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Mazda (pronounced
Matsuda in Japan) has it's company headquarters a short distance
outside of Hiroshima. They offer free
tours every weekday at 9:30am and 1:00pm in Japanese, and 1:00pm in
English. The tour is a must for any automobile fan. Space is limited,
and they ask that you call first to make a reservation (Tel:
082-252-5050). If you have any serious technical questions then you
should go on the Japanese tour and bring along your own interpreter.
The English tour guides are not very knowledgeable.
Mazda Comso Sport, photographed at the Mazda Museum. It
is a Series I (L10A) model. Picture by
Taisyo
The tour will
begin with a historical view of the Mazda company from it's early days
making three-wheeled trucks and cork, to the present day Renesis
Wankel Rotary Engine. Highlights include the Mazda Cosmos (the worlds
first Rotary Engine car) and the 4-Rotor Mazda 787B which is the only
Japanese car to win at Le Mans. From there you will be taken to see
how the design and build process works at their Ujima plant, and you
will be taken onto the actual assembly line to see the latest Mazda
vehicles being made. The tour concludes with a view of Mazdas attempts
at making Hydrogen fuelled cars and some of their concept vehicles.
To get to the Mazda Museum, take the JR Sanyo line from Hiroshima
station going East. Exit at the second stop (Mukainada). Exit the
station and head south two blocks to the main street. Turn right and
cross at the first pedestrian crossing. Enter the Mazda showroom and
go to the information desk to sign in.
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(Article
based on
Wikitravel article
by Jpatokal. Based on work by Jose Ramos and Anonymous user(s) of
Wikitravel. Article used under
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0.)
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