Like the eponymous motor manufacturer, Toyota is all about growth. Since attaining city status back in 1951, when it was named Koromo, its population has increased from 40,000 to more than 410,000.

Visitors expecting a mass of concrete and industry will be surprised to find that central Toyota is relatively small. It quickly gives way to quiet, prosperous residential streets, and within ten minutes' walk of Toyota-shi Station there are open green spaces with views to the surrounding mountains and wide rivers dotted with wading fishermen.

Unlike most major Japanese cities, where rail transportation is key and the local train station often forms a focal point for retail commerce, the car is definitely king in Toyota. It has wide streets, undoubtedly designed to whisk workers to offices and factories as efficiently as possible, and many shops and facilities are situated on strips far from the city center. The Meitetsu rail line that connects the city with Nagoya, 35 km to the northwest, did not even exist until 1979.

Given the city's contemporary economic importance, and the fact it is twinned with Detroit, the original Motor City, it's easy to forget there is more to Toyota than automobiles. The family of Ieyasu Tokugawa, first shogun of the Edo era, lived in the nearby village of Matsudaira, and for centuries the castle town of Koromo was known for its production and trade in silk.

Only when demand fell away, and financial considerations dictated that local business owners must seek alternative sources of revenue, were the old looms superceded by car manufacturing plants. As this new industry grew in significance, the city adopted its current name in 1959, some 24 years after Toyota Motor Corporation built its first A1 prototype passenger car.

This history is not much in evidence, but the city is home to some spectacular art and architecture. North of the station, just across the Yahagi River, is the futuristic Toyota Stadium, which squats on the riverbank with four masts protruding high into the sky at each corner to support its 10,000-ton retractable roof. The stadium is reached by means of the double-hump Toyota Bridge, which resembles a giant dinosaur skeleton.

Competing with the stadium and bridge in terms of architectural audacity is the Municipal Museum of Art, perched on a hill southwest of the city center that was formerly home to Shichisu Castle.

The immaculate condition of the museum building and garden belie the fact it opened in 1975. Its cool exterior is covered in specially imported pale green American slate, and clever use of simple lines its design create a sense of calm and space. Wander around before entering the building and without even buying a ticket you can see outdoor installations and sculpture by artists as eminent as Henry Moore.

Inside the museum lives up to the promise of its impressive facade. There are eleven galleries of varying sizes, with a regular rotation of themed exhibitions to complement the permanent displays of modern and contemporary art. Familiar names represented in the collection include artists Gustav Klimt, Edvard Munch and Joan Miro, and architects-cum-furniture designers Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Frank Lloyd-Wright.