Toyota Kaikan Museum

I spent a night in Nagoya specifically to visit the Toyota Kaikan Museum and soak in the full Toyota brand experience. The future exhibit, virtual factory tour, and showroom—featuring models from Toyota, Gazoo Racing, Crown, Lexus, and even the Century—were all highlights. I had hoped to see every current production model, though some areas appeared to be under renovation. My only suggestion for improvement would be to expand the gift shop selection—it felt a bit sparse. Overall, it was a rewarding visit. Toyota for life.

The museum is focused on innovations + have some interactive part, but it is mostly for children. Nice showroom at the end with GR cars as well. There were literally no people inside. Gift shop is a bit small. I suggest checking out a nice cafe downstairs (be aware that it closes for an hour in the middle of the day) and you can spot some nice cars at the parking lot. Overall, worth a visit if you are a fan of Toyota. Besides, the area around the museum is quite and really nice for a walk. No ticket/reservation needed, the trip by train takes an hour and a half from Nagoya city center (the landscape from the train window is spectacular on a sunny day).

The museum itself is nothing special. However, you can't complain, as admission is free and you get a glimpse into Toyota's production process. If you're a car enthusiast, or even Toyota enthusiast, a visit might be worthwhile.

Free and interesting. If you're close, come do a quick visite.

If you're a petrolhead and you like Toyotas, this place is well worth a visit. Parking and admission costs nothing. And there's no need to make an appointment. There's one big hall that displays the comprehensive range of passenger vehicles currently produced by Toyota in Japan. And the best part is, visitors can explore the interior of almost all the vehicles. So you could sit in a humble Yaris, and sample the luxurious interior of the Lexus LM. If you want to try something that moves, you can register to ride Toyota's personal mobility solution known as the C+Walk. And if you want a glimpse into Toyota's vision for future transport, there are a few funky looking concept vehicles too. Wifey tagged along on this visit. She isn't a petrolhead, and she's definitely not a fan of any particular car brand. But I could tell she wasn't bored out of her mind here.

It's good to know about the history of the company and when it started, good explanations and demonstrations by the staff.

Great place to view and sit in the current line-up of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. While not exactly a museum (which I would recommend to visit the Toyota Automobile Museum or the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology instead), it still has an area of seasonal special exhibits. There were interesting vehicles displayed when I visited, such as the Crown, GR Yaris, GR Corolla, Land Cruisers and even the LM500h! There is gift shop on the second floor which sells a wide variety of goods, and you can even find some souvenirs from the other Toyota museums as well. Worth a pop by if you are around the area! Visited in November 2024.

It’s not that I enjoy going to museums. But I didn’t get to go one when I was a kid and whenever I see these children with their parents in every museum, I feel happy for them and kinda feel sad for myself at the same. Maybe I would have enjoyed more going to museums like this if I went here a little younger. But cheers tho! Cheers to life ✨

Toyota Kaikan Museum & Plant Tour is a cool place, especially for an operations nerd like me! :) If you dedicated yourself to OR/IE studies/field like me 10+ years ago, you'd probably had come across a hugeeee part of your studies dedicated to how great Toyota's Production System is and how awesome kanban was. Like what most people probably did, we all learned the theory and how things should work, but, like me, we never really knew what the production floor actually look like....well, not until I visited and saw Toyota Kaikan Museum & Plant Tour for the first time. I'm pretty far away from being a car enthusiast...but I must admit that I myself love things that are efficient..and inefficiencies bug the hell out of me :) Visiting the museum was like a dream come true to me, seeing what and how takt time, kanban system, and andon meant and come together in real life were really cool. It also doesn't hurt to actually get to visit a car manufacturing plant for the first time in my life. Overall, it's something that everyone should see. Definitely a must if you have a huge interest in operations/supply chain like I do. I believe, though, that you must reserve a ticket in advance..but hey, it's definitely worth seeing the floor...and certainly doesn't hurt if you enjoy checking out all the history and technologies that drive innovation at Toyota, too.

My sons and I enjoy factory tours -- and especially car factory tours -- in the spirit of learning how things work. Toyota has recently been the #1 or #2 car maker in the world, so to that end it's pretty cool to see how they make some of it happen. Overall our experience was probably 3.5 stars -- not one of the best factory tours I've been on, but still glad we checked it out. Things to consider before your visit: - Toyota is 90+ minutes from Nagoya - The Kaikan museum is cool for about an hour; don't need to allow too much time - The plant tour is another ~20 minute bus ride to/from the museum - Our tour was only final assembly (car bodies were already done & painted) - There is a worker's cafeteria near the museum; pretty much the only nearby food option The most fascinating part of the tour for us was to watch their Just in Time inventory system in action. Very few parts are stored anywhere along the assembly line... they are constantly being replenished from supply trains (so robotic and some man-driven). This is presumably what allows them to produce such massive volumes of new cars every day -- but also what caused down almost immediately during the natural disaster (since they have almost no parts on hand).

If you're a car person like me, going to the Tokyo Kaikan museum and factor tour is something you will always remember. If you want to go on the factory tour, you need to make reservations at least a month in advance. Getting to the museum is very tricky and can be expensive. If you're going to be traveling a lot though Japan I highly recommend that you purchase a JR Unlimited Rail pass. These passes can only be purchased outside of Japan and redeemed once you arrive. If you don't have one of these passes, getting to Nagoya and to the museum from Tokyo can cost at least $150++ r/t. The factory tour is very fun and educational, it's a little short, I wish you got to see more of the factory but it's something I will always remember. You can make reservations at this link (http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/about_toyota/facility/toyota_kaikan/index.html)

My 2nd time to visit both the museum and the plant tour. Both are with your time and very informative and entertaining. The plant tour is the real highlight of the establishment. You get to see the vehicles being manufactured and learn about Toyota systems at the same time.

My son went on the tour 7/23 from 10:30-1. It was an English tour but the participants were from many countries. The tour guide-a young lady handled the crowd well and it went very smooth and was informative. She answered questions well even though two people answered questions that were quite difficult and a short answer would not have answered them-more culturally-related. No charge for the tour and well-worth it the time. The simulator was fun too trying driving in different weather conditions. My son and I went head to head.