Photo/Illutration Vintage Mazda cars are on display at the Mazda Museum in a part of the Mazda factory available for public viewing. Visitors can take a look into the technology of its automobiles and pass through an actual vehicle assembly line. (Photo by Lisa Vogt)

In my 20s, I used to date a guy who was into cars. He would take me on enchanting drives up winding mountain roads and along sparkling seaside highways in his Mazda Yuunosu Roudosutah, sold as the Mazda MX-5 Miata in North America.

I thought the second part of the convertible’s name, “road star,” was very romantic. He’d park the car, and we’d gaze up at the constellations and share intimate moments. He loved Mazdas, and I remember him going on and on about automotive designer Giorgetto Giugiaro and his beloved automobile.

Years later, I realized it wasn’t “road star,” but “roadster,” and he wasn’t talking about the Italian designer Giugiaro, but Jujiro Matsuda (1875-1952). I smile in retrospect, remembering that short-lived romance--we were not on the same page about anything.

Mazda is headquartered in the Aki district in Hiroshima Prefecture. They have an excellent factory and museum tour on the first Saturday of each month (reservations must be made online in advance). I delighted in seeing real workers on assembly lines doing what they do. I had a stereotypical image of busy laborers in boring company coveralls toiling away.

Instead, I saw cool young guys looking comfortable (and fashionable), seemingly wearing whatever they wanted, unrushed and taking their time while installing parts and doing inspections. The whole process wasn’t as robotic and mechanized as I had initially thought.

The museum was a trip down memory lane--Luce, Familia, Cosmo, Capella and that iconic “Mach Green Metallic” Savanna RX-7 for my generation. There were also three-wheeler trucks for the older generations and stunning “Soul Red Crystal” CX and MX vehicles for the younger generations.

Hiroshima goes hand in hand with nuclear disarmament and various global peace initiatives for a mutually sustainable future that includes all of us.

“The Roadster carries with it the hopes, dreams and spirit of Hiroshima,” said a museum staff member, “because only in a society that is safe and at peace will people drive such a car.”

How true, I thought. In a bad neighborhood where there’s imminent danger of being robbed or shot while stopped at a traffic light or in a war zone with bombs, shells and missiles flying about, a convertible wouldn’t be people’s first transportation choice.

The design philosophy of Mazda cars is called “kodo,” translated as “the soul of motion.”

The bestowing of life upon something. An emotion. A heartbeat. I pray that Mazda, a company resurrected from a once-demolished city, will continue to create cars that “move” people and that more convertibles can be driven around the world.

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This article by Lisa Vogt, a Washington-born and Tokyo-based photographer, originally appeared in the Sept. 18 issue of Asahi Weekly. It is part of the series "Lisa’s Wanderings Around Japan," which depicts various places across the country through the perspective of the author, a professor at Meiji University.

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