Taking the train out of the city, I made my way to the Toyota Automobile Museum. By the name of the place, I thought it would be a museum where I could learn about the history of Toyota and the importance of the company for Japan’s automotive industry. As soon as I was given the leaflet about it all, it was clear this museum was so much more.
I started the tour in the main building. After having some difficulties, and with the help of one of the staff members, I managed to get the audio guide app working, and I was free to walk around, listen to the virtual guide, and take some pictures.
The exhibit was divided into different zones, or sections, each showing a different period of time and the cars it had, not only in Japan but across the globe, with different manufacturers, starting from the very basic motorized carriages all the way to the most modern cars and automotive innovations. It was also interesting to see how the design has changed over the years, as well as trying to understand the reason for those changes.
Each car had a sign next to it with a bit of text giving some explanation about its history as well as some statistics. That alone could have been plenty, and I would have been happy with just that. The audio guide was a bit more detailed and gave extra information which was quite interesting, although I found it a bit too slow for my taste.
Going through all the different zones took longer than I expected, and at the end there was also another exhibit hall, showing the history of automotive in Japan and the different people who influenced it.
Then it was time to go to the second building, to the Automobile Culture Showroom. Before I entered the showroom itself, there was one more display area, showing different rally cars of various Japanese manufacturers. The staff kindly gave me a leaflet in English, providing more details about the different companies and their involvement with rallying. It was quite a small area though, and it didn’t take long to go through it all.
The culture showroom itself didn’t display any more automobiles, but rather car- related items. Miniature cars, toys, books and magazines, mascots and badges, as well as some posters and stamps, and even a few license plates from different countries around the world. The audio guide app covered that part as well, which was a welcome surprise and gave a bit more insight into all the different sections of this exhibit.
This museum was not what I expected it to be initially, but so much more than that. It was a great way to spend a few hours, getting away from Nagoya for a little while, and it is definitely a point of interest for car lovers.