Commuter Woes

I knew the "remembering all the important things" would not last long, even after an eventful morning. Turns out, the turn around time is one commute.  Stefan left "the phone" at school yesterday...  It was too good to last :)

I had arranged with the mom (on her suggestion - thank you, Andrea!) of the boys Stefan often rides in with to meet at the station and ride in together this morning.  We agreed to try and catch the 07:44 - they all like to arrive early!

We left the house at just past 07:22 - plenty of time to drop at the station.  Unless...

Do you notice the green lights in the picture?  And the cars stopped behind them?!?  What was going on?!?  It was gridlock all the way...

Turns out, a train derailed last night due to a mudslide.  My initial reaction was, "oh, GREAT!!!!"...  What great timing...  But, in the end, Stefan's commute was affected little.  For the rest of Yokosuka, however...

The landslide/derailment occurred at about midnight, just outside of Yokosuka: http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/10-injured-after-mudslide-derails-train-at-yokosuka.  It started raining here at about 21:30 (9:30 pm)...  I read that we got about 111mm of rain last night. That is over 4 inches!!!  Our "Flooding" warning went off when it was still dry outside.  The "All Clear" happened just after 21:30 -  it had barely started raining here.  4 inches...  2.5 hours... That was a lot of rain!  We (me, really) woke up on and off to the claps of thunder for a couple of hours.  Thankfully, it was only me!

The train derailment shut down the Keikyu Line for the morning - and when it did re-open, there were no trains leaving the Yokosuka area to Yokohama/Tokyo...  So, being the main commuter train line, all (and I mean ALL) the commuters made it to the JR station where Stefan leaves from every morning.  I finally had him get out and run to the station.  He got to the station and on his train before I even made the roundabout...  By the time I got out of gridlock, he was at Zushi and getting on his bus.

10 (maybe 11) people were hurt out of 700 on the train that was derailed.  I am grateful that noone was badly injured and there were fairly few.  I will also be grateful for when the tracks are cleared and commuters can get back to their normal routines - and my typically 30 minute "there-and-back" does not take me 70...

I have to say, I was truly amazed at the impact - just in Yokosuka!!!  I must say that it is a reassurance that the Japanese know how to "do trains".  They manage to move a lot of people long distances without significant disruption to flow - unless, of course, there is a mudslide...

Leaf Me... At the Nissan Factory

Caroline and Tim, our ever-faithful -fun-organizers, had discovered that the Nissan plant gives tours at their manufacturing plant in Oppama - just "up the street" from us!


Caroline had diligently organized a tour, an interpreter (her Japanese teacher, who is also a good friend of hers!) and a big group. We all got our acts together, got there early (a feat, in and of itself) only to find out our tour was scheduled in... Yokohama. We figured, what the heck - LET'S GO!


Reina (our interpreter/friend/miracle worker) worked some sort of miracle and we were fit in at the Oppama plant. Lucky us! Thank you Reina! The Oppama plant manufacture the Leaf, a fully electric vehicle. The Yokohama plant is not nearly as cool :)


We asked the boys to think about 1) where do cars come from
2) what happens if an employee decided to be late for work/not show up/not pay attention...
Their answers:
     Dougie 1) the plant!
                   2) Uh-Oh!!!
     Stefan  1) a lump of metal. (more explanation and a lot of detail followed)
                   2) Whoo-wee. The person who was supposed to get their car would sure be unhappy!


In Japan, you do not go to a car lot. You go to an office and order your car. You can watch your car getting built. Two weeks later - NEW CAR! Delivered. BAM!


The plant itself puts out a number of different vehicles, including the Leaf, the Juke, the Cube and the Note.  You will see any combination of these cars in the assembly line, one after another.  There is a combination of right-hand drive, left-hand drive and any other combination of options.  


A question that arose was, "How do you insure the correct dashboard makes it onto the correct car?"  Answer: they are both manufactured in the same order, so when attaching dashes to vehicles, or any of its options/parts, they all go in the same order.


During the vehicles final inspection, all parts of the car are tested.  Up the car pops onto the speed testing table and a driver pops in.  He takes the car above 100kph and proceeds to drive like my dad - inspecting all the buttons and knobs by actually pushing and pulling them.  Up goes the hood, gas cap pops open, windshield wipers spray and wipe, flashers, lights, signals, horn, brakes, etc.  It was great fun to watch!
Dougie then asked if the fan/box thingy pops up even when an electric vehicle is getting tested.  Standing dumb, we all looked and mentally said, "huh...  there IS a fan there..."  The first car to go through was a Leaf, a fully electric vehicle.  None of us had noticed the fan.  Nor had we noticed its absence...
Stefan suggested it would not as the EV does not have an engine and, thus, no exhaust.  
Answer?  My kids should go into automobile manufacturing.  They were spot on.


Now, if we can just work on their driving skills...

Where are the doors?!?  And the hood?!?

Both in the driver's seat - so apropo... 

Leaf Me!  At the Oppama Nissan Factory
Caroline said she would never Leaf me :)

Thank you Tim and Caroline for an awesome idea!  Thank you Caroline for putting it all together and your incredibly laborious and determined work!  You rock!  Or, do you roll...? ;)  Thank you Reina for your interpreting skills and your miracle tour slot!  Thank you Nissan for allowing us to tour your incredibly cool manufacturing plant!  Thank you Stefan & Dougie for staying on the path, stopping at the red lights, not being run over by a fork-lift or a robotic cart and for not touching anything.


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