Winter in Japan Part 1

I stayed for the end of 2014 and started 2015 in Japan.(I haven’t spent winter in Japan for 18 years)

 

I took Akiva and Kenaz for a couple factory tours. First, we went to garbage and recycle factories.

I was shocked to hear that within 5 years Yokohama has no place to dump garbage.


The cost line in Yokohama is so artificial. Land is formed by ash of garbage.I wish I had studied biology to genetically modify bacteria to recycle wet garbage to gas. After the tour, we went to indoor swimming pool where use enagy from burning garbage to heat the pool.

I took kids to Morinaga Chocolate factory where I also went as school field trip when I was second grade. Morinaga created the factory tour as entertainment. There was a pretty tour guide to take us around with sample of chocolate and candies. Kids were surprised to hear that 1/100 of chocolate is defected and become fertilizer with other chemical.

We went to Nissan automobile factory. It was cool to see many small robot like cargos moving around in the factory. Nissan is emphasizing eco environment at their factory is. It was interesting to see wood floor on assembly line. It was a part of their friendly working environment to be easier on workers’ foot.

Finally, we went to a thermal power plant not far from my parents house. They use coal form Australia and produce energy by burning. In my mind, the coal is a dirty and outdated. However they use it to prevent not too dependent on oil. 

To reduce air pollution, they use a two-stage combustion system. To keep  the view from  clean, they designed the pipes look skinner from land (the photo is a wider side).

Akiva learned about finite resource before winter break and his focus was coal. It was very interesting to see the plant.