My Adventures: The Tokyo Motor Show 2007

10.31.07

Today Lauren and I took a field trip to the Tokyo Motor Show. The great thing about the Tokyo Motor Show is that it's conveniently located in the convention center in Kaihin Makuhari; about a 15 minute walk from my school! Consequently, we could spend all morning at the show easily make our way back to school just in time for our first class. We arrived at the convention center around 10:15am (it opened at 10am), parked our bicycles, bought our tickets for 1300 yen (about $13 USD), and walked through the entrance gates. It was pretty busy for a weekday, and I couldn't imagine what the show would've been like on the weekend.

We walked into the first of four enormous halls and were greeted with the glimmer of chrome and the sparkle of freshly waxed cars illuminated by the fluorescent glow of stage lighting. The Tokyo Motor Show isn't just for the public. Several days before the show is actually open to the public, representatives from major companies all over the globe come to see the new innovations presented by major motor companies. It was really exciting to see some of the new concept cars; many of which were designed to reduce their impact on the environment. Some of the major motor companies that stuck in my mind were Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, GM, Ford, Ferrari, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini, Citroen, Volkswagen, Lotus, Porsche, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, and many more.

This one is for Dad, the Jeep Extrordinaire.

Nissan's Piyo2 that talks to you and can move laterally with a 90 degree slide of its wheels.

Honda's Puyo (sounds similar to Piyo2) that has a cushy exterior shell and really cool windows.

Toyota's concept car that uses a combination of hydrogen fuel and solar power. It comes with two little solar powered mini-bikes that sit in the trunk.