Because Japanis home to quite a few car manufacturers, there are many museums in Japan that display automobiles. The Motorcar Museum of Japansstands out among these asthe country’s oldest and largest automobile museum,boastingmore than 500 cars on permanent display.

This museum was established in 1978 by Shoso Maeda, a local entrepreneur, mainly as a way to display his personal collection of cars. He also served as itsfirst curator, and dedicatedhimself to collecting and displaying a wide range of domestic cars,based on the principleof “preserving the wisdom of pioneers forfuture generations—alwaysremember, learn from, and better understandtheir achievements, both domesticallyand internationally.”The collection includedboth commercial vehicles, which contributed to the country’s economic growth, and ordinaryvehicles that became an everyday part of life in Japan at the time.This combination of vehicles is one of the defining features of thismuseum today.