Visiting Eco Spots

The main building displays some 120 European, American, and Japanese cars and introduces the history of the gasoline-engine automobile. The exhibitions in the new building show the development of motorization in Japan and the effect it had on the daily lives of Japanese people.

Opened in April 1997, this museum is located in Tokoname, a city with a long history of pottery making. The main exhibition is the display of some 6,000 tiles from around the world that the tile researcher Masayuki Yamamoto spent 50 years collecting. As befits one of Yamamoto’s main research themes—“the historical origins of tiles”—the museum took a hint from the Yayoi Period jars it has in its collections and used very subduedly-colored tiles for the outside walls of the museum.

Visitors can learn about Noritake’s history, products, and the process of making its famous china tableware. A video showing also introduces Noritake’s efforts for preserving the environment. Visitors can try their hand at painting dishes and other tableware at the workshop corner in the Craft Center.

The 13 companies of the Toyota Group established the museum on June 11, 1994 in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Toyota Motors founder, Kiichiro Toyoda, with the basic aim of passing down to younger generations the “soul of making things" with the “spirit of research and creativity.” From the circular loom invented by Sakichi Toyoda to Toyota’s automobiles, the museum displays the history of the Toyota Group.

Hekinantantopia is an attraction on the site of the Hekinan Thermal Power Plant and includes the Hekinantantopia Electricity Museum, where visitors can learn about electricity and efforts to conserve the environment, the Healing Garden, designed on the theme of “healing and communication,” and Eco Park, which offers beautiful views of the natural surroundings there. Visitors can also tour the power plant.