World Forum for Motor Museums, Japan, 29 October – 2 November 2024

22 November 2024

Our Director of Collections, Andrea Bishop and our Chief Executive, Jon Murden were honoured to represent the National Motor Museum at the recent World Forum for Motor Museums (WFFMM) in Japan.

This years World Forum was hosted by Toyota in conjunction with Honda, Subaru, Suzuki and all the other major Japanese motor manufacturers. Held biennially, the WFFMM acts as an international assembly for exchanging knowledge with those who share a passion for motoring heritage, putting a global perspective on the issues and challenges facing motor museums throughout the world. Andrea is our main link with the WFFMM and sits on its Secretariat.

National Motor Museum Chief Executive, Jon Murden describes his visit to Japan.

The Toyota Commemorative Museum Of Technology And Industry

The Forum met firstly for a welcome reception and guided tour of the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology in Nagoya. This excellent museum is based in the original, early 20^th century, factory buildings in the heart of the old city, where Sakichi Toyoda established the Toyoda Loom Works as major manufacturer of textile machinery. It is a marvellous display that tells the story of the company and its history of technical innovation – in textile and automotive engineering. It is interactive throughout and has some amazing exploded and sectioned vehicles – as well as a reconstruction of the original Toyota production line.

The Forum then moved on day two and three to the Toyota Automobile Museum, just outside Nagoya. Here the Museum tells the story of motor manufacturing, Showcasing the Evolution and
Culture of Automobiles from around the World and Japan with examples of all its marques. The Museum also features the most remarkable gallery dedicated to automobilia and car cultures. All Japan’s leading manufacturers had also contributed to a special display of their heritage fleets – leading to the most amazing Museum car park ever.

Toyota Automobile Museum was also the venue for two days of lectures, seminars and workshops on a wide range of topics from utilising digital technology to innovations in museum management, and the development of automotive culture and museums in Asia. It was part of that programme that I contributed a paper to the keynote session on the global significance of Japanese automotive heritage. I specifically discussed the evolving relationship between British motorists and Japanese cars over the last 50 years and the implications this will have for our collections and the way we interpret them.

The last two days of the conference moved on to Fuji Motorsports Village – and included three laps on the track (in a tour bus) before visiting both the Rookie Racing Technology Centre and the Fuji Motorsports Museum. Again, there was a stunning selection of beautifully presented vehicles to see before the WFFMM closed with a special presentation by Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation, on the importance of preserving and celebrating the heritage and spirit of motoring.

Our final task before heading home, was to act as judges for a special meet of the monthly Fuji Fan Cruise. Here supporters of the Fuji Speedway and the Fuji Motorsports Museum meet in an informal cruise and show ‘n’ shine. Despite the torrential rain there was a strong turnout of 60s, 70s, 80s and 90’s Japanese classics, from Kei cars to high performance JDM machines – the overall winner being a 1987 Honda Civic.

It was an unforgettable experience and one that opened our eyes to new ideas, new stories, and different ways of displaying and interpreting cars and motorcycles. As we re-imagine the National Motor Museum as part of our Motoring into the Future project, these thought-provoking lessons learned will be extremely valuable. It has also helped us establish closer relationships with Japanese manufacturers, especially Toyota and Subaru, from which we hope further collaborative projects will emerge in the future.