Written by Joel & Anne
Today we had an early start to go to our first company visit of the day, Sumimoto Electric in Yokohama. We departed at 7 AM and got to witness the very busy metro and had to pack ourselves tighter than sardines in order to fit.
At Sumimoto Electric we were able to see their optical fiber factory and learn how they are made. They also produce other equipment, but these are manufactured at different factories.
After a bento box lunch, we departed to our second company of the day, Furukawa Electric. During our short trip of 5 minutes in the train, a thunderstorm had started and a typhoon warning was issued for the Tokyo area. Lightning flashed and hit buildings as close as 20 meters to us.
This delayed our company visit, but gave us a chance to get rainproof 7-11 drip, such as raincoats and umbrellas. At Furukawa, we got to meet some of their young engineers and the research they were doing. They had research on photonics (again), heat transfer, power cables and material properties, giving everyone on our trip something to discuss no matter their field. This ended our day in Yokohama and the evening was rather quiet as people started resting for the next day.