When visiting Japan, dropping by one of the many automakers’ headquarters and museums is on the bucket list of any petrolhead.
Toyota’s is all the way in Aichi; Honda’s HQ is in Tokyo and its museum is in Motegi; and Nissan’s HQ can be found in Yokohama, with a special collection in Zama.
Down south, the Mazda Motor Corporation can be found in the historically relevant city of Hiroshima. With its museum recently being renovated, what better time for Mazda Philippines to bring us (and the Miata Club of the Philippines) along for a tour?
Getting there is the first step. You’ll have to find your way to Hiroshima, whether via air or the Shinkansen lines. Once at the Hiroshima Station, you have two options to get to the headquarters.
Via rail, you can take the Sanyo Main Line or Kure Line to Mukainada Station by train. From there, it’s a five-minute walk to the Mazda headquarters.
Another option would be taking either the Hiroshima, Geiyo, or Hiroden buses that lead to the Mukainada Station bus stop. This way, you can walk to the HQ in two minutes.
Take note that you must book a museum tour in advance.
Enter the lobby and an arranged shuttle bus will pick you up and bring you to the museum.
For obvious reasons, you aren’t allowed to take photos until you get to the museum, but a selection of cars will be on display in the lobby for you to ogle and enjoy.
Now, once you’re in the museum premises, there are several current production models on display on the first floor.
You can interact with and sit inside them, but you’ll have to watch a short brand introduction video before the two-hour tour begins.
You will also see various press photos, historical archives and files, and die-cast models of past vehicles around the ground floor of the lobby.
Obviously, the Mazda Museum shop is also present, but you will want to blow your cash to do this once the tour is over.
Now, the magic begins as you head up the stairs to the second level. The very first hallway you will pass through might be empty, but it’s designed to give the same sensation of driving through a tunnel.
The first exhibit consists of three of the earliest Mazda production vehicles, the Toyo Kogyo Mazda-Go three-wheelers. These cars were produced before the Second World War.
The meat of the museum is in the next room.
First up are beautifully preserved examples of the R360, the Carol 360, the Famila Wagon, the Luce Rotary Coupe, and the Bongo 1000 Van.
The point of this zone shows the brand’s transition into an automobile manufacturer with the introduction of the now iconic Wankel rotary engine, including its halo product at the time, which is the Cosmo Sport.
If you’ve played early Gran Turismo games, a lot of these cars will be familiar to you. There’s a bright-green FB Savanna RX-7, a Cosmo L, and a humble Familia Coupe.
Several uncommon Eunos vehicles (500 and 800) and several Familias that you didn’t know existed are present, including a Lantis Coupe and an Axela (or Mazda 3) Hatchback.
The exhibit that got the most people hot and bothered were the two pristine FD RX-7s on display, a red Zenki ɛ̃fini RX-7, and a silver Kouki RX-7 Spirit R.
If you were wondering why these colors instead of the iconic Innocent Blue Mica, it’s because these are also a subtle hint to Mazda Spirit Racing, the brand’s motorsports arm.
Speaking of which, the legendary 787B is present, alongside a spare R26B engine and some Renown jackets used by the team.
And yes, this is the very same one that won Le Mans and is used on demo runs. Other race cars present are the Savanna RX-7 rally car and the Familia Presto Rotary Coupe.
Right next to it is a humble NB MX-5/Roadster, but what makes it special is that this is the 500,000th Miata to ever be made, which rolled off the assembly line on February 8, 1999.
The room next to it showcases three very important modern-day vehicles: the KE CX-5, the CX-60 (which represents the evolution of the Skyactiv technologies), and a soft-top, manual 30th-anniversary ND MX-5 (which is number 0 out of 3,000 units).
The exhibit gives a bit of a background on the automaker’s development and testing processes, like how it designs and paints its cars. You will be able to see a part of the actual assembly line for cars made in the Ujina plant, such as the MX-5, the CX-5, the CX-3, and the CX-30.
No photos are allowed, of course, but toward the end of that showcase, you will see a window overlooking a dock where the finished vehicles are driven out and shipped to their respective countries.
This is why a brand-new Mazda will commonly have around 4-9km on its odometer.
The final exhibit of the museum showcases the concepts and visions for the future.
Examples such as the Bike by Kodo and the Sofa by Kodo show how well the design language can translate into other things.
Next to it are a clay model of the Kai Concept (now the Mazda 3) and two of the brand’s most beautiful concept cars (the RX-Vision and the Vision Coupe).
Also present is the LM55, a fictional race car created for the Vision Gran Turismo program for the titular video game.
While the automaker’s museum is quite humble compared to others, the displays are often rotated. We managed to catch a glimpse of the RX-Evolv Concept being wheeled in.
This should give Mazda fanatics and automotive enthusiasts another reason to visit this place, apart from the lovely culture, history, and food of Hiroshima. Nihon daisuki!
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