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This year, on my return from Thailand I stopped in Tokyo to visit our Dealer, Barry Gooley, and some of the retail outlets selling our products to Japanese customers. Coincidentally the Tainai Star Party was the same weekend and a welcome invitation was received from the Takahashi to visit the factory. |
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Rainy morning and the
Japanese Garden outside hotel as we had breakfast before starting out. |
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Clearer skies in the late morning as we arrive at the Takahashi administrative offices in Itabashi-ku, a little less than an hour from our hotel near Akasaka. We were picked up at the train station and driven to the offices where Mr. Takahashi was waiting for us. |
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We were very pleased to be met there by Mr. Eishiro Takahashi, President of Takahashi Seisakusho Ltd., who told us of the early beginnings of the Takahashi telescope operations and invited us to visit the factory at Yorii. |
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From left to right: Iwao Henmi, General Manger, Takahashi, |
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The Takahashi factory is located a good distance from the administrative office, outside of Tokyo in Saitama Prefecture. |
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The trip to Yorii, Saitama, takes about 1 - 1.5 hours by train from the administrative offices. Not a soul in this station in mid-afternoon. All the kids are in school and everyone else is at work or home (this changes dramatically starting about 5 PM until well into the night), The entire trip required three train changes. |
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Mr. Tokio Takahashi, Exec. General Manager, kindly met us at the train station at Yorii and drove us to the factory. |
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Yorii is quite different from Tokyo. More suburban feeling with open country side, rice fields and some surrounding hills. |
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The Takahashi factory is located on top of a small hill surrounded by woods. The building and land are owned by Takahashi and they have been making telescopes in this factory for over 40 years. |
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The foundry ... Making parts from scratch. |
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We were lucky to arrive just as the aluminum was being poured into the molds neatly arranged in rows along the floor. We were told that preparation for this moment took about 2 weeks. |
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The furnace full of molten aluminum |
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Hot work in the summer time. But he makes it look more like art than labor. |
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Someone's tube ring or finder bracket in the making |
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Cooling off some of the just poured castings. They take only about 3 minutes to cool enough to break open. |
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Digging out the buried treasure. Brackets, tube rings, parts for mounts. |
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Various mounts being assembled. |
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EM-400 and EM-500 mounts. |
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Optics being assembled and tested. The bench just behind me is where new lenses are given a star test using an artificial star. |
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FSQ designer, Yuyama-san, holding one of his scopes. |
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Finished goods, awaiting export. |
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Takahashi scopes at the retail outlet. |
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Our factory tour group -
left to right: Masaru Arai, Engineer Tokio Takahashi, Exec. General Manager Michael Barber, SBIG Barry Gooley, KK Magellan Masaaki Kawai, Engineer |
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Time to get back to Tokyo. Tokio Takahashi, brother of Eishiro Takahashi was kind enough to drive us most of the way back so we only had to catch one train to make it back into Tokyo by dinner time. |
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At this time of day the train stations look very different with commuters in increasing numbers as we get closer to Tokyo. |
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The Akihabra section of Tokyo is famous for blocks of electronics stores. |
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Walking along the sidewalk past all the open shops with bright colorful signs, music and hawkers, like this one, has a carnival atmosphere. Cameras, computers, memory sticks, toys, toasters, you name it. Many goods cost less in the US but careful shopping can yield some bargains. |
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I've been coming to Japan regularly for over 25 years and one of the things I have always liked about Tokyo is that even in the middle of a jumble of high rise buildings and neon lights, just turn down a little alley and you can find a completely different environment. Here is a traditional style eatery just off the main drag. |
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We stopped by the official Takahashi outlet store, not too far from the Akihabra area. |
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Take your pick...FSQ, Epsilon, BRC... |
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... TOA-150 (1,155,000 yen is about about US$10,000). |
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OK... time to get back to the hotel and get ready to head to the other side of Japan tomorrow to visit the Tainai Star Party at Kurokawa Village. |