I have not really told you all about what we have been up to here in Japan so for today's blog I'll summarize the last two days of speakers and tours. As you know, this is an agriculture based study tour of Japan. We have heard from US Embassy Attachés discussing a variety of topics including trade with Japan, Japanese economy and agriculture production. Someone from the meat export council and soybean export experts also spoke to us. Our welcome dinner was on a small cruise boat in the Tokyo Bay. We ate a traditional Japanese meal, drank beer, and sang karaoke. The skyline was quite beautiful. We toured a soybean crushing facility that is fully integrated: located on the bay for easy import and unloading. They crush, refine oils, process oil, package, and distribute soybean oil to consumers to be used for cooking. We also toured a tofu plant that is also fully integrated. They engineer, design, and use their own automated equipment. They developed their own packaging and fill it with freshly made tofu all at the same location. We got free samples for an afternoon snack. Not the best thing I've ever eaten, but not too bad either. We rode the bullet train traveling about 180mph and rode the Tokyo subway during evening rush hour. I bought wasabi flavored KitKats and a few other unrecognizable treats at a truck stop. I think the jet leg is now really setting in as the class seemed a bit lethargic all day today. I'm sure that has nothing to do with the beer last night. Today we are off to see a Waygu Beef and Dairy Farm! Some photos below for your pleasure.
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