Mitsubishi Minatomirai Industrial Museum Launches

In the new Transportation Zone, visitors will be greeted by a diorama giving a bird's-eye view of a typical smart community - dubbed "Pittari City." The Japanese word "pittari" means "just right" or "perfect." In the "Discover! Pittari City" presentation, the "mayor" of Pittari City appears and explains the workings, roles and structure of his community's advanced systems: systems enabling a stable balance between energy demand and power supplies, resolving road traffic problems through the adoption of ITS (intelligent transport systems), etc. The presentations will be made in a way that invites easy understanding while offering the same enjoyment as playing a game. In the "Pittari Tram" exhibit, visitors will not only see the environmentally friendly transport system of the future, they will be able to experience the thrill of what it would be like to actually drive the tram through Pittari City.

In the revamped Daily Life Discovery Zone, visitors will be able to experience what everyday life will be like in a smart community. The focus of the exhibit will be the "Pittari Home," the basic unit for living in the community of tomorrow. In the "A Pittari Home for Everyone" presentation, visitors will be given an introduction to the next-generation energy-saving appliances, "smart meters" and other components essential to homes in a smart community, also including electric vehicles and storage batteries. Visitors will learn about these components' different roles amidst changes in time, weather conditions and seasons through quizzes and other fun formats. Another exhibition, "Teach me! Useful Machine," will explain how machine tools and other medium-lot products are closely connected to our daily lives in different situations.

The Mitsubishi Minatomirai Industrial Museum was opened in Yokohama in June 1994 with the aim of promoting exchanges with the local community and raising interest toward science and technology. As of August 2011 the total number of visitors had reached 1.8 million. Altogether there are six zones introducing Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' state-of-the-art technologies and products through presentations of actual machines, models, panels, etc. Besides the already mentioned Transportation and Daily Life Discovery zones, the other zones are Environment/Energy, Aerospace, Ocean and Technology Quest. Explanation on each exhibition is written in Japanese and in English.