Something fun in Toyota City

If you have ever been to a town in North America that has a Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant in it (like Princeton, IN or Georgetown, KY), then you won't be surprised that Toyota City in Japan is rather small and lame as well.  The only thing going on in these towns is automobile production... seriously.

There is one cool place to visit while you're waiting for the train to take you away from Toyota City to some where awesome.  That place is Kevin's!

"Kevin's" is a bar owned by this really cool Japanese guy that used to live in America and loves the UK Wildcats.

The place is tiny--2 booths and a 6-seat counter, but it's easy to make friends because everyone has at least one thing in common... they're here in support of Toyota.  (Face it, there is simply no other reason to be in Toyota City.)

I went one night after dinner in Toyota City with Shin Shimada, Satoru Muto, and Yosuke Kawakami.  We quickly made friends with some guys from Poland, who work for a Toyota supplier, and filled up their nearly empty booth for them!

The really neat part is that you take a look around the place, and it's simply covered in Polaroid pictures of people having a great time at Kevin's.  There are layers upon layers of photos, each one with a witty saying at the bottom, and organized by month and year. 

I'm sure with enough searching I could have found a photo of someone I knew from TMMI, TEMA, or Transfreight, but instead I focused on coming up with a really sweet comment for our obligatory Polaroid pic. Next time, I will be sure to hunt down the picture of me!

There is also a lot of swag hanging in the bar that people have donated throughout the years... mostly baseball caps that say TMMC, Denso, Toyota Tsusho, or Safety First! on them, but there are plenty of other cool things, too.

We were having such a great time, we decided not to catch the last train out of town, and close down the bar instead.  I even got 1-on-1 origami lessons from Kevin's wife, Masami!!

I'm not too hot at origami as it is, but throw a bunch of drinks in the mix, and my folding coordination skills really went out the window...

The only disappointing part of the evening came at closing time when we had a long (not to mention expensive) taxi ride back to Nagoya! 

If you're ever in Toyota City with a few minutes to spare, now you know were to spend them!!