Then and now: factory tours

Thanks to coming to Japan as an exchange student, I was introduced to Japan's factory tour culture pretty early on. Moreover, when I was working in an Internship, I spent more than a month touring the factories of the conglomerate I was working for! So, since I moved to Japan to live permanently, I often think to bring visiting family and friends to visit a factory.

Not all factory tours are created equally! I was actually in Japan many years before I did a factory tour that left a more lasting impression. And that was the Glico factory tour of the Pocky line. Don't get me wrong - I found all the factory tours I did before that very interesting and enjoyable, but the Pocky line factory tour is on another level. And for that reason, you have to book months in advance, and it is subject to availability. I have since been to other chocolate factories and, to date, they are my favorite type of factory tour to do.

The range of factory tours in Japan is extensive. I have a list of the ones I want to do. One of them I have applied applied to several times, but as it is a lottery system, I have yet to secure a coveted place on the tour. Others are very casual where you can just rock up on the day and join a tour at a specific time, or in some cases, when they have enough people gathered to start a tour. There are many soy sauce factory tours, in particular, like this in Saitama Prefecture. The best bit: the vast majority of factory tours in Japan are free. And some of them send you away with a goodie bag too.

Have you ever been on a factory tour in Japan? Any you would recommend?