For a couple of different reasons I didn’t bring a bento lunch today to work, and consequently had a mini-adventure during lunchtime. I had planned originally on walking down the street to the supermarket and grab some sushi or something. Instead I decided to investigate a “hidden lunchroom” that was described to me by one of my students. He likes to go there because not many people are there compared to the cafeteria, which serves about 1500 people a day during lunchbreak.
He showed me on a map of the facility where the lunchroom was, so I walked out there today to check it out. My security clearance got me on to northern part of the factory complex, and I walked around until I found the general area. There were no signs saying “hidden lunchroom” anywhere, so I asked a passing worker. He was a little surprised but pointed to a door marked “no entry” and so I opened it up and went in to find a tiny cafeteria there. There were only eight or so employees having lunch, and they looked just as surprised to see me as I was to actually find the place really existed.
I grabbed a table and ordered a bowl of tempura soba from an older lady working in the place. The food was simple, good and cheap, and everyone pretty much left me alone while I ate and looked around. It looked like a converted portion of a warehouse, with lots of junk laying around in addition to various snack-type foods for sale. It was a far cry from the huge cafeteria in the center of the factory, but I just couldn’t figure out why it was operating – why not make the eight customers a day walk 10 minutes to the cafeteria that serves everyone else? With my stomach full and my curiousity piqued I headed back to my classroom.
On the way back I got my first chance to see a train nerd (called a “Tetsu” in Japanese) taking pictures of some of the trains from outside the complex. He was taking lots of pictures of the bullet train that the crews are finishing up. According to my students the Tetsus show up all the time and have been security problems in the past. The interest in trains in Japan is pretty intense, and these guys will do anything for a photograph of the latests trains being designed and tested at the factory. While I’ve seen plenty of Tetsus at train stations around Kansai, apparently they are also into stalking the train factories. It kind of dawned on me today that I work in Tetsu heaven – talking with train designers and executives all day about their work might be a train nerd’s wet dream.
Back in class I asked one of the executives about this mysterious restaurant. He had heard of it but had never been, and he promised to do some asking around to find out the history of the place. This guy is pretty high up in the organization, so I’m expecting good results.
