Hiroshima’s Mazda Museum is one of the highlights of Hiroshima. Mazda Museum brings forth technological advancement in terms of automotive development. You will learn about how this Japanese multinational automaker evolved, its achievements, and it future goals, all for creating the best driving experience in its class that a driver could have wished for.
About Hiroshima’s Mazda Museum
Mazda Museum is one of the interesting places to drop by should you are going to drop by Hiroshima. Talking about Hiroshima, people would normally associate it with historical events, namely the atomic bombing in 1945, as well as the world peace campaign. But Mazda Museum brings you a taste of technology, which it tells you the history, the current, and the future plan and vision of what Mazda. See the growth of Mazda and how it tackles the challenge of building a better car.
Upon arriving at the Mazda head office, you will ride on a bus, and you will be brought to the Mazda Museum at the Mazda’s Ujina production plant. The Mazda Museum is segmented into number sections:
Entrance Hall
Upon arrival at the Mazda’s Ujina production plant, you will be greeted by the Mazda Museum’s spacious entrance hall. The area also serves as a showcase area to the tour attendees, which showcases the latest of Mazda vehicles. Along the year, Mazda also occasionally hold some special events in this area.
History
From the entrance hall, you will be brought upstairs and across the opposite building on the south, and you will reach the history section. This section tells the history of Mazda since it first established in 1920. You can see how the products changes and evolve across all these years to this very date. And maybe if you are wondering what you are only going to see these vehicles in photos, well sorry to disappoint you, but they have also exhibits of the actual stuffs in this very area!
Rotary Engine
This next section showcases one of Mazda’s best products ever created, Mazda’s pride and glory, the rotary engine. If you don’t know what rotary engine is, well, it is basically a car engine that works a bit different than the normal piston engine. It is a small engine, but able to deliver power much higher than a normal piston engine of the same capacity, but at the cost of higher fuel consumption. You can also find the only rotary engine racing car that had won the 24H Le Mans endurance race in 1991.
Technology
The next section is the technology section. These few recent years, Mazda has made its name to the world using their SkyActiv technology which boasts a number of perks that is a bit tricky be achieved by using the conventional way of development. Mazda has worked back from the bottom ground and re-engineered most aspects of what makes a car, a driveable car. You will learn about what SkyActiv is all about, learn about its manufacturing process, and learn how the CX-5 is built.
U1 Assembly Line
The next will be the most exciting part of the tour. You will be able to witness the live assembly process of the vehicles by the robotic arms and also the human staff worker impressively and efficiently assembles and fixing the car parts on top of the conveyor belt. You will not be seeing them right at the side but from the safety of an elevated walkway. And from the observation deck, you can see Mazda’s private port, with cargo ships to ship out those vehicles.
Future
The final section before you returned back the entrance hall is an area which showcases Mazda future plans and vision. Mazda introduces its approach for a more environmentally friendly vehicle, and also its effort to achieve reduction of CO2 emissions. Most of the exhibits in here are still in research and development stages, and some are still concepts of future designs.
Mazda Museum Shop
Back to the entrance hall, just right beside information counter beside the entrance door, you can find merchandises and souvenirs for you to bring back, and especially if you are a Mazda enthusiast, you might find at least one thing to bring back home from here, key-chains, pens, caps, shirts, car models, and products of teams that receive support from Mazda such as Hiroshima Toyo Carp baseball team and also Sanfrecce Hiroshima soccer team, their products can also be found here.
Should You Visit This Place?
If you are Mazda-head, this is a very must place for you to visit. If you are car-nerd, this is a place for you. If you are into mechanical technologies, this is a good place to visit. If you have no interest in technology, cars, very much Mazda, this is still a place for you to consider. Why? Because the tour is free, especially if you are tight on budget. All you need to do make a reservation online or via phone to check for availability.
- Spot name: Mazda Museum (via Mazda Hiroshima Head Office)
- Street address: (Mazda Hiroshima Head Office) 3-1 Shinchi, Fuchu-cho, Aki-gun, Hiroshima-ken 730-8670, Japan
- Business Hour:
- Weekdays (except on public holidays)
- English-language Tour: 10 AM
- Japanese-language Tour: 1.30 PM
- Admission Fee: Free (reservation required)
- Access:
- 5-minute walk northwest of Mukainada Station
- 10-minute on the train from Hiroshima Station
- 14-minute on the bus from Hiroshima Station
Comments