The Tokyo Motor Show, or TMS for short, is held every 2 years at Tokyo Big Site. It is the biggest Car and Automotive Tech Tradeshow in Asia. All major car manufacturers and automotive accessory makers show off their latest offerings and especially concepts at this truly exciting event, and people from all over the world flock to Tokyo to experience the latest in Automotive trends.
The Venue
Tokyo Big Site (東京ビッグサイト Tōkyō biggu saito), officially known as Tokyo International Exhibition Center (東京国際展示場 Tōkyō kokusai tenjijō), is the largest convention and exhibition center in Tokyo. It was opened in April 1996, and is located in the Ariake Minami district of Tokyo’s Waterfront City (臨海副都心Rinkai fukutoshin) on the Tokyo Bay waterfront. Its most iconic feature is the visually distinctive Conference Tower.
The Event
The crowd on opening weekend was estimated at beating even attendance records from previous shows. The show will run until November 5th, so if you’re in the Tokyo Area and interested in cars and automotive tech, don’t miss this event. It’s easy to get there via public transport from central Tokyo, and tickets are only ¥1,800 per person.
This year’s theme is Beyond The Motor. The big question hanging in the air at this year’s event is “How will automobiles evolve?” While there may be no simple answer to this question, there were certainly many concepts presented at this year’s show. We saw an integration between people and their cars similar to the integration of mobile phones into our lives. The prevalent thought for the future seems to be that people will integrate the cars more naturally into their lives through AI (a la Siri) built in, alongside smart transportation options such as a mobile office, smart sensors and integrative technology built into cars, self-driving vehicles becoming the norm, rather than the exception, and other cutting-edge technologies built into our vehicles to make the integration of automotive technology into our lives as seamless as using a smartphone.
A grand total of 153 automobile and auto parts manufacturers from around the world are in attendance this year, and more than 70 world premiere prototype vehicles are showcased in the various exhibition halls.
A picture is worth more than a thousand words, as they say, and rather than trying to convey the epic-ness of the event through mere words on a page, we’ll let the pictures do the talking.
Please also have a look at our coverage of the previous 2015 TMS.
Of course, any motor show not only has beautiful cars, but is also synonymous with beautiful presenters (colloquially known as “booth babes”).
Whether you come for the cars, the atmosphere, or the tech, it is an incredible event, not just for car-enthusiasts, but has something to offer for all attendees.
Teaser Video
Pictures and Story by Achim Runnebaum
Video by Don Whigan.
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