Japan - Day 13

Today was our final plant trek and it was to Hitachi and their facilities where they build nuclear power plants.  For the first time this trip we got the tour we wanted!  Hooray!  Hitachi spent almost the entire day with us and gave us a tour at a pace that allowed for questions and with people capable of answering them.  Well done.

We spent the morning getting an overview (in powerpoint form) about a number of the things that they do, especially the engineering and project management.  It was easy to see why they have such an impressive track record on big projects.  We also talked a bit about nuclear energy and I really hope the US gets over its NIMBY (not in my back yard) and embraces new nuclear plants.  Hitachi hopes for this as well. ;-)

After Hitachi we had a two hour bus ride back to Tokyo (hitting rush hour traffic as we expected to).  Luckily for us (and unluckily for our bladders) they gave us beer for the ride.

• Bottom left: Never turn down free beer even if you don’t drink…cause your friends will want your beer.  Also, Hitachi had sanitary paper hats for the hardhats so naturally I wore that for the rest of the day...and the people at the rest stop may have thought I was Muslim with the hat and the beard.
• Bottom right: As was the case last year, those with smaller bladders struggle on buses without bathrooms.

Once we got back into town we headed out for dinner.  Once again coordinating dinner took forever (despite our best efforts to coordinate on the busride) but eventually we made it and I had the best ramen (noodles in water) that I have ever had.  After dinner we were debating what to do and most people were “tired” and went home like a bunch of bums.  I understand that it has been a long two weeks but it was Friday night in Tokyo…time to party.  Six of us went bar hopping but we were not very successful at our endeavor.  We elected to go out near our hotel so we could walk home (subway stops at 12:30) but most of the bars in the area were more like restaurants…but not exactly.  They all serve food, but not a full meal, and this can get expensive if you just want to try a place out for a drink and then move on.  They definitely got mad when we said that we did not want food.  It also gets tough on me because I can only drink so many Cokes before I just don’t need any more caffeine or sugar.  We made it home by about 3 AM (I had a date with JP at 5 AM to go to the famous Tokyo fish market where vendors from around the world purchase their sushi) and it was definitely bedtime.

• Top middle: We went up a free observation building for a night view of the city.
• Bottom middle: I never got pushed into a subway but I got to see the other side get pushed in.