My Ancestral Home

---

I am sure this was not the same village my Grandfather left in the 1800's, to find his way to the United States, and to build the future that my family enjoys now. He came to California as a 16 year old boy, and passed away in 1965 at the age of 84. Nagoya is now a very industrial city, and home to the largest automobile company in the world, Toyota.

We are going to venture out on foot today, then perhaps take a tour to some castles and shrines tomorrow. Our first stop today is the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology. It is the site of the company's original weaving plant, part of its original mission as a weaver. Our second stop is the Noritake Garden. Noritake is Japan's best known porcelain maker. We may even have time to glaze our own dish. And we hear there is an outlet store on site with 40% off!!

The Toyota Museum is great for engineering types and textile geeks. Their entire history as a textile maker is on display. We saw weaving that used water pressure to feed the loom. We also saw their most recent version that uses jet propulsion technology. You textile historians would love it, as they demonstrated each machine in the museum.

The auto portion seemed a little hard to understand, not being an engineer or mechanically inclined. I would have liked to see more cars, and less technology. But it turns out that Mr. Toyoda was very good about copying from Ford and Chevy. And he also bought a Dodge to use as a prototype, back when American cards were the gold standard. He must have been a genius, to move from textiles to autos!!!

By the time we dragged ourselves to Noritake, we were happy to relax. Their store and attached factory outlet is located in the center of Noritake Gardens. We did not buy much, due to the weight and bulk of the items. We also passed on making our own plate.
And I think we were the only tourists there.

Tomorrow, we head out further, and try to find some ancestors, or a castle or two. Or we may head to Osaka, since I am unable to find my great-grandfather's Buddhist temple here in Nagoya. Osaka will certainly have more interesting food.

---