Toyota Automobile Museum to Display “Japanese History of Car Making” Corner on April 16, 2022

The Toyota Automobile Museum, a cultural facility of Toyota Motor Corporation, will open a new permanent exhibition corner on April 16, 2022. The display is titled    "Japanese History of Car Making" and will be held on the second floor of the Automobile Gallery in Japan.

Walking down the history lane, Toyota’s journey didn’t start easy as the Japanese auto industry grew during a volatile period spanning two world wars and initially led by a few small companies. But, these manufacturers were able to thrive, thanks in part to a national policy of supporting the auto industry, making Japan a major automobile-producing country, with as many as 12 major manufacturers vying for leadership now.

The one-of-a-kind permanent exhibition corner in Japan will answer your curiosity about how the giant Japanese automotive industry was first established as it traces the Japanese auto industry's first seven decades, from its beginnings in the early twentieth century to the 1970s, when it firmly placed itself as the nation's key industry.

At the centre is a runway-like "moving chronology" on which flowing visuals of milestone topics are projected. On one wall, touch-screen panels introduce the founders of major automakers, including Nissan's Yoshisuke Aikawa, Kiichiro Toyoda, Michio Suzuki, Tsuneji Matsuda, and Soichiro Honda.

The panels enable comparisons between Aikawa and Toyoda, for example. You will also find a lineage chart of 12 existing automakers as well as infographics depicting production volume trends. Visitors can easily follow the path of the Japanese auto industry from inception to maturity using these visual aids.

Visitors may also be interested to know that Zone 5 on the second floor of the Automobile Gallery has been updated, with vehicles from the 1920s to the 1940s on display. This was the era when attempts were made to produce cars that were entirely Japanese-made.

A Ford Model A (built in Japan in 1929) and a Datsun 11 Phaeton are among the vehicles on display (1932). An Otomo by Hakuyosha Co. (1925), on loan from the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo, is also on display for a limited time. This vehicle was restored with the help of the Toyota Automobile Museum.