Industries of Nagoya

Enjoy enlightening tours of two attractions associated with Japan’s most well-known brands—Noritake and Toyota. Located on the site of Noritake’s former ceramics factory, its namesake garden is cultural more than botanical. Inside the complex of red-brick buildings, you can watch Noritake craftsmen creating delicate porcelain pieces and browse exhibits featuring extraordinary tableware.

The Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology showcases Toyota’s transition from producing textiles to automobiles and more. Exhibit halls with interactive displays focus on 100 years of traditions and state-of-the-art demonstrations that highlight the impact of technological development on manufacturing.

The museum is located in a 1911 factory for automatic looms in honor of Sakichi Toyoda, the inventor of Japan’s first power loom and founder of the Toyota Group. The company name was later changed from Toyoda to Toyota in part because it requires only eight brush strokes to write in Japanese, and eight is a lucky number.