Toyota Kaikan

We went on a tour of the Toyota Plant on today. Nanzan carted a group of fifty students to the one of the factories. We weren't allowed to the take pictures. I'd never been to an auto plant before, and it was a pretty cool experience. The cars were welded by Terminator-cum-Matrix machines, and I was fascinated by the assembly line. Seeing how many different machines, people, and stages are involved in producing just one car was incredible. It makes me want to take an auto class. But I'm now also a little nervous about cars, knowing all the ways in which something could go wrong.

We also went on a tour of Toyota Kaikan, which was basically a bunch of exhibits on Toyota's view of the future. There was the unsurprising "the Prius is good for the environment!" exhibit, the exhibit on how safe Toyota cars are, etc. There were a future interesting vehicles, like this silver chair car that looks like something from Minority Report. 

In the lobby, there was a trumpet playing robot. He seems relatively famous, and there was a video loop of him playing with an orchestra. We got to see the last performance of the day (which I took video of, but wasn't able to upload).

Here's me with the trumpet playing robot:

One of Toyota's concept cars was the one below. I don't remember the name, but they presented it this year. It's the lightest car in the world. 

There was also a showroom of Toyota and Lexus cars. The only appropriate thing to do was climb into the convertible and take pictures. 

New flash! I am Speed Racer: