我孫子市国際交流協会

Date/time: Thursday, October 6, 2011  8:50a.m.- 5:40p.m.
Tour destination: Factory and Museum of Kagami Crystal, JAXA, Ushiku Grand Buddah Statue
Participant: 34 persons (3 non-Japanese included)

Notwithstanding the overnight heavy raining, it gradually turned to fine autumn weather with a slight moist toward the late morning.
A little after departure from Abiko every people on board made a brief self-introduction. The bus made stops at the following 3 noted locations.

1 Kagami Crystal in Ryugasaki
The company is one of the wholly owned subsidiaries of Nippon Sheet Glass Company, Ltd. They manufacture crystal glasses at the factory in Ryugasaki where 3 sets of kiln are installed within the yard. A finely processed transparent glass with content of more than 24% lead oxide is usually called crystal glass. A trained craftsman scoops melted materials at 1400 degrees centigrade using a long steel tube and blows it to exquisitely mold into a glassware. Working amid the hottest circumstance in summer is too severe, they say. Without exception every product is made by hand at this factory.
It is the honor of the company that for long period many of their products have been ordered by and delivered to celebrities such as the Imperial Household Agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassies, State Guest House, etc., for respective official banquette use, and for the use of crystal perfume bottles of perfumery companies as well.
Kozo Kagami Memorial Museum
Adjacent to the factory, the museum is built in memory of Kozo Kagami (1896-1985), who founded the company and devoted greatly to the development of glassware manufacturing industry in Japan.
In the museum, there are exhibited the finest collection of his masterpieces such as flower vases, wine glasses, Edo-kiriko glasses (cut-glass ware, mostly colored), etc. In the opposite building, a variety of crystal glasses are sold.

2. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)
Several Japanese astronauts have been trained at this center before being shot up in the space and pursuing duties at the ISS (International Space Station).
The center is 12 times larger than the Tokyo Dome. We visited the Space Dome first.
Right in front of us we found one millionth model of the Earth and various size and shape of satellite models displayed. Among the lined-up one twentieth sized Japan’s space rocket models, we found a cute “pencil rocket” in full size. This is the first experimental mini rocket devised by late Dr. Hideo Itokawa, the pioneer of rocket technology development in Japan. It has only 23cm of height and 200g of weight. All of us were surprised at the fact that the latest model H-IIB rocket has its height of 57m, and 531 tons of weight, and at the great history of over 50 years.
A half-sized model of planet-search satellite Hayabusa especially drew our attention. It miraculously returned to the earth in June 2010 after a astounding long space journey. The news excited people not only in Japan but all over the world.
Due to the time shortage we were obliged to cut off remaining points of visit, such as the
Astronaut Training Area, ISS mockup, and rocket area.
In front of a huge rocket in the garden we had our picture taken, then took lunch at a
restaurant in the premise.

3. Ushiku Grand Buddah Statue
In our final visit, we dropped in at the modern buddah statue in Ushiku.
The construction of the totally bronze-covered statue started in 1989 and completed in June 1993. The total height of the statue reaches 120 meters, statue only is 100 meters and the pedestal 20 meters, ranking the 3rd in the world, however, as a bronze statue it ranks as the world highest statue. It was so hard to nicely focus all members and the huge statue in one picture. It was explained that more than 6000 pieces of bronze sheet were used to cover all over the statue, making 1000 tons of weight. We went up by elevator to the 85 meter height level, the part of the buddah’s chest, and enjoyed grand views of all directions through narrow windows thereof.
We returned safe to Abiko at 5:40p.m. from a fairly tight day trip. (Vol. 148)