Travel to ancient Japan to discover a pioneer
Elegant and refined environment either. Subtle and contained beauty, with a delicate sense of balance, in which "less is more". We speak of ancient concepts both in the culture as in Japanese aesthetics that characterize, for example, the unmistakable Zen style, clearly inspired by Eastern philosophy.
The goal is always to create harmony environments , an attribute that, a priori, may seem distant from the ever so dynamic, dizzying and roaring automotive industry, but it is enough to travel to Japan and approach **the approach of Mazda**, one of its flagship companies, to knock down stereotypes and quickly perceive how established the Japanese tradition is in its design concept for the immediate future.
Mazda Kai Concept
To soak up the ancient oriental essence, nothing better than visiting a Buddhist temple like the one in Sensoji, in the Asakusa neighborhood , which is the oldest of tokyo . It dates from the 7th century and is consecrated to kannon , god of mercy. There, a few meters from the bustling nakamise street , a haven of peace and harmony is preserved, only somewhat distorted by the massive influx of tourists.
In a city of strong contrasts like Tokyo, it is possible to go from spiritual recollection to the most avant-garde developments in the motor industry by attending its Car exhibit hall, which takes place at the end of October.
In its latest edition, the Mazda brand has presented the design lines of its future models through two prototypes: the Vision Coupe and the Kai Concept . The latter is a ' hatchback ' five-door in which revolutionary technologies are combined, such as the engine Skyactiv-X , with a reinterpretation of Kodo-design - Soul of the movement, the code that Mazda inaugurated seven years ago to give life to the very shape of its cars, synthesizing that typical japanese beauty ideal cultivated since time immemorial in the form of a sublime as well as subtle appearance.
purely artisan
In the words of Yasutake Tsuchida, chief designer of the Kai Concept, "We were looking for the feeling of a compact but, at the same time, we wanted to appeal to sensuality, to the sexier ".
An appeal to the sensual intimately connected with the Japanese tradition, as Tsuchida argues, "the original Japanese aesthetic seeks simplicity and beauty through movement . If you move around Tokyo, you find frenetic activity everywhere, chaos and that is Japan too. Kodo is more than a revisit proposition : We are waking up to what we really have, as our authentic original substance of Japanese aesthetics. We do not deny the 'Gundam' culture (Japanese typical robot science fiction animated series) and all that kind of stuff. That is also part of Japanese culture, even if it is not our main source of inspiration. We like to revisit what we already have as a message to the world about what we do or have done."
Roppongi Hills
Name Kai literally means " pioneer "and this concept car (which will take over from the current Mazda3 in 2019) certainly is, with proportions that convey power and beauty in condensed form , where the bodywork and the passenger compartment are presented as a single piece. The calculated transitions between lights and shadows they do the rest in a vocationally pure model called to awaken emotions.
Some key points in Tokyo where you can appreciate the contrast between tradition and modernity are: **Roppongi Hills, Dakanyama District, Omotesando District, Tokyo National Museum ** (13-9, Ueno-Koen, Taito-ku), Imperial Hotel , (1 Chome-1-1 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda) , Shiseido Headquarters (Shiseido Co.LTD 7-5- 5, Ginza) , **Ukai-tei Restaurant ** (1F Jiji-tsushin Bldg. 5-15- 8 Ginza) , Restaurant Saint Paul (Coredo Nihonbashi Annex 1-6-1 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku).