Morizo! I LOVE YOU!

AICHI GEIJIN RA RA.... !

So we had an awesome soccer tournament this past weekend. All the JETs in a bunch of prefectures get together every year and play in this tournament. It began with a long bus ride which started late in the evening on Friday from Nagoya and ended about 7 1/2 hrs later...

And we played bright and early at 9:30am.

Nicole and cracked open the drinks around 11:00am.

By 5:00pm we were curled up on the grass sleeping.

Around 9:00pm we were back in action at the bar.

But enough about that... The soccer tournament was on an island just south of Honshu, and we stayed in a cute little hotel right on the water. It was humble... we all slept in big rooms on futons. It was like one big slumber party!

The pitch was right along the ocean, so the breeze was wonderful and so was the view. I saw my first jellyfish ever sitting on the rocks by the water! SO COOL!

The pitch was also the acclaimed practicing site of the England football team... so Beckham's picture was hanging near our field. Pretty cool.

So although our cheering section was by far the best in the whole tournament, Aichi didn't win the cup... BUT we did the consolation plate! WHOO HOO! GO AICHI! We beat Shonai by 1 goal. The goalie caught the ball and then let go of it, and it rolled over the line. The refs almost didn't count it... but us cheerleaders were wooing Luke the sideline flag-boy and I think that helped us get the call passed in our favour!

It was a blast as always to see everyone...

This weekend I hope to get up to the mountains for some sort of forest festival which will include music and other activities... should be a good time!

Till next time... adieu!

The guys warming up for our first game!

Some of the gang at the party... it was kind of a drag, so we headed back to the hotel for our own little party... which involved a curious cherry booze drink that Jim made, and 3 or 4 attempts at playing several card games.

Will loses his pants... Nice plaid shorts!

Nicole the proud soccerball mother to be... She plans to bottle feed...

The boys warming up for the next game...

Which way to the beach?

Awww.... they're so genki!

The biggest suspension bridge in the world...

166 more days till EXPO 2005 AICHI!!

Me in my slick convertable...

The Toyota Car Factory

A few weeks ago I went to Toyota for a tour of the Toyota Car Plant. It was extremely impressive and very interesting. I was able to see the assembly line, the welding shop, and take a tour of the exhibition hall and museum.

------------- I also got to test drive the Prius, which is the latest Toyota hybrid car!

The highlights of the tour included learning about the factory's card system for making parts. Due to Japan being a small country, and land being very expensive, Toyota cannot afford (and neither can the country) to have warehouses storing car parts in them, so they only make parts on a need only basis. When a part is used, its card and empty box is picked up, sorted, and put in to a truck to be refilled. That way there is no excess materials being wasted. -- Very smart!

Toyota was founded by Mr. Toyoda. The reason why the company is called "Toyota" and not "Toyoda" is because of 3 reasons:

1. Toyota sounds better.
2. He believed that family and business should be seperate. The company was not for the family, but for all of Japan, so he wanted it to be different from the family name.
3. The kanji (Chinese characters) for Toyota looks like a mountain. It stands tall, and fans out at the bottom, which symbolizes success and looking foward to the future. When you spell Toyota in katakana (Japanese characters) it is 6 characters long, which is the number of good luck in Japan.

The Japanese put a lot of thought these sort of things.

Another insteresting fact about Toyota cars... they have organic materials in them. They use hibiscus plant as part of an isulation material in the bottom floor of the car to reduce cabin noise. Strange eh? There are fields of hibiscus in Indonesia grown just for Toyota. -- Hmmm, I dunno how I feel about that... but it's interesting.

We also got to have lunch with the head of PR and discuss anything we wanted to with them quite candidly... They were very friendly, and the lunch was AWESOME.

The Prius test drive was really the highlight of the day. The hybrid car runs on both gas and electricity. The car's key is a small black box that you insert into the ignition. You then press a button to turn it on; it's much like turning on a desktop computer. With your foot on the break, you move a small joystick down to "D" for drive, and it quickly bounces back up to where is previously rested - again, it felt like a computer game controller. The odd thing is that the car doesn't sound like it's on because when the car is started it only runs on electric. When you excelerate the gas engine turns on, and when you brake or stop, it turns off. It was a very smooth and quiet ride!

Most Japanese cars have navagational systems in them now which pop up on small tv sets to help you find your way on the road. These systems can also play tv stations, and also help you find resturants etc. Sometimes they can even show you the menu and order for you so that your food is waiting for you when you arrive at the store!!! Cool eh?

These hyrbid cars also park themselves! Yes, that's right, it will parallel park for you!!! Yay! I hate parallel parking. The car has small cameras in the back that will naviagte you to safety. Mind you, the person driving is still needed: you are in control of the gas and breaks, but the car does all the wheel turning on it's own!

It was a lot of fun driving, especially because it was the first time in over 2 mths that I had driven, and it was on the opposite side of the road! That took some getting used to!

Anyways, Toyota is getting ready for the Aichi Expo 2005 because they will have their site at the car factory. They are very environmentally geared right now because of it. The hybrid car will be the star of the show. -- That, and the buses that DRIVE THEMSELVES!

For those of you who don't already know what the Aichi Expo is... It's a world environment expo which will run from March-September 2005 in Nagoya and a few other sites in Aichi to discuss ways in which the modern world can live in harmony with the earth and it's natural resources.

I have fallen in love with the mascots of the Aichi Expo, Kiccoro and Morizo. They are the cutest. Check out the Expo website for more info: http://www-1.expo2005.or.jp/en/

Till next time...

Me in an old Ford... It was such a fun ride.

Classy...

A *beautiful* head ornament from the 1930's.

A Stanley Steamer!!!

A 3-wheel car that looks like something George Jetson would drive...

A strange sort of motorbike...

Some of my students from the Junior HIgh checking out West Elementary's Sports Festival last weekend.

Tokyo Drifter

I wrote a big long blog entry, and then my STUPID Internet Explorer miffed it up and erased it by refreshing the page. ARGH!!!

So I am too frustrated to re type everything...

Point form version:

1. Went to Tokyo for 3 days to visit my friend Matt.
2. Took the shinkansen (bullet train) - very expensive, but very fun and very fast.
3. Went to the Museum of Western Art - saw an exhibition on Matisse, and also checked out the main collection which included Monet's Water Lilies, and a few Picasso's, Renoir's, and Pollock's.
4. Went to the Pentax camera museum in Shinjuku, met a cool Japanese girl who has studied photography in N.Y. and hung out with her for the afternoon.
5. Went to Meiji Shrine in central Tokyo -- very beautiful.
6. Went to Shibuya and Harajuku. Shopping district and the site of the youth culture in Tokyo. The kids dress up like it's halloween everyday of the year.
7. Went to a rotating sushi bar where the sushi rides by you on plates. SO GOOD.
8. Went to Tower Records which has 6 floors of music. One floor is completely devoted to Indie music... I was in heaven... bought an amazing new album.

--- The end.

This weekend I went to Nagoya and met up with a bunch of JETs and a friend of mine from Canada who is is also a JET who lives about 2 hrs north of Tokyo... We went out for karaoke. He's pretty into it... sings like he's on American Idol. We did a dramatic duet together to the Bangles song "Eternal Flame" --- "Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling..." SOOooOOooo circa 1987.

Anyways... hope everyone is well!