We posted an invitation to visit Mazda's headquarters on this website. The members of the public who responded gathered in the showroom at company headquarters. From there we all boarded one of Mazda's internal buses for the ride to the museum. Mazda needs its own system of buses because of the sheer size of the facility!

The bus took us on a sightseeing tour of Mazda. The visitors seemed very excited to see areas not usually open to the public. This is a view of the Enkogawa River from the Toyo Ohashi Bridge that links the headquarters to the Ujina plant. It is the largest private bridge in the world.

You may have seen this commemorative flag in previous reports on RE events. The visitors wrote congratulatory messages about the 40th anniversary of Mazda's rotary engine.

This is a photograph from the museum tour. In the Mazda Museum, visitors can become familiar with the company and its history through the many car and engine exhibits. One of the visitors commented that, "This reminds me of school trips. I'm really enjoying myself."

After the museum tour, some members of the rotary engine development team held a talk show. Pictured here are (from right to left): Akihiro Kashiwagi, program manager in charge of hydrogen RE development; Noboru Katabuchi, program manager in charge of RX-8 development; and Noriyuki Kurio, who was involved with the development of the Cosmo Sport at Mazda's Technical Research Center.

In the afternoon, the visitors were treated to a talk show entitled, "RX-7 anecdotes" featuring RX-7 FD3S engineers. Nobuhiro Yamamoto (right) was in charge of engine development. Takao Kijima (middle) was responsible for the chassis at the beginning of the development program, and later became the program manager. Akihiro Kashiwagi (left) lead the suspension development. The audience enjoyed exciting stories from the Three Musketeers of the FD3S.

For many of the visitors it was the first time to attend one of Mazda's talk shows. They might have been a little nervous about seeing Mazda's development team members in person, but their eyes were bright and filled with wonder. The talk show covered the past, present and future of the rotary engine. I am sure that everyone learned lots of new facts and stories about Mazda's famous engine.

All the development team members were very passionate about the still untapped potential of the rotary engine, which I am sure rubbed off on the visitors. The enthusiasm was clearly communicated through their comments on the flag, which will also be used at future events.

This is the RX-8 Hydrogen RE, which can run on either gasoline or hydrogen fuel. This feature is especially convenient in the current situation where the hydrogen infrastructure has not yet been fully established. Until hydrogen filling stations are on every street corner, Mazda's technology that allows the driver to use both types of fuel will be very reassuring. On the right side of the body, the RX-8 Hydrogen RE has a hydrogen valve, and the visitors were able to see the RX-8 being refueled.