Mos Burger and a Trumpet Playing Robot

Now it's four in the afternoon and all I can do is laugh. Seriously! My morning fears were realized this afternoon. I ended up making perfect time to the Toyota factory this morning. No kinks. No nothing. I even had time to spare. However, on my way back to Nagoya Station (on the local commuter train) to catch a Shinkansen bullet train to Kyoto, my wink of sleep was a bit longer than I realized; I missed Nagoya and ended up back in Gifu, the town I had stayed in the night before. I'm convinced God has a sense of humor! Thankfully Gifu is on the Shinkansen line. I just reserved a 5pm ticket for Kyoto and I have about an hour wait.

So... in the mean time, I'm chowing down at this fast food place in the train station called Mos Burger. Both my friends Evan and Nathan said it was a must while I am in Japan. My first burger was unique and reminded me of a chili dog. It had a beef patty, tomato slice, chili, and onions. Love at first taste! I'm still hungry so I just ordered another. This one has crab meat and has a "pseudo bun" made of fried rice. Genius! If you want to learn more about Mos Burger, go to http://www.mos.co.jp/.

Okay, really quick before I get up. I have to say that the Toyota factory tour was out of this world! I got to see the Tsutsumi Plant where they produce the Camry, Premio, Allion, and Prius. Our tour included going through the welding and assembly portions of the manufacturing plant. I was especially impressed by the robots. They looked like they were dancing as they welded the car bodies together, not to mention their astounding precision detail. According to our guide, each car from start to finish only takes 20 hours to travel through the assembly line. That's freaky fast!




Oh, I forgot to mention something. Have you ever seen a robot play the trumpet? I did today. The Toyota exhibition hall, which houses displays about Toyota design and innovation also has a robotic musical performance. This robot has artificial lungs allowing it to play a regular trumpet. I had never seen anything like it before in my life.