Mazda Trans Aoyama is a brand experience center worth visiting
When in Tokyo, car dealerships are actually quite few and far between, especially the closer you are to the city center. This is why brands opt to have experience centers unless you’re a luxury marque like Aston Martin, BMW, McLaren, or Lexus which all have showrooms that can be found along Aoyama, which is a stretch where the ultra-wealthy frequent to buy cars.
Other notable experience centers in Tokyo include Lexus Meets Hibiya, Lexus Intersect, and the Honda Welcome Plaza in Aoyama, which is the brand’s headquarters with a lobby that is open to the public (which is currently closed at the moment).
One new addition to this growing stable is Mazda Trans Aoyama, a brand experience center and cafe located at 5-6-19 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo. It’s open from Tuesday to Sunday from 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM, with the first-floor cafe only being accessible from 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM.
This is a five-minute train ride away from Shibuya and is very accessible via the Ginza Line, as all you have to do is to leave the Omote-sando station via Exit B1, and you’ll emerge right in front of the place.
The shop has a minimalist facade with lots of windows to let passers-by see the modern interior. The materials used inside give off a warm, cozy atmosphere as brown and black wood, aluminum, glass, and fabrics can be found all over, and a handful of plants can also be found on the ground floor.
Surprisingly, there is only space for one car exhibition at a time, with the seating areas and walls being adorned with photos and sketches relevant to the car on display. In this case, on display was an FD RX-7 with concept sketches, pamphlets, and even a cutaway of a rotary engine nearby.
You can also find various artwork installations related to the brand across the ground floor, with my personal favorite being framed posts with various interior materials and color swatches used in modern-day Mazda vehicles.
The second floor feels more like a very fancy lounge area compared to a cafe, with artwork, incredibly cozy sofas, tables with charging ports, and a working area that overlooks National Route 246. This is also where you’ll find the incredibly clean and modern toilets, too.
Here, scale models and badges of various cars from the brand’s past can be found on display in the pillars, and more importantly, Mazda’s new corporate logo is seen hanging by the main window.
As for the food, the cafe is operated by Itsuki Coffee, a roaster from Miyajima in Hiroshima. For those curious about the menu, you can access it here.
The cafe’s specialties are the Red Cheesecake (¥600 or roughly Php 230) which is a sphere that resembles Mazda’s Soul Red Crystal paint, the Financier or Lemon Cake (¥700 or roughly Php 270), which is shaped like triangles found in the Rotary engine, or the Mazda Trans Aoyama Blend (¥420 or roughly Php 163).
As I didn’t have breakfast yet and it was almost lunch, I tried the Hot Sandwich in Spicy Pulled Pork and Shrimp and Guacamole flavors (¥900 or roughly Php 348 each) and the Green Smoothie (¥800 or roughly Php 309). The food was priced right for the location, the sandwiches were flavorful and filling, and the fruit shake was light and tarty.
This is also one of the very few places where you can purchase Mazda’s official merchandise in-store as a tourist (as purchasing online would require you to use a forwarder), so you can check out the various leather goods, bags, shoes, tumblers, food, and, die casts, and knick-knacks in person.
It’s one of the nicer and more accessible brand experience centers that I’ve been to in Tokyo, and this should be on your list of places to visit as a gearhead or as someone who appreciates the brand.
Photos by Sam Surla and Mazda
