Japan’s Motorcycle Wars alexander.indd 1 4/14/2008 9:29:25 PM alexander.indd 2 4/14/2008 9:29:25 PM Jeffrey W. Alexander Japan’s Motorcycle Wars An Industry History alexander.indd 3 4/14/2008 9:29:25 PM © UBC Press 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher, or, in Canada, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), www.accesscopyright.ca. 17 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in Canada with vegetable-based inks on FSC-certified ancient-forest-free paper (100% post-consumer recycled) that is processed chlorine- and acid-free. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Alexander, Jeffrey W. (Jeffrey William), 1972- Japan’s motorcycle wars : an industry history / Jeffrey W. Alexander. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-7748-1453-9 1. Motorcycle industry – Japan – History. 2. Motorcycling – Japan – History. I. Title. HD9710.5.J32A43 2008 338.4’762922750952 C2007-907431-6 UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for our publishing program of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP), and of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the British Columbia Arts Council. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and with the help of the K.D. Srivastava Fund. Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens Set in Minion, Meta, and ITC Machine by Artegraphica Design Co. Ltd. Copy editor: Sarah Wight Proofreader: James Leahy UBC Press The University of British Columbia 2029 West Mall Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2 604-822-5959 / Fax: 604-822-6083 www.ubcpress.ca alexander.indd 4 4/14/2008 9:29:25 PM For Carolyne alexander.indd 5 4/14/2008 9:29:25 PM alexander.indd 6 4/14/2008 9:29:25 PM Contents Illustrations / viii Acknowledgments / xi Introduction: Why the Motorcycle? / 3 1 Japan’s Transportation Revolution, 1896-1931 / 18 2 Motorcycle and Empire: A Study in Industrial Self-Sufficiency / 44 3 Know Your Customers: Designing Products for an Impoverished Postwar Market / 65 4 Know Your Competitors: Finding a Niche in a Crowded Manufacturing Field / 85 5 The Rise of the Big Four / 109 6 Bitter Realities: Going Bankrupt in Japan / 166 7 Sales and Safety / 197 Appendix A: Motorcycle Production, Use, and Exports / 225 Appendix B: Profiles of Motorcycle Manufacturers / 229 Notes / 233 Glossary / 255 Bibliography / 258 Index / 266 alexander.indd 7 4/14/2008 9:29:25 PM Illustrations F i g u r e s 1 The origins of Japan’s wartime motorcycle manufacturing companies, 1881-1945 / 49 2 Number of motorcycle manufacturers in Japan, 1946-75 / 101 3 The origins of Japan’s successful postwar motorcycle manufacturing firms, 1937-63 / 110 4 The development of the Kawasaki Corporation, 1896-2006 / 157 T a b l e s 1 Wheeled vehicles in Japan, 1913-37 / 36 2 Traffic accidents, fatalities, and injuries in Japan, 1925-43 / 37 3 Motorcycle driver-licensing restrictions, 1919 / 38 4 Motorcycle driver-licensing restrictions, 1933 amendment / 45 5 Production of motorized vehicles, 1930-45 / 53 6 Production of Mitsubishi’s Silver Pigeon scooter, 1950-64 / 70 7 To¯yo¯ Motors production and prices by product class, 1949-59 / 74 8 Production of two-wheeled motor vehicles, 1946-50 / 79 9 Motorcycle and motorized-bicycle driver-licensing restrictions, 1947 / 86 10 Motorcycle and motorized-bicycle driver-licensing restrictions, 1952 / 87 11 Motorcycle and motorized-bicycle driver-licensing restrictions, 1956 / 88 12 Production of two-wheeled motor vehicles, 1951-60 / 88 13 Traffic fatalities, vehicles, and paved highways in Japan, 1945-60 / 89 14 National highways and paved highways in Japan, 1949-65 / 104 15 Transport share of automobiles and railways, 1950-65 / 105 16 Production values for the top industries in Hamamatsu, 1970 / 204 17 Traffic fatalities, vehicles, and paved highways in Japan,1961 -70 / 217 18 Traffic fatalities, vehicles, and paved highways in Japan,1971 -80 / 221 A.1 Motorcycle production in Japan by company, 1955-2006 / 226 A.2 Motorcycles in use in Japan by type, 1955-2005 / 227 A.3 Japan’s motorcycle exports, 1950-2005 / 228 alexander.indd 8 4/14/2008 9:29:25 PM P h o t o s Following page 84 1 The To¯kaido¯ between Kyoto and Edo (now Tokyo), 1865 2 Woman in a basket palanquin, circa 1870 3 Building Rabbit scooters, 1959 4 Three models of the Fuso¯ Silver Pigeon 5 Fuji Industries’ 500,000th Rabbit scooter rolls off the assembly line, 1964 6 Rikuo 750 cc RTII motorcycle by the Rikuo Motor Company, 1958 7 The All-Japan Motorcycle Rider Association race at Tamagawa Olympia Speedway, 6 November 1949 8 The crowd at Tamagawa Olympia Speedway on race day, 6 November 1949 9 A young rider competing at Tamagawa Olympia Speedway, 6 November 1949 10 The 50 cc Honda A-Type, 1947 11 The 98 cc Honda Dream D-Type, 1949 12 The 146 cc Honda Dream E-Type, 1951 13 The 50 cc Honda F-Type Cub, 1952 14 Suzuki Loom Company Shop, Hamamatsu, 1909 15 Suzuki sarong weaving machine, 1930 16 The 750 cc Suzuki Suzulight automobile, 1937 17 Suzuki’s head office and plant, Hamamatsu, 1947 18 The 36 cc Suzuki Bike Power Free cyclemotor, 1952 19 Suzuki employees fabricating the 36 cc Bike Power Free cyclemotor, 1952 20 Suzuki rider Yamashita Rinsaku after winning the second Mount Fuji Ascent Race, 1954 21 Suzuki Racing Team riders atop the 90 cc Colleda CO at the first Asama Highlands Race, 1955 22 Suzuki’s riders line up at the Isle of Man TT Race, 8 June 1962 23 The 125 cc Yamaha YA-1, the Red Dragonfly, 1955 24 The 148 cc KE-1 motorcycle engine by Kawasaki Machine Industries, 1952 25 The 125 cc KB-5 motorcycle engine by Kawasaki-Meihatsu, 1955 26 The 125 cc Meihatsu 125 Deluxe, 1956 27 The 125 cc Kawasaki New Ace, 1960 Illustrations ix alexander.indd 9 4/14/2008 9:29:26 PM 28 The 650 cc Kawasaki W1-650, 1965 29 The Kawasaki KA-2, 1967 30 To¯hatsu Motor Company promotional bike parade along the Ginza, Tokyo, 23 April 1951 31 The 50 cc Honda Super Cub C-100, 1958 32 The grand opening of an American Suzuki dealer, 1966 33 The 750 cc Honda CB750 Four, 1968 34 Two young men on a motorcycling trip pose with their Hondas, 1970 35 Suzuki’s first overseas motorcycle assembly plant, Thailand,1967 36 Sumo wrestlers discuss a colleague’s motorcycle, Chiba prefecture, 1966 37 The National Police Agency shiro-bai (white bike) police force reaches three thousand officers and machines, 5 May 1969 x Illustrations alexander.indd 10 4/14/2008 9:29:26 PM Acknowledgments In the summer of 2001, I came across a photographic catalogue of many of the motorcycles built in Japan since 1945, and I examined it with surprise. Some of the earliest machines looked exactly like British and American motorcycles dating to the 1930s and 1940s, but the many Japanese firms that had produced them had long since gone out of business. Further searches for any trace of these companies turned up very little, for I soon discovered that while there are many scholarly volumes on the history of Japan’s automobile industry, there is next to nothing written about its motorcycle industry. I had discovered what every researcher seeks – a hole in the literature. This book, which began at the Uni- versity of British Columbia, is my humble effort at filling a part of that hole. This project was made possible through funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Further financial assistance was extended by the University of British Columbia and UBC’s Centre for Japanese Research (CJR). I must thank my advisor, William Wray, for his support of this investigation and for providing the autonomy that enabled its progress. The director of the CJR, David Edgington, also provided terrific guidance. Thanks to Diana Lary, the former director of UBC’s Centre for Chinese Research, who has been hugely supportive over the last several years. Special thanks to Michael Cusumano of MIT for his helpful comments and for his encouragement. Thanks also to the patient staff of the UBC Library. Their efforts gave me access to Japanese company histories from the excellent collections of the University of California at San Diego, Ohio State University, the University of Chicago, Duke University, and the libraries of the University of Southern California. Special thanks to Ken Coates of the Japan Studies Association of Canada (JSAC) and the University of Waterloo for terrific advice. Thanks also to Carin Holroyd of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada for her kind support, and for the foundation’s provision of a research internship in 2005. My gratitude extends also to Maruhashi Shigeharu of the Yamaha Motor Company in Iwata City and to Terada Isao of the Suzuki Motor Company in Hamamatsu City for inviting me to inspect their companies’ operations and speak with their engineers in June 2002. Thanks also to the Honda Motor Com- pany, Fuji Heavy Industries, the Yamaha Motor Company, Kawasaki Motors, and Mitsubishi Motors for providing historical photographs.