Trip Report…Toyota Factory Tour…In Japan!

[Seanz0rz]

Awesome trip report, thanks for sharing Steve! Japan is such a beautiful country, I really hope to visit it some day!

[DHC6twinotter]

Great pics! Is there quite a bit of agriculture there? Your pictures make it seems more rural than I would have thought.

That 4 door 70 series Land Cruiser is awesome. I really wish Toyota would offer them here. I really like the revised front end on the newer ones.

Is that a Delta 767-300ER you all flew on? You must have connected through either PDX or SEA.

[troyboy162]

awesome new pics! I agree with Dan, the rural pics were unexpected and really cool.

[Robinhood4x4]

Isn't that quite the contrast? You always hear how crowded and expensive things are in Japan and then you see rolling hills as far as the eye can see.

There actually is quite a bit of greenery there, in between the cities. From the bullet train, once you leave the cities, there's lots of rivers, mountains, rice patties, small towns like ours, etc. But most of the population live in apartments typical of this one.



Personally, being a country boy, this didn't appeal to me much and just kept thinking how ghetto like it is, but I also knew that they were probably pretty nice inside.

But yeah, there actually is quite a bit of agriculture there, although I didn't see as much in the main island of Japan like I did in the smaller island of Hokkaido. Hokkaido is a little different because it is known for its agriculture. It's also the site of the 1972 winter olympics.

[paddlenbike]

Thanks for sharing Steve. I would love to go to Japan some time.

I bet there were a lot of these lurking under those hoods.


Oh how I would love to have a Toyota diesel pickup that gets 30mpg and has a real, Japanese built frame.


See many new Hilux pickups there?

[Robinhood4x4]

Now Dan, how in the heck did you know what airline company and what airplane I was in just by looking at the wing?!?!?

You were close, it was a 767-400ER and we flew into LAX. LAX sucks, by the way. One more reason to avoid LA.

That 767 was nice because it's seating was 2-4-2 across, so the wife and I were all by ourselves.

[DHC6twinotter]

Isn't that quite the contrast? You always hear how crowded and expensive things are in Japan and then you see rolling hills as far as the eye can see.

There actually is quite a bit of greenery there, in between the cities. From the bullet train, once you leave the cities, there's lots of rivers, mountains, rice patties, small towns like ours, etc. But most of the population live in apartments typical of this one.

Personally, being a country boy, this didn't appeal to me much and just kept thinking how ghetto like it is, but I also knew that they were probably pretty nice inside.

But yeah, there actually is quite a bit of agriculture there, although I didn't see as much in the main island of Japan like I did in the smaller island of Hokkaido. Hokkaido is a little different because it is known for its agriculture. It's also the site of the 1972 winter olympics.

That's pretty interesting. This thread has me wanting to visit Japan someday. It looks pretty awesome. That shaved ice stuff looked good, but not sure about the raw horse.

Thanks for sharing Steve. I would love to go to Japan some time.

Oh how I would love to have a Toyota diesel pickup that gets 30mpg and has a real, Japanese built frame.

Sean and I were just talking about this a couple days ago. That would be fantastic.

Now Dan, how in the heck did you know what airline company and what airplane I was in just by looking at the wing?!?!?

You were close, it was a 767-400ER and we flew into LAX. LAX sucks, by the way. One more reason to avoid LA.

That 767 was nice because it's seating was 2-4-2 across, so the wife and I were all by ourselves.

Wow...I didn't realize Delta was flying the 767 from LAX to Tokyo. That's a fairly long flight for the plane. That style winglet is found on some 737s, 757s, and 767-300ER. The 767 is the only one that has the range to fly to Tokyo, but the dead giveaway was the low speed aileron, which the 737 and 757 don't have. The 767-400ER has raked wingtips instead of the winglets.

I really like the seating arrangement on the 767. Having the 2 seats on the sides is really nice.

[Robinhood4x4]

Ken, not many trucks in Japan for personal use. If there's a truck around, it's usually a company truck.

[4x4mike]

That style winglet is found on some 737s, 757s, and 767-300ER. The 767 is the only one that has the range to fly to Tokyo, but the dead giveaway was the low speed aileron, which the 737 and 757 don't have. The 767-400ER has raked wingtips instead of the winglets.

Der.

Impressive Dan.

[arjan]

I don't even know what land cruiser this is, but I'd buy one in a heartbeat if it were sold here.

That's a 70 series, quite a few jdm imports of them around here.
I like the pickup version: http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/va...130667211.html