Factory and facility tours
Company museums, factories, science museums and breweries: what we learned on a visit
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- Why does Hatcho miso need three tons of stones, giant wooden vats, and more than two years without artificial temperature control? A Kakukyu tour where “the whole village is basically miso”The day in Okazaki was supposed to involve hunting for Tokai On Air-related stickers and manhole-card side quests.
- Where Does Sewage Sludge Go? From “Poop Cake” to Cement, Fertilizer, and Urban Resource CyclesOn September 6, 2026, Nagoya’s METAWATER Sewerage Science Museum was holding a two-day festival with free admission, treatment-center tours, quizzes, and crafts
- Are anime and character manhole covers private? — Nagoya’s 35 kg cast-iron lid led straight into sand molds, robots, naming rights and outsourced museum operationsA decorated manhole cover at a sewer museum raises a simple question: if an anime or character company owns the design, is the manhole itself private?
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- Is Toyota Kaikan fun if you are not a car nerd? From press inspection and giant robots to a ¥20 million LexusA car museum can sound like a place for people who memorize model codes, horsepower figures, and trim levels.
- Why does Hatcho miso need three tons of stones, giant wooden vats, and more than two years without artificial temperature control? A Kakukyu tour where “the whole village is basically miso”The day in Okazaki was supposed to involve hunting for Tokai On Air-related stickers and manhole-card side quests.
- Are anime and character manhole covers private? — Nagoya’s 35 kg cast-iron lid led straight into sand molds, robots, naming rights and outsourced museum operationsA decorated manhole cover at a sewer museum raises a simple question: if an anime or character company owns the design, is the manhole itself private?
- Where Does Sewage Sludge Go? From “Poop Cake” to Cement, Fertilizer, and Urban Resource CyclesOn September 6, 2026, Nagoya’s METAWATER Sewerage Science Museum was holding a two-day festival with free admission, treatment-center tours, quizzes, and crafts
- The Real Instruments Hit Harder Than 108.6 Channels: Two Hours at Yamaha Innovation Road, from Medical-Equipment Repair to VOCALOID Growing Up and BocchiI spent nearly the full two-hour slot at Yamaha’s corporate museum, Innovation Road.
- The Vehicle Yard Looks Bigger Than the Factory, a Scooter Costs Six Months’ Pay, and the Museum Is Free — Suzuki Plaza Beyond ManufacturingThis is part four of the Suzuki Plaza field-report series.
- Build It, Sell It, Scale What Works — Suzuki Has Been Running the Same Business OS Since Its Loom DaysSuzuki Plaza’s third floor looks peaceful: looms. Yet one loom opens into the entire company.
- Raise a Car with Care, Then Throw It at Heat, Crashes, and a Wall-Like Track — Suzuki Plaza’s Brutal Road to RealityIn the previous chapter, a car was born from pencils, Photoshop, 3D modeling, and clay.
- Teenagers and Perverts, Go Work in Manufacturing — Why Engineering Weirdly Looks Like Sex, from Suzuki’s “Sho-Sho-Kei-Tan-Bi” to the Marriage StationOne hour into Suzuki History Museum, the joke starts with a completely serious corporate philosophy:
- How One Pencil Line Becomes a Multi-Trillion-Yen Factory — Why Upstream Decisions Matter So MuchOne hour into Suzuki History Museum and you have barely moved.