TOYOTA Holds Special Talk On Themes Of Future, Paths, Sound And Earth, And Special Live Music Performance With Piano Powered By Prius Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle

TOKYO--Jan. 24, 2013: Toyota Marketing Japan Corporation (TMJ) and Toyota Motor Sales and Marketing (TMSM) held a special talk event on January 20, 2013, on the themes of the future, paths, sound and the Earth with art director Chie Morimoto, astrophysicist and NASA researcher Dr. Haruo Saji, musician Masakatsu Takagi, and Takao Minai (TMSM). The event also featured a live music performance with Takagi playing an electrical piano powered by a TOYOTA Prius Plug-in Hybrid vehicle. In this event, "Toyota Dream Car Art Contest" was introduced with the screening of promotion films. Through these kinds of cultural activities, TMJ and TMSM are continuing to communicate TOYOTA as a brand with dreams as its driving force and which aims to make them a reality.

As we manufacture products, we know how important dreams are. Without dreams, we will not have the passion to produce products or create the future. Dreams are the most valuable possessions of human beings and give us enormous energy.

"Toyota Dream Car Art Contest (Dream Car Art Contest )" is returning to the origins of making things through the liberated and pure ideas of children, using the energy of children to realize a sustainable future that we want to head towards together. It is also communicating the importance of dreaming. It has been held every year since 2004 and has received 620,000 entries from 70 countries. During the event on January 20, pictures from this contest were exhibited along with films created by Morimoto and Takagi. A visit was also made to children living in Thailand and Kenya to explore their everyday lives and why they drew pictures the way they did. They were then asked to write a letter to their future selves. These letters and pictures were then interpreted into films. At the end of the talk, Takagi played an electrical piano with power sourced from a Prius PHV, moving the dream of the Kenya child whose artwork "Musical Toyota Bringing Peace" was featured in the film, a bit closer to reality and also revealing the new possibilities for cars today.