We recently paid a visit to Nagoya to join Wekfest Japan 2026. As big as that festival is, though, it was only a one-day event, which meant we had more than enough free time to roam the area during our stay.
As suggested by our friend Macoy Dubs, one meaningful way to spend our time there was to visit the Toyota Automobile Museum. This was located in the neighboring city of Nagakute and was just a one-hour commute via train from the center of Nagoya, so Top Gear Philippines head of video Charles Banaag and I happily tagged along. We weren’t disappointed. Heck, we were genuinely surprised.
See, we thought it was going to be an in-depth history lesson on Toyota, but it turned out to be a deep dive into the history of the automobile itself. Now it makes sense why it wasn’t just called the ‘Toyota Museum.’ We had no idea we were going to see some unicorns on display.
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At the time we visited, the main building lobby had the ‘ST’ Toyota Supra on display. ST stands for Sanae Takaichi, the Prime Minister of Japan. This specific Supra was the first car she bought brand-new when she was still based in Nara. She drove it for 22 years before it was moved to storage, after which Nara Toyota bought it as a secondhand car and meticulously restored it to the condition that it is in right now. Talk about full circle.
The ground floor also had the Model AA on display, which was the first mass-market passenger car that Toyota had ever built.
Upon moving to the second floor, we were met with an example of the first-ever automobile, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen by Carl Benz. This was what kicked off the series of cars showcased in chronological order, divided into multiple sections across two floors, with each signifying a specific era in automotive manufacturing.
Frankly, it was quite amazing. It was basically a trip through down memory lane to witness the evolution of the automobile unfold from one vehicle to the next. It highlighted the trends in design and performance, and it also showed how the shapes and sizes of the cars we know of today were formed throughout the years.
As gearheads, it was a true delight to be able to see pristine examples of some of the most iconic and legendary nameplates in history. This includes Rolls-Royce vehicles from a bygone era, Bugatti’s earlier supercharged cars, the Toyota 2000GT, and plenty of JDM favorites from the ’80s and ’90s.
Most notable were the two holy grails at the museum: A drop-dead gorgeous Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing and a Lexus LFA Spider. The former is one of the world’s most sought-after pieces, the latter is one of the rarest—Toyota only ever built two of those top-down LFAs.
But you don’t need to be car nerds like us to appreciate this. Toyota has laid out the display in such a way that it feels more like a museum for consumption of the general public and not just for car enthusiasts. While the lineup of vehicles is curated, the information spread out across the halls are easy to digest. You can learn a lot even without knowing much about cars.
Toyota also dedicated a section of the museum to highlight the history of the automobile in Japan, telling the stories of the country’s first automakers in Toyota and Datsun and the eventual beginnings of other manufacturers like Suzuki, Mazda, and Honda.
It felt only fitting that the world’s biggest car brand had a museum built like this. If you like learning about history in general, even if you’re not big on cars, I highly suggest you visit the Toyota Automobile Museum if you ever find yourself in Nagoya. I assure you that like us, you won’t be disappointed.
The Toyota Automobile Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 9:30am to 5pm. No entries are allowed past 4:30pm, and if Monday falls on a public holiday, the museum will be closed on the Tuesday that immediately follows. Tickets cost ¥1,200 or roughly P500 for adults, with discounts available for children and senior citizens.
