Day 5

Today was the first bad weather that we have had for the entire trip. It was overcast and rainy when our day began at 8:30. Displaying a classic failure in logistics, the bus driver and our professors had miscommunicated, and the bus came 45 minutes later than it was supposed to.

After getting on the bus, we began the drive to Terrada, a growing warehousing company in Japan. Terrada’s basic business model involves providing space for people to store goods, especially specialty goods. They cater towards the upper class of society with special rooms for storing wine and safety deposit boxes. The concept of storage is important in Japan, because homeowners do not have a lot of space in their houses for their excess goods.

(The group in one of Terrada's wine cellars)

Terrada has turned four prior warehouses into restaurants, and we went to one of those for lunch. A microbrewery, T.Y. Harbor Brewery, provided such a good lunch that I only snacked for dinner tonight. While we were rushed to leave to get back on the bus, I was able to get my peanut butter chocolate brownie to go. It was delicious!

We arrived at our next destination after an hour on the bus. It was a warehouse for Co-op, a food distributor that operates on a new concept here in Japan. Customers of the Co-op buy a share in the Co-op which costs 500 Yen ($5). If they desire to leave the Co-op, they can have their money refunded. The co-op specializes in all types of food, and the warehouse we visited processes the frozen food. Another key practice of Co-op is to ship products directly to customers if desired.

(Getting ready to go on the tour)

The Co-op’s warehouse used some technology that we have not seen in any of the others yet. The most interesting was the pick-to-light system. The system reminded me of Japanese games like DDR or Rockband. The workers are at stations with X amount of bins in them. Each bin has a light under it, and the conveyor belt has stations with lights as well. When a product is needed to fill an order, the light under the bin will light up and the worker will grab it. The worker knows where to place the product on the line because the corresponding position on the line also lights up. While it is similar to a general assembly line, it made it seem more fun, at least to an outsider like me.

Another thing worth mentioning about our tour is that the warehouse is very, very cold. It must be kept this way to keep the products frozen, but it also did its best to freeze the visitors. When we finally finished the tour, I could not hold my hands steady to take good notes until they thawed out some.

(brrrrr... -25 Celsius)

Our nights in Tokyo are growing few, and tonight we are going to go to a Karaoke Bar. These bars are very popular in Japan, and we will get to see what kinds of voices the people in our group have. Everyone is going to go, and there have been rumors that a talent scout will be present, so I am being sure to bring my golden voice.