Description
Book SynopsisAssesses the historical development and societal impact of the motorcycle industry, from the influence of motor sports on vehicle sales in the early 1900s to the postwar developments that led to the massive wave of motorization sweeping the Asia-Pacific region.
Trade Review"This book is very much at the cutting edge of current scholarship. Besides demonstrating the role of the Japanese military and empire in the early development of the industry, it illuminates the intense competition among motorbike makers in the first decade and a half after the Second World War. - Steven Ericson, author of The Sound of the Whistle: Railroads and the State in Meiji Japan"
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction: Why the Motorcycle?
1 Japan’s Transportation Revolution, 1896-1931
2 Motorcycle and Empire: A Study in Industrial Self-Sufficiency
3 Know Your Customers: Designing Products for an Impoverished Postwar Market
4 Know Your Competitors: Finding a Niche in a Crowded Manufacturing Field
5 The Rise of the Big Four
6 Bitter Realities: Going Bankrupt in Japan
7 Sales versus Safety
Appendices
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
