Ann Arbor Visual Art Teacher in Japan: Visiting Toyota City today.. Visiting the Toyota Plant.. no cameras allowed.. Also I get to meet my host family this evening.

Toyota

City in Japan

Much of the mountainous northern portion of the city is within the Aichi Kōgen Quasi-National Park. The central and southern portions of the city have rolling hills and agricultural flatlands.^[

Toyota is within a one hour drive of Nagoya.^[

Toyota is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, east of Nagoya. Toyota's main plant, the Tsutsumi plant, is located here.

Area: 918.5 km²

Government
Coordinates: 35°5′N 137°9′E
Country	Japan
Region	Chūbu
Prefecture	Aichi
• Mayor	Toshihiko Ota
Area
• Total	918.47 km² (354.62 sq mi)
Population (July 1, 2011)
• Total	423,343
• Density	460.92/km² (1,193.8/sq mi)
Time zone	Japan Standard Time(UTC+9)
City symbols
- Tree	Zelkova
- Flower	Sunflower
Phone number	0565-31-1212
Address	3-60 Nishimachi, Toyota-shi, Aichi-ken 471-8501
Website	www.city.toyota.aichi.jp

Toyota City Hall

Toyota became a sister city with Detroit, Michigan, United States in 1960. It continued to expand by annexing the towns of Kamigo (Hekikai District) on March 1, 1964, and Takaoka (Hekikai District) on September 1, 1965, and Sanage (Nishikamo District) on April 1, 1967, as well as the village of Matsudaira (Higashikamo District) on April 1, 1970.

In 1979 the Nagoya Railroad (Meitetsu) opened the Toyota New Line (now Toyota Line), and in 1988: The Aichi Loop Line was opened, thus considerably improving access to the city via rail transport.

Toyota became a Core City in 1998, with increased local autonomy. In 2005, Toyota further annexed the town of Inabu from Higashikamo District. On March 25, 2005,Expo 2005 opened with its main site in Nagakute and additional activity in Seto and Toyota. The Expo continued until September 25, 2005.

Transportation[edit]

Toyota, as the home city of Toyota Motors is well-served by expressways and national highways. However, it is the largest city in Japan which was not served by theJapanese National Railways (JNR), or its successor, JR Central. The closest Shinkansen station is Mikawa-Anjō Station in the city of Anjō, although the limited-stopNozomi and Hikari services do not stop there.

The main headquarters of Toyota is located in a three story building in Toyota. As of 2006 the head office has the "Toyopet" Toyota logo and the words "Toyota Motor". The Toyota Technical Center, a 14-story building, and the Honsha plant, Toyota's second plant engaging in mass production and formerly named the Koromo plant, are adjacent to one another in a location near the headquarters. Vinod Jacob from The Hindu described the main headquarters building as "modest".^[1] In 2013 company head Akio Toyoda reported that it had difficulties retaining foreign employees at the headquarters due to the lack of amenities in Toyota.^[3]