On July 8, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum opened the “Thomas Edison: The Wizard of Menlo Park and His Exhibition” for its annual summer break special for schoolchildren. The exhibition features multimedia presentations of the life and legacy of the famed American inventor and scientist, as well as displays of his inventions.
One of the highlights of the exhibition is an operational 1926 Model A Ford (photo), a car that surely owes as much to Edison’s words of encouragement as it does to industrialist Henry Ford’s vision and drive. Having first met in 1896 when Ford had yet to make his mark on the automotive world, Edison told Ford, who was a longtime admirer of Edison’s: “Young man, that’s the thing! You have it—the self-contained unit carrying its own fuel with it! Keep at it!” Their friendship would last for more than 30 years, until Edison’s passing in 1931.
