I came to Hiroshima to attend the autumn meeting of the Japan Society for Non-Destructive Inspection (JNIDI), leaving Haneda Airport on the night of November 3 and continuing my business trip from Fukuoka to Taiwan to Guangzhou to Nanjing to Shanghai to Hiroshima without ever returning to Tokyo. I arrived at the bus terminal of Hiroshima station late in the evening, but a student was waiting for me and I went to a pub with my suitcase.
The next day, Mr. A, Mr. B, Mr. F, and Mr. Z gave presentations. After the general presentations, Mr. Todaka, the director of the Yamato Museum, gave a keynote speech, in which he talked about the following.
Mr. Todaka, Director of the Yamato Museum, gave a keynote speech and told us the following:
・The shipyard workers were paid the same salary as those who graduated from the Imperial University.
・When they ordered a ship from overseas, they did not just asked bringing it to Japan, but they went overseas to pick it up with people from all industries involved in shipbuilding.
・When the disarmament treaty made it impossible to build new battleships, the shipbuilders maintained their craftsmanship by repeatedly making modifications that were not really necessary.
・When a shipbuilding company was about to go bankrupt, the government (navy) bought it in order to preserve the technology.
Applying it to the present, it made me think about various things, such as whether or not excellent technology and skills are given proper compensation and status to the people who possess them. I was so stimulated that I went to Kure to visit the Yamato Museum before returning to Tokyo.