Date & Time: Monday, December 23, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Spots: Oppama Plant of Nissan Motor Corporation and Sankeien Garden
Visitors: 4 family members from Finland
Attendant: 1 KSGG member
Language: English
The visitors were Kimmo, who’s working in Japan, his wife, Kaisa and their daughters, Viivi and Siiri. They came to Nissan Oppama Plant by Toyota car.
After listening to the explanations of the history and the main business activities of Nissan Motor Corporation at the guest hall, they watched the actual production assembly line and testing process. Kimmo with his knowledge of car production because of his business, fully appreciated the Nissan system of producing multiple models on the same line as well as their desire to improve. Kaisa, Viivi and Siiri also loved cars. They liked the GT-R, a sports car produced by Nissan best, happily taking pictures with it. They were surprised though at the price saying, “You could buy a house in Finland with that money.” For lunch we had locally caught conger eel at a small restaurant near the Nissan plant. After that, we visited Sankeien Garden. They were impressed by the traditional Japanese garden right from its main gate. At the memorial to the founder, Sankei Hara, they learnt more about him while having tea. As autumn had already ended, they satisfied themselves with looking at pictures. They expressed a wish to come again in spring to see the cherry blossoms before their return to Finland in May. They seemed pleased with the window that was offered that day into the latest technology as well as the old culture of Japan.