September 2015
Visiting Tamiya Headquarters!
07 - September - 2015 - 17:45
Earlier this year, I spent two weeks visiting Japan. As part of that trip, my wife and I visited her brother, who was studying in Shizuoka, a medium sized city about an hour and a half bullet train ride south-west of Tokyo. When looking into what to do for the couple of days that we would be in Shizuoka, I discovered that it was home to the headquarters of the Tamiya corporation! After a little research, I discovered that a) At the headquarters, there was a museum that was open to the public. b) The headquarters was a 20 minute walk from where we were staying.
My wife and I walked across town and arrived there around 11am. We signed in at the front desk and were left to our own devices to wander about the first floor, which had a few galleries of models and full size cars. There is a showroom of their full size car collection, a room full of their current model releases and a room that is full of various models of historic significance to the company. There are also a few areas that have original box artwork on display and a few miscellaneous displays scattered about. After we wandered around for a few minutes, the receptionist called us over to a corner of the room that had some seating and a television. Through her broken English and out terrible Japanese, we determined that we should watch whatever she was about to show us. So, we sat and watched a 15 minute video about the Tamiya corporation and their model making process from start to finish, which was actually very interesting (and in English!). We were there on a weekday, and it was pretty much empty, so should you be in the neighborhood, I highly recommend stopping by!
What you see below are some of the photos I took there, along with some descriptions where relevant.
Here’s the view after passing through the main gates:
![TamiyaBlog-1](tamiyablog-1.jpg)
Right outside the front doors:
![TamiyaBlog-2](tamiyablog-2.jpg)
Over the years, Tamiya has purchased various vehicles as reference (or maybe just because they wanted to drive them around for fun). As a result they have a bit of a car collection, much of which is on display on the ground floor of their headquarters.
![TamiyaBlog-3](tamiyablog-3.jpg)
More of their car collection:
![TamiyaBlog-4](tamiyablog-4.jpg)
I’m sure this was totally for reference and definitely not driven around by the boss at any point ;)
![TamiyaBlog-5](tamiyablog-5.jpg)
Who knew that Isuzu made a V12 engine? Definitely not me!
![TamiyaBlog-6](tamiyablog-6.jpg)
Some of the original paintings for box art:
![TamiyaBlog-7](tamiyablog-7.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-8](tamiyablog-8.jpg)
Here are a few photos from the gallery of current plastic models:
![TamiyaBlog-9](tamiyablog-9.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-10](tamiyablog-10.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-11](tamiyablog-11.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-12](tamiyablog-12.jpg)
I built that Bimota model about 10 years ago!
![TamiyaBlog-13](tamiyablog-13.jpg)
The whole Calsonic collection:
![TamiyaBlog-14](tamiyablog-14.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-15](tamiyablog-15.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-16](tamiyablog-16.jpg)
The wall cases in the background are all of their R/C releases.
![TamiyaBlog-17](tamiyablog-17.jpg)
These were some models and dioramas that were on display out with the full size cars:
![TamiyaBlog-18](tamiyablog-18.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-19](tamiyablog-19.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-20](tamiyablog-20.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-21](tamiyablog-21.jpg)
Here are a few from the gallery of models of historical significance (to the Tamiya company). The below ship appeared to be made entirely of paper!
![TamiyaBlog-22](tamiyablog-22.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-23](tamiyablog-23.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-24](tamiyablog-24.jpg)
This ship had to be five or six feet long!
![TamiyaBlog-25](tamiyablog-25.jpg)
I guess the beginnings of Tamiya were in the wooden ship kit business:
![TamiyaBlog-26](tamiyablog-26.jpg)
This was a pretty nice display of all the parts in a motorcycle kit, put together like this to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Tamiya:
![TamiyaBlog-27](tamiyablog-27.jpg)
Finally, here’s a photo of the 1/12 scale Ferrari Enzo kit, assembled by their master builders. Hopefully mine will look half as good as theirs does when I’m done:
![TamiyaBlog-28](tamiyablog-28.jpg)
Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think in the comment section below!
My wife and I walked across town and arrived there around 11am. We signed in at the front desk and were left to our own devices to wander about the first floor, which had a few galleries of models and full size cars. There is a showroom of their full size car collection, a room full of their current model releases and a room that is full of various models of historic significance to the company. There are also a few areas that have original box artwork on display and a few miscellaneous displays scattered about. After we wandered around for a few minutes, the receptionist called us over to a corner of the room that had some seating and a television. Through her broken English and out terrible Japanese, we determined that we should watch whatever she was about to show us. So, we sat and watched a 15 minute video about the Tamiya corporation and their model making process from start to finish, which was actually very interesting (and in English!). We were there on a weekday, and it was pretty much empty, so should you be in the neighborhood, I highly recommend stopping by!
What you see below are some of the photos I took there, along with some descriptions where relevant.
Here’s the view after passing through the main gates:
![TamiyaBlog-1](tamiyablog-1.jpg)
Right outside the front doors:
![TamiyaBlog-2](tamiyablog-2.jpg)
Over the years, Tamiya has purchased various vehicles as reference (or maybe just because they wanted to drive them around for fun). As a result they have a bit of a car collection, much of which is on display on the ground floor of their headquarters.
![TamiyaBlog-3](tamiyablog-3.jpg)
More of their car collection:
![TamiyaBlog-4](tamiyablog-4.jpg)
I’m sure this was totally for reference and definitely not driven around by the boss at any point ;)
![TamiyaBlog-5](tamiyablog-5.jpg)
Who knew that Isuzu made a V12 engine? Definitely not me!
![TamiyaBlog-6](tamiyablog-6.jpg)
Some of the original paintings for box art:
![TamiyaBlog-7](tamiyablog-7.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-8](tamiyablog-8.jpg)
Here are a few photos from the gallery of current plastic models:
![TamiyaBlog-9](tamiyablog-9.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-10](tamiyablog-10.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-11](tamiyablog-11.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-12](tamiyablog-12.jpg)
I built that Bimota model about 10 years ago!
![TamiyaBlog-13](tamiyablog-13.jpg)
The whole Calsonic collection:
![TamiyaBlog-14](tamiyablog-14.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-15](tamiyablog-15.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-16](tamiyablog-16.jpg)
The wall cases in the background are all of their R/C releases.
![TamiyaBlog-17](tamiyablog-17.jpg)
These were some models and dioramas that were on display out with the full size cars:
![TamiyaBlog-18](tamiyablog-18.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-19](tamiyablog-19.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-20](tamiyablog-20.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-21](tamiyablog-21.jpg)
Here are a few from the gallery of models of historical significance (to the Tamiya company). The below ship appeared to be made entirely of paper!
![TamiyaBlog-22](tamiyablog-22.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-23](tamiyablog-23.jpg)
![TamiyaBlog-24](tamiyablog-24.jpg)
This ship had to be five or six feet long!
![TamiyaBlog-25](tamiyablog-25.jpg)
I guess the beginnings of Tamiya were in the wooden ship kit business:
![TamiyaBlog-26](tamiyablog-26.jpg)
This was a pretty nice display of all the parts in a motorcycle kit, put together like this to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Tamiya:
![TamiyaBlog-27](tamiyablog-27.jpg)
Finally, here’s a photo of the 1/12 scale Ferrari Enzo kit, assembled by their master builders. Hopefully mine will look half as good as theirs does when I’m done:
![TamiyaBlog-28](tamiyablog-28.jpg)
Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think in the comment section below!