Kyushu Alumni Tour – September 2019
Return to Japan to experience an all-new program for Lean Japan Tour Alumni only
In September 2019, Shinka Management invite our past participants of the Lean Japan Tour to the beautiful southern island of Kyushu. A completely new selection of company visits has been arranged in the prefectures of Fukuoka and Oita.
Also joining us for this special event will be Akinori Hyodo, the former manager of the Toyota HiAce plant. He will lead seminars and plant visit discussions throughout the week.
The tour will be held on Sunday 22nd September through Saturday 28th September, and will include kaizen seminars and visits to factories for meetings with senior management.
The tour coincides with the Rugby World Cup. A great opportunity to also take in the atmosphere of the event’s host country.

For further details of the tour and to read about past visits see our kaizen tour page.
Contact us to express your interest in participating.
The September 2019 tour is open to all past participants of the Lean Japan Tour.
Example Itinerary (subject to change)
Sunday: Arrive Fukuoka
- Fukuoka free time
- Orientation & Seminar with former Toyota factory manager
Monday: Fukuoka – Site Visits & Training
- Seminar with former Toyota factory manager
- Toyota Motor Kyushu factory visit
Tuesday: Fukuoka – Site Visits & Training
- Seminar with former Toyota factory manager
- Toyota Motor Kyushu factory visit
Wednesday: Oita- Site Visits & Training
- Fundokin miso factory visit
- Fundokin salad dressing factory visit
Thursday: Oita – Site Visits
- Omron Taiyo factory visit
- Toto factory visit
Friday: Oita – Site Visit & Debriefing
- Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal factory visit
- Oita City Government
Saturday: Oita – Recovery and Sightseeing
- Oita sightseeing
- Departure from Fukuoka Airport
Learn more about our Lean Japan Tour
The Lean Japan Tour is Shinka Management’s flagship lean professional development program. For further detail about our lean Japan tours, see the Lean Japan Tour page, or read more about past participants’ Lean Mission Testimonials.
What our tour participants have said…
Personally and professionally I found the week extraordinarily rewarding – not only as a fantastic Lean Japan Tour but as a cultural experience not to be missed. Imagine if you will… taking a group of people you had never met before, under your wing, in one of the most crowded cities in the world. Plenty…
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Thank you for the well-organized and informative tour. It can be distracting to read and attend lectures about lean, but when combined with practical training and actual visits to the home of lean, it helps to clarify and connect all the dots. The tour was an eye-opening experience where we witnessed lean manufacturing principles in…
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I highly recommend the Lean Japan Tour – it provided a very good insight, was well organised and is led by guys who are clearly very passionate for lean and Japan.
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It was a fasntastic tour from the beginning to the end. It was very well-organised and informative. Sessions were followed with practical training which concentrated more on the ideas that had been explained. The factories visited were chosen in a way that allowed the participants to see a live supply chain work. Big thanks to…
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Dear Paul, Thank you for the nice experience you and your team were able to provide me! It has been a very professional tour and even more a very nice human connection with you, David and Eri. You have built a nice team that makes people’s lives change! Ciao, Maurizio
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Contact us about a Lean Japan Tour
Speak to us about our tours.