April 2, 2014

Claim to Fame

So most of you probably know that we live in a little town called Ota.  To be honest, there isn't a lot going on here but Ota does have one claim to fame.  It's where the Subaru car company was born.  It's hard to miss this, since there's an enormous Subaru factory right in the middle of town.

According to my research, a local guy named Chikuhei Nakajima founded the Nakajima Aircraft Company in 1917.  It became a prominent aircraft manufacturer for Japan during WWII.  From what I read, the factory here in town (or it's predecessor) was heavily bombed during WWII.  As you can imagine, after the war they were no longer allowed to make aircraft.  So they started using  leftover airplane parts to make scooters and.....cars.  The umbrella company is now called Fuji Heavy Industries, Ltd. and Subaru is just a division within it.  If you're at all interested in auto-manufacturer history this link and the one above re Nakajima lead to some good reading on Wikipedia.

I took a special trip downtown to take some pictures of the factory but they don't do justice to the enormity of it.  Seriously it's acres and acres of car plant.  And it's quite the bustling area, with lots of trucks---not the best place to be trying to take photos from a moving car.  I tried to pull over in a side parking lot at one point only to be honked at by a semi who wanted me to move so he could pull in too.

There are lots of Subaru dealers around this area and a lot of people drive them, including Chad.  The big semis that carry lots of stacked cars are a common sight here in town too.

the entrance, right before I was nearly mowed down by the semi

driving by, you can barely see a red/white airplane out front.
I can only assume it's in reference to the company's beginning

employee parking?  I assume it's a major employer in the area

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