Wednesday 10/6 and Wednesday 8/7:
Part of the YSEP program consists of something called Factory Study Tours, or FST. Every second week or so, we all go inn a buss to some factory, and learn about the Japanese industry. I am gone write a little bit about our last two study tours, just because they brought us to some interesting places.
First up is JAXA, Japans Aerospace Exploration Agency, just like NASA or ESA. I have always been interested in astronomy and space exploration since I was a kid (I even wanted to be an astronaut at one point, but then who haven’t wanted to do that), so it was it was pretty fun to get to visit an actual agency
And here are the pictures.
Their mascot Roketto-kun and & (Shing)
space Yakitori!
Next up is our visit to Asahi brewery. We got the normal guided tour true the factory, and my immediate impression was that this factory had some money. It was very pretty, in the middle of a huge park and all new and stylish. I guess Japanese people are good customers, or actually I know they are.
The high point of this study tour was the free beer tasting at the end. 20 minutes “nomihodai”, the shortest I have ever had. I couldn’t stomach drinking that fast, but some people made the most out of it, and the atmosphere changed for the better pretty rapidly. I won’t mention names, but the Koreans were pretty hard on the bottle : P
After getting us drunk, they sent us of to the gift shop of course, pretty cunning. Whenever Japanese people go anywhere, for any reason, they bring back “omiyage”, or souvenirs for they friend. Usually some sort of snack, cracker, food or candy wrapped in a pretty box with the theme of the trip printed on it.
Somehow half of us (not me) ended up buying a t-shirt with the writing “you and your beer” on it…
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