Mazda Museum & Factor Tour

It was so nice to be able to stay at my sister's place for three nights.


We had our own room (this was actually bigger than our room in Kyoto, if you can believe it). The built in storage (which they have in all of the rooms) was nice.

Internet access...yes!

We were able to skype with my parents and the kids.

Even a hot breakfast...yum!


I think my nephew wanted some too.


We had reservations for the English language tour at 10:00 a.m. D was able to visit some co-workers with my BIL while my sister, her son, and I waited in the lobby.

Slick.


I actually didn't notice that j had cars on his shirt until just now. How appropriate.


The Mazdas in Japan go by different names. For example, the Mazda6 is called the "Atenza".


Our tour guide was very informative. I was impressed with the long spiels she had memorized. The (unintentionally) funniest part was when we were riding on a bus, and she noted that the bridge we were passing was "...one of the longest in the world...(dramatic pause)...owned by a company." (No pictures were allowed on the bus).



The old logo.


Funky interior.


This car won the Le Mans 24 hour race.


New employees were taking a tour, too.


Crash test.


Cars of the future.




Future driver.


The best part was at the end, when were able to see the actual production line. I was surprised at how close we were able to be to the action. The combination of robotics and human skill was amazing to watch. It really made you think about how much work goes into making a car.

As a side note, I got a good chuckle out of this sign.