Motorcycle Sam: Traveling in America (Vol. 17) Resistance to Japanese Companies

After Japan's defeat in World War II, the country experienced rapid economic growth from the mid-1950s onward, and by the 1960s, Japan's motorcycle manufacturers were experimenting with full-scale exports to the global market, especially the huge North American market. Kawasaki, today's leading manufacturer of large-displacement motorcycles, opened its first North American representative office in Chicago in July 1965. In October of the same year, Kawasaki completed the long-awaited W1, a large-displacement model, and finally began to focus on exports to North America. This is the story of the four-year struggle of a young samurai, Tsune Tanegashima, who went to the U.S. alone at the dawn of Kawasaki's overseas expansion. This experience would later play a major role in the birth of the Mach and Z, but that is a story for a later time. *This article is reprinted from "Motorcycle Sam: America Comes to America" by Tsune Tanegashima, published by Diamond Times on June 25, 1976. Although there are words and expressions that would be considered inappropriate today, we respect the originality of the work and publish it as is, taking into consideration the historical background of the time in which it was written.

Talent Hunting

Hanky Panky is an American slang term. It means "cheat" or "chambo. The Eastern operation, which started in a hurry to meet the season as a compromise between the trading company and the former distributor, was exactly Hanky Panky. The most fatal problem was the lack of human resources. Skip was a salesman, Val was a manager, and they were not interested in talking about management level issues. One of the reasons we decided to locate in the Newark area was the expectation that it would be easier to find American businessmen in the New York area, and my search for businessmen began when I was working for Skip. In the future of Kawasaki, with Alan as the general manager of sales, the newcomer had to be someone who could be the general manager of the administrative department. The automotive and motorcycle businesses were similar when it came to management, and it should be the easiest field in which to seek out U.S. talent. With Joe's introduction, I went to a job placement agency that had an office in the middle of New York City and only offered executive-level positions. It was an interesting job that did not exist in the business traffic in Japan at that time. I showed him my typed-up sheets of job descriptions, qualifications, salary levels, and other information, and he pulled out five sets of documents from various files. I showed them my own typed sheets of job descriptions, qualifications, and salary levels. When I asked to meet with all five men, they immediately called me to set up a time for interviews. We interviewed them at the employment agency on Saturday and Sunday. Although it was our first time to conduct this kind of interview, all of them were strong men from different parts of the world. They were all magnificent men, and all seemed to meet our requirements. All of them were currently enjoying a considerable position and a good income, but all of them had registered with the employment agency to challenge themselves to a better position and a better income. → Read the full story

Information provided by [ WEB Mr. Bike ].