Booth Information

Sumida Model M Bus

The first 100% made-in-Japan bus

As the Japanese bus industry did not fully get underway until the late 1920s, nearly all buses were assembled out of parts imported from the United States. Amid increasing calls to build a passenger bus completely out of Japanese parts, Isuzu’s predecessor, Ishikawajima Automotive Works, produced the Sumida Model M Bus in 1929. As the oldest surviving bus in Japan still capable of operation*, this bus was recognized as a "Heritage of Industrial Modernization" by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

*According to research by Isuzu