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| Nissan Leaf |
Yokohama is home to Nissan Motors and there are several plants producing cars in the area. One of the student field trips was a tour of one of the plants, and there was room for several of us non-students to tag along. One of the models made at this plant is the new Nissan Leaf. We were not allowed to take photos during the tour which is too bad. It was an absolutely fascinating tour and provided a great look at the assembly lines. We were able to see many of the practices that made Japanese industry so efficient and that western manufacturing has tried to emulate. The students got a good look at how manufacturing lines should work. One of the more impressive features was that each manufacturing line built 4 different models of cars. The cars would come down the line, the parts for that model were available at each station and the workers had the knowledge to install the parts regardless of what model came along. It was one of the highlights of the entire 3+ month trip, but it was a short tour and we did not get to see nearly enough of the operation.
While I was taking the Nissan tour, Julie and a friend were shopping in some of the old warehouses in the port area that had been converted into a large craft market. All the stalls were showing off their Christmas selections. It was a nice place to spend time, but nothing there that she considered worthy of hauling back to the U.S. We all met back at the ship in time to have dinner and be on deck for our departure to Hawaii.
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| Leaving Yokohama |
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