Continuing from the previous article, we will introduce you to Yamaha's corporate museum "Innovation Road" in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture. This time, we will introduce the 《History Walk》, where visitors can learn about Yamaha's history by tracing the history of its products, as well as hands-on exhibits filled with technologies.

As you go past the Musical Instrument Display Area introduced in the previous article, you’ll be welcomed by the Innovation Road Map displayed across the whole wall. Here you can learn about Yamaha’s history of challenges and innovations, in the context of the connection between technology and materials.

Innovation Roadmap. Learn to "see" the origins of current technologies.

《History Walk》 After the Innovation Road Map, there is a display area called History Walk, in which past Yamaha products are exhibited by time period. Here you can see over 200 amazing Yamaha products that have brought innovation to the musical instrument industry and the music industry. The lineup includes everything from musical instruments, such as organs and guitars created in the early days, to motorcycles developed even before the foundation of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., as well as to sporting goods, such as skis and archery gear. It’s truly amazing to see the expansiveness of Yamaha’s technology.

"Model 1 Reed Organ" produced in the late 1880s. Considered to be the oldest extant YAMAHA instrument.

This is GS-1, the very first musical instrument equipped with an innovative sound synthesis method called frequency modulation (FM for short).

The History Walk exhibits so many masterpieces that cannot be all listed here, including DX7, a synthesizer loved by artists around the world.

Yamaha "YA-1". I never thought I would see a motorcycle here!

There are so many other things to see besides the exhibition areas. For example, the Super Surround Theater features Yamaha’s world-famous three-dimensional acoustic technology called ViReal™. Equipped with 28 speakers in the ceiling, 80 speakers on the walls, and six subwoofers in the floor, the 108.6-channel theater lets you enjoy a truly realistic sound experience that is comparable or even better than actual live performance in a concert hall.

Also at the Virtual Stage, you can watch live performance videos created by combining virtual images and automatic musical instrument performance. There are hardly any places like this where you can watch automatic performance of drums and a double bass.

At the Virtual Stage, the piano, double bass, and drums are all played automatically. The sight of the instruments being played without any physical players looks futuristic.

Hope you enjoyed these two installments of articles on Innovation Road. You can stay at the museum for two hours with a single reservation. The museum offers so many entertaining, one-of-a-kind experiences, so time flies so fast when you are there. An awesome time is guaranteed if you are into Yamaha’s musical instruments and Japanese manufacturing.

■DATA YAMAHA Innovation Road Address: 10-1 Nakazawa-cho, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture Tour hours: 3 times a day (rotating), by appointment only, during the following hours 1) 10:00 - 12:00 2) 12:30-14:30 3) 14:45-16:45 *Up to one time per person per day (2 hours) Admission: Free Closed: Sundays, Mondays, etc. (Please check the museum calendar on the website.) TEL: 053-460-2010 Official website: https://www.yamaha.com/en/about/innovation/ (Information as of February 2024) ＜Related articles＞ ・Innovation Road—Yamaha’s corporate museum where you can experience the company’s music and technology history (Part1) ・World’s first Fender flagship store