Toyota Motor Corporation is a multinational automotive manufacturer and the world’s fifth largest company by revenue in 2016 (source: Fortune Global 500). Toyota’s headquarters is in Toyota City, less than an hour from east of central Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture. Toyota was so important as an employer in the town formerly known as Koromo, it was renamed as Toyota City in 1959. It is, therefore, worthwhile to visit a Toyota museum while in Aichi Prefecture to get to know more about this car manufacturing giant.
Toyota Museums
There are 3 Toyota Museums which you can visit:
Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology
We chose to visit Toyota Commemorative Museum after taking into consideration the travel time.The museum is housed in these red-brick buildings. This same location was used as a pilot factory by Sakichi Toyoda, founder of Toyota Group, in 1911 to research and develop automatic looms.
The circular loom which Sakichi Toyoda invented in 1906 is exhibited at the main lobby (on the left in photo below). The loom employed various original and unique techniques, such as 3-dimensional weaving. It now stands as a symbol of the museum’s aim in the ‘spirit of research and creativity’.
Though we were in time for the start of an English-language tour, we opted to walk around on our own.
At the entrance to the Textile Machine Pavilion, we watched the story of Toyota Group on the screen. Briefly, Toyota Group started off as a weaving and spinning company. Their founder, Sakichi Toyoda, invented various weaving machines. His oldest son, Kiichiro Toyoda, adapted and developed the loom technology to build automobiles and started Toyota Motor Corporation.
Textile Machine Pavilion
The Textile Machine Pavilion features around 90 spinning and weaving machines. There are both hand and automatic looms, which bring visitors through the technological advancement in textile manufacturing.
Tried to spin a yarn by turning a Garabo throstle spinning machine.
The automatic looms and other textile machines.
An operator came by and chatted with us before turning on a weaving machine for demonstration. He even gave us each a small piece of the weaved cloth as souvenirs, which thrilled DL and CL as they picked the one of their favourite colour.
Automobile Pavilion
Automobile Manufacturing in the 1930s
Exhibits on prototypes and technologies used in early automobile manufacturing. We took a cursory look at the exhibits here as the theme did not interest us.
Past and Present Toyota Automobiles
Here we got to see rows and rows of Toyota vehicles of different eras. We had fun locating vehicles that are familiar to us and reminisced about the ones we saw when we were younger (oh, I sound so old).
And the forward-looking ones as well, like this “Flesby” Airbag Car, a concept for ultra-compact mobility in 2030 by airbag manufacturer Toyoda Gosei.
Mechanisms of Automobiles and its Components
In this section, the basic mechanisms and different components of a car are explained, including their technological advancements. DL and CL had fun here with the interactive exhibits.
Metalwork Exhibit and Production Technology
In this section, various metalwork machines, such as die fabrication and press processing, are exhibited. Besides exhibits on the assembly line process of bygone days, we also saw a demonstration of automated process in body assembly which are now done by robots.
Technoland
We passed by Technoland towards the end of our visit. Technoland is where visitors can have hands-on experience in play tools deploying the mechanisms used in textile machinery and automobiles. The kids were tired by then and looking for a place to rest their feet so we did not went in.
Museum Shop
Even if you are not buying anything, we will recommend popping into the Museum Shop. Besides the usual memorabilia of t-shirts and stationery, you can of course also get model vehicles (we’re in an automobile museum after all). Or better still, get that Toyota fan buddy of yours back home a Toyota curry pack or a tin of Toyota bonbons.
We ended our 2-hour long visit by watching the Toyota Partner Robot played the violin. If you do visit this museum, don’t miss the hourly performance. You’ll be amazed at how beautifully it plays.
*****************************************
Read about our trip itinerary and the places we visited in Japan Nagoya Itinerary 2017 .
*****************************************
Useful Information
Address: 4 Chome-1-35 Noritakeshinmachi, Nishi-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture 451-0051, Japan
Telephone: +81 52-551-6115
Official Website: Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology
Opening Hours: 9.30am to 5.00pm; closed on Mondays (check calendar on official website)
Admission Charge: Adults(18 years and above) JPY500, Junior and Senior High Students JPY300, Elementary School Students JPY200, Seniors(65 years and above) Free
Getting There: 3 minute walk from Sako Station on the Nagoya Line. Alternatively, take Subway Higashiyama Line to Kamejima station. We walked around 15 minutes to get to the museum.
