Guide to Industrial Tourism in Japan | Hacker News Reader

Guide to Industrial Tourism in Japan

jetro.go.jp

223 pointsrwmj65 comments

You'll have to click through a few sluggish pages to get to the details, but this is great!

https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/eccj/ind_tourism/ohashi_ryoki.htm...

makes 80% of the masu (little wooden box from which you might drink sake). The tour is free, forty minutes long, and the dress code is 'Business attire'

Awesome! I had to wear a tuxedo and formal hard hat to tour the factory making the remaining 20%

Wow, I'd get it if it's a suit, but a tux seems a bit extreme. Did you rent one there? Did they tell you when you signed up for the tour?

I made it up as a joke, sorry

As far as jokes about unusually stringent Japanese formalisms in workplace environments goes… it was a pretty good one. I certainly got a good chuckle once I realised it was a joke.

Ok good one. I'm not even mad, maybe a bit :)

Oh wow, I guess they have relaxed in recent years. When I visited as a youth, it was a white tie affair, with a tail coat and steel reinforced top hat required for men.

This answer is causing me to giggle uncontrollably

Why would they demand this seemingly over the top attire to visit a factory?

I was attempting humor

Totally flew over my head… Japan is so foreign to me I thought maybe it’s just something you do there.

Are there comprehensive websites dedicated to industrial tourism? I've been on a lot of excellent factory tours but rarely think to look for more when I'm in an area.

I remember photographing inside a potato processing plant that had a multimillion dollar automated grading line that was quite amazing to see in action. Workers there seemed shocked when I said that there'd be people who would pay decent money to go behind the scenes. Even the non-automated lines were interesting enough!

Yes I'd love if there were a site to help find these. There's a show called How It's Made that I really enjoy and such tours would be like in-person versions of the show.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0835010/

Ruhr district in Germany has a lot of former industrial sites turned into museums.

Ie.:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Mining_Museum

Will make a pitch for the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry here: https://museumofindustry.novascotia.ca/

The Martin Guitar factory tour in Nazareth, PA is awesome. They really get into every detail of how they make them & you can see pretty much every step of the process. All the gear, all the manual inlays, etc. If you ever find yourself in nearby Bethlehem or Allentown, it's worth the drive.

https://www.martinguitar.com/visit-us.html

I've heard the Dole pineapple canning plant in Hawaii is pretty great.

There's a TV show that airs once a week that explores mostly smaller-scale factories all around Japan, Tanken Factory / 探検ファクトリー. I doubt there are English subtitles for it, but if you understand Japanese, I highly recommend it!

Nice, they're mostly available on a certain Japanese torrent site.

Could you give a brother a hint on how to find this site?

Another brother in need here ^^

Me too, me too!

齒齦鼻音 그리스 눈 ალფა ორჯერ

What is the website? the only popular japanese torrent site I know only has music

There's a popular English show with the same theme: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07mddqk

Paolo fromTokyo (on YouTube) has a bunch of interesting behind-the-scenes videos too (in English).

Made in Japan series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcpuu5BzmasCmuZtP_e8BNlUA...

Japan Day in the Life series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcpuu5BzmasC7cI-B713EY3xd...

Japan Behind the Counter series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcpuu5BzmasDxcvK9jgblzzNz...

I was recently searching the internet for similar resources for the UK. I didn't find what I was looking for. There seem to be quite a few car factories one can visit, but they are geared towards car enthusiasts, which I am not.

I did the Sizewell B tour a few years and it was _awesome_.

Also fascinated by large areas of heavy industry. I.e. Port Talbot, Avonmouth etc. Portsmouth dockyard was good too.

Any tips?? tia

Our very own JGC wrote this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003WUYEN4/ The Geek Atlas: 128 Places Where Science and Technology Come Alive It's not only UK, but also some places in Europe and the US, but has many UK places.

Ooh looks good, thanks for the tip. Have purchased.

> Any tips?? tia

Not sure if it will help you in the very short run but I have found this book in a bookstore in Prague last year: "Industrial archaeology in Britain", and it might just do the trick for you.

Granted, it was written in the late 1960s by the looks of it, but the annexes contain some very interesting maps of industrial-related points of interest from England (mostly), such as canals and all kinds of factories and water- and wind- mills. It also contains some 40+ photos of some industrial thingies themselves. Pretty good value for the money I've spent on it.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Industrial-archaeology-Britain-Pelica...

This looks interesting too, thanks. Not exactly what I was after but still worthwhile. Can't help but wonder if there ids something on my doorstep worth visiting!

I have asked for it as a Christmas present.

I found a slightly later edition in hardback: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142987831794?epid=88241470&hash=i...

My pick for a sight that sounds mundane but is actually fascinating:

https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/eccj/ind_tourism/metropolican_dis...

TL;DR: It's the world's biggest storm drain, hiding under greater Tokyo.

https://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/03/g-cans-tokyos-massive-...

you can parkor through there in VR in Mirror's edge.

Looking forward to the film…

Seeing this reminded me of playing the sewer level in Stray. If you want to explore areas like this, but don't feel like traveling, then Stray is the game for you.

The Tokyo Sewerage Museum was worth going out of the way to visit.

And after that, visit the Tokyo Parasite Museum (https://www.tofugu.com/travel/parasite-museum-tokyo/ -- probably best not to visit this link while eating breakfast).

In all seriousness I have been to this museum and it's fantastic.

just to set expectations. it's small museum. just 2 rooms. it is amazing and you probably will not be comfortable eating sushi, sashimi, basashi for a fews days after :p

"Quuuuaaaaaid.... start the reactor..."

That's the bit that was used as a basis for a level in Mirror's Edge!

Relevant Tom Scott: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfJOW2PtrGk

I visited an exhibition [1] of photos by Maurice Broomfield recently at the V&A in London. It was _awesome_!.

There is a book [2]

i would love to own this print [3]. Alas - It is *one thousand pounds".

[1] https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/maurice-broomfield-industr...

[2] https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781838510206?gC=5...

[3] https://mauricebroomfield.photography/buy-prints/preparing-a...

https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/eccj/ind_tourism/east_nagasaki_se...

The East Nagasaki Sewage Treatment Plant

"The environmental equipment "METHASAURUS" was installed at the East Nagasaki Sewage Treatment Plant (the total amount of influent sewage water : 10,000㎥/day) in January 2013"

This link is super interesting! Watched this not long ago and wanted to take a tour through parts of Japan to see how they make things...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIBplPrX69M

Here's a youtube video where they tour the Casio G-Shock factory in Yamagata: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1wrXF1Tc_I

And a (not so) promotional video from lenses and cameras manufacturer SIGMA, who make 100% of its products in Aizu, Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdF3RG0DDYw

How expensive is Tokyo at the moment? What would one week cost there?

Cliche answer; but depends on your lifestyle and what you’re willing to send.

I just spend a month in Tokyo, my serviced apartment was around $2,700. Daily lunch via Uber eats was between $12 and $25.

Going out for beers would be from $5 to $11. Eating out also just varied, but usually eating at local restaurants was probably around $15-$20.

Public transport was pretty cheap, usually between $3 and $5. Took a taxi late at night a couple of times, averaged around $25.

(This is all with the current exchange rates)

I don't know what I expected but I'm surprised that besides the apartment that sounds a little more expensive ($2700?) it's pretty much western europe prices, say Amsterdam or something like that

He definitely added an extra zero by mistake. Honestly sounds a little high still.

It is definitely a little high, and I have no doubt you could live way cheaper. You could probably rent an APA hotel for less than $50/night, eat more local for $5/meal.

Yeah right now the most expensive part of a trip to Japan is the airfare. That might set you back $2700.

Nah $700 per week for an apartment, I'm assuming it's in a good area of Tokyo, sounds about right. You can get that high in other western countries without the service part.

Japan is significantly cheaper than many western countries.

(I work in Tokyo, btw.)

I definitely didn’t try to watch how much I spend, or even tried to eat at local places most of the time, so take it with a grain of salt.

Tokyo always has a whole range of prices for everything. I recently stayed in a brand new serviced apartment in Tokyo for one month for $1700. And that was for 50m^2 for 2 people. Smaller, or longer stays, is cheaper. Renting a similar unfurnished apartment with a normal 2 year contract could be less than half of that price.

A quick check looks like $80/night is about the minimum for renting a serviced apartment in Amsterdam. I recently moved from Japan to Europe and everything except groceries feels 1.5 to 2x more expensive.

> I recently moved from Japan to Europe and everything except groceries feels 1.5 to 2x more expensive.

Ah groceries are on the rise here too; in part due to rising prices of e.g. meat due to factors like avian flu and more awareness of living conditions after "exploding chicken" (broiler chicken) tanked the prices as low as €3 per kilo (with liquid injections etc). Dairy products are up as well, cheese has gone up by 2-3 euros per kilo, butter by another euro, etc. I think milk is subsidized though, it's been fairly consistent.

Just curious: how did you find your serviced apt? Is there an aggregator for Japanese ones?

I personally used https://www.metroresidences.com/

Thanks!

You can spend a week in a small room with shared facilities for 300 euro or less.

Unsure about a week stay, but if anyone is staying for 2 months or more, consider a furnished apartment by a company focusing on foreigners with long stays.

My 2BR furnished apartment was $1,500/month with 3 different subways nearby, 2 train stops away from Shinjuku. The company I used is Fontana and I can highly recommend.

When I visited three years back you could grab ready-to-eat food (by item or a pre-made lunch) from a supermarket for under $5. Japan can be very inexpensive.

If you're budget focused, you can stay at a decent business hotel for about USD $30-40 per night, so $280 for the week. Add a modest dine-out budget of USD $20 per day (sans alcohol) and you'll be pretty comfortable.

This is incredible! I'll be sure to check this out when planning my next Japan trip

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