Solo Trip Nagoya (August 2023) - Komeda Breakfast and Toyota Museum

 

The official first morning in Nagoya! I was gonna visit Toyota Museum. It was within walking distance from where I stayed, so I walked there, choosing to go through the residential areas instead of the main road. I felt strangely at home in my surroundings. Above is the site of the Toyota Museum. It was still early, so I went for breakfast first. 

There was a Komeda Coffee nearby, and it was high on my retro cafe to visit. I don't even know why! Day 2 in Nagoya and I've already visited 2 out of my 3 retro cafe!

I went in, not really know what to expect. You know how you walk into a restaurant and expect it to behave the same as the restaurant at home? Ya. I forgot I was in a different country. Do I order at the counter? Is there a machine? Do I sit down first? It wasn't crowded, and a lady waitress shouted welcome and said I can sit anywhere, in Japanese! I sat at the solo tables facing the wall, and when she came to serve me my ice water, I told her what I wanted, in Japanese! So far so good! I wonder if the fatigue would wear in soon. It usually wear in after a week or so, and I would switch to English and play tourist again. I was going to be here for two weeks, and my goal was to use my Japanese as much as possible. 

I ordered the Ogura Toast set. They have a light version without the egg and yogurt. I love that they have their own glass, their own towel, and their own coffee cups! This was call the Morning Set, and it was a thing in Nagoya. It basically meant that during morning hours, you can purchase a cup of coffee, and they serve you breakfast for free. The coffee was like 500Y though. Still, it was supposed to be super value for money.....hahahahaha

Ah.... I got pretty addicted to coffee in Japan. At home, I would normally drink my coffee black, using a single drip coffee, to make about 300ml of coffee, which I would drink it as two cups. So it was kinda diluted. Here, each cup was concentrated black coffee, thick and smooth. It was so freaking high for me! Wait till I get to my last hotel where they serve free coffee at the lobby! Hahahaha. I practically drink it once or twice a day!

After breakfast, I took a short walk to the museum. Above is the bus stop to alight if you are taking the bus. Who needs a bus? I got legs! I can walk everywhere! And boy did I walk everywhere in Nagoya!

The front gate of the museum. Why was I here again? I don't even drive or own a car! Well, it's because Toyota Museum is the most famous museum in Nagoya, and also because I have a history of working in Daimler, and I've visited the Mercedes Truck office in Brazil when I was working there. I wanted to see how a different car company museum would be life. You know, compare notes!

Inside the museum ground area, I saw there was also a research institute housed here. Cool! I felt like I was in a modern research center! The museum inside actually consist of two area, and I will write two parts for them individually cause they were surprisingly interesting to me! This post is just a summary. 

One of the cool things to see at the museum, was actually the robot musician! A whole band! Or more elegantly, a whole orchestra! Sadly, the above robots was on maintenance and did not perform at all on that day. Still, they looked so cool!

The violinist  robot however, did performed at fixed interval. And he was quite a hit with the visitor! I managed to catch a performance in between the two segment of the museum :)

Here's me and the violinist! Encore! Encore! Bravo!