Tressa Yokohama: Where Toyota Enthusiasts Go When They Die

Located in the Kōhoku ward of Yokohama city, a mere 20-minute shinkansen train ride from Tokyo, exists something of a mecca for Toyota enthusiasts – or at least for car shoppers who want to view all of Toyota’s wheeled wares under one roof.

Tressa Yokohama is a monumentally gigantic ‘mega-mall’ owned by Toyota, and houses dealerships for all of Toyota’s marques – which in Japan is more than just Toyota and Lexus and includes Toyopet, Corolla, Netz, and subsidiaries Daihatsu and Yamaha.

While you won’t find any genuine sports cars at any Toyota dealerships these days, Tressa Yokohama is built on land which once hosted a Toyota assembly plant, as well as a high-speed test track and the research department responsible for Toyota’s racing efforts.

It’s not just cars that you’ll find at Tressa Yokohama, but of course it’s mostly car-related.  As far as we know, there’s no special car-related burger at the mall’s food court, but that’s about the only thing you’ll find not tied to cars in some way.

Tamiya – the famous maker of scale model cars – has a factory store in the mall, where you can not only choose from a massive range of the company’s latest and greatest models, but also watch the sculptors creating Tamiya’s next line of model cars.

Time to call the travel agent again and extend my next stay by a week or two…

[more photos and information at Japanese Nostalgic Car]