F 1

I'll be heading to Japan for a first time solo traveller in September. One thing I'd like to do is visit some car factory and brewery tours as I am both a fan of cars and drinking (don't worry not at the same time). Right now I have 4 nights booked in Tokyo but plan on visiting other cities as well (Kyoto, Hiroshima, etc all TBC).

From the research I have done, it appears that Mazda, Toyota and Subaru have factory tours for visitors. (I am a big Honda fan and otherwise would have wanted to visit the museum except that I've seen the whole thing now thanks to google streetview!) Has anyone been on these tours and can offer some advice?

On another note, I'd also like to visit either the Asahi brewery, Kirin brewery and/or Suntory distillery. Any tips or advice would be appreciated as well. Thanks in advance.

gnaget

When you are in Tokyo you can go to the Nissan engine museum in nearby Yokohama. It's supposed to be interesting; haven't gone yet.
http://www.nissan.co.jp/INFO/FACTORY...MA/museum.html

I would consider going to a nihonshu (sake) brewery rather than a beer brewery. There's nothing special or different about mass produced Japanese beer.

lobsterdog

A couple other places that might interest you in Tokyo are the History Garage (vintage automobiles and racecars) and the Ebisu Beer Museum (self-explanatory).

milepig

We didn't make it there on our recent trip, but Fushimi, just a few minutes by train from Kyoto has several Sake breweries, and I believe a Sake museum.

tcook052

I looked at the brewery tours at these locations including Suntory but they were outside of Tokyo so settled instead on Museum of Yebisu Beer for the sheer convenience and it proved a pleasant indoor diversion on a raining, cool Spring day. The tour wasn't offered in English when I arrived but there is a short walk through a series of display panels in English describing the history of the brand and brewing in Japan in general. Having a few beers at the end in a stylish tasting room wasn't too bad either.

BTW I'd recommend checking out Sake Plaza which is within a short walk of Hibiya Koen near Imperial Palace in the centre of the city. This exhibit sponsored by the Sake brewers assoc. was another nice diversion as the friendly staff were able to put on a 7-10 minute English video explaining how sake is made so something to watch while sampling 5 varieties of your choosing for ¥500.

kevincrumbs

If you're going to Kyoto/Osaka/Nara, I'd highly recommend the Suntory Yamazaki Distillery outside of Kyoto in Oyamazaki. Not sure if you're only into beer but Japanese whiskey is rightfully becoming more and more popular and although there are better ones than Yamazaki, it's still quite good.

It was nice to get out of Osaka for part of the afternoon and I really enjoyed the tour. As a non-Japanese speaker, I was handed one of those daft recorded tour devices. In addition, the whiskey tasting room post-tour was nice and they also give out some free samples.

F 1

This is exactly the kind of thing I'm hoping to do. thanks for the tip!

F 1

The challenge I am finding is many of these organizations have websites but only in japanese and apparently reservations are required for tours in advance, especially those in english. I may end up just making some phone calls

kevincrumbs

I can only speak to the Yamazaki Distillery but I showed up without booking a tour, even though the website explicitly states that you need to make a reservation. To be fair, I showed up not expecting to go on the tour (the whiskey library, museum and gift shop were enough of a draw for me) but the nice lady up front got me onto a tour leaving within five minutes of my arrival with minimum fuss.

F 1

good to know! thanks

mkjr

I have a tr about a visit here and the suntory premium malt brewery also. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/20026883-post7.html

I HATED the Yebisu museum. They clearly wanted to shunt the english people to the tasting room. Look for a Asahi location. I went to the one in Hakata. Also, in my TR over in that section.

mkjr

contact your hotel concierge or our goodwill guide arranged the same for us. Just google goodwill guide japan.

Steve M

I second this. Although they don't give tours in English, they do give you an electronic device with English narration pre-recorded. You just join a Japanese tour, and then key in the numbers posted along the tour route to hear narration in English. Very interesting.

Also nearby is the Suntory beer brewery. You can do what I did and do both the distillery and brewery tours on the same day. The brewery is much less set up for English guests, and has neither English tours nor audio narration.

Some advice on navigation: the distillery is within walking distance of the nearest train station. It's very near the border between Osaka and Kyoto prefectures - in fact, the distillery is in Osaka prefecture while the nearest station is in Kyoto prefecture, which can cause a bit of confusion when looking at train schedules. The brewery is a bus ride away from its nearest station, so you have to figure that out. On the way back, I managed to either get on the wrong bus or get off too early, and wound up somewhere unexpected, but that's part of the fun of foreign travel.

startpacking

Been to the Mazda factory tour near Hiroshima. Tour bookings were super easy (just sending the company an email requesting an English tour on a specific date) and the factory is easy to get to by train. Got to see some parts of the production process, the port from where the vehicles are shipped and some of Mazda's antique cars, concept cars, etc.

Also been to the Toyota Museum in Nagoya, found this to be disappointing.

I too didn't care for the Yebisu Museum.

There are some sake distillerys near Kobe that are open to visitors, I wouldn't recommend the one I'd been to. Found the sake distilleries in Hida Takayama worthwhile, but you'll have to visit when sake distilleries have an open house as they aren't open to visitors year round.

F 1

thanks, good to know about the mazda tour. what was the issue with toyota, if you don't mind me asking?