University of Hawaii Press
Japan's Motorcycle Wars: An Industry History
Key Metrics
- Jeffrey W Alexander
- University of Hawaii Press
- Paperback
- 9780824833282
- 8.97 X 6.44 X 0.74 inches
- 1.02 pounds
- Transportation > Automotive - General
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
Reading this book is a revelation and a thrill. It is an excellent example of business history done right. Alexander's contribution here is thoroughly original; he gives us a rare look into the experiences of the losers as well as the winners in Japanese business. He will open the eyes of everyone in the field to the significance of the motorcycle industry on Japan's economic and technological development. --William Tsutsui, author of Manufacturing Ideology: Scientific Management in Twentieth-Century Japan
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
For decades a crown jewel of Japan's postwar manufacturing industry, motorcycles remain one of Japan's top exports. Japan's Motorcycle Wars assesses 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 today.
Jeffrey Alexander brings a wealth of information to light, providing English translations of transcripts, industry publications, and company histories that have until now been available only in Japanese. By exploring the industry as a whole, he reveals that Japan's motorcycle industry was characterized not by communitarian success but by misplaced loyalties, technical disasters, and brutal competition.
Author Bio
Jeffrey W Alexander is a Japan specialist and historian who received his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. His books and articles explore the adoption, manufacture, and sale of Western consumer products in Japan, including motor vehicles, alcohol, and stimulant drugs.
He has lived and worked throughout Japan off and on since 1995, including in Osaka, Kyoto, Okazaki, and Tokyo. In the mid 1990s, he worked as a bartender in a live jazz club in Toyonaka City, where the owner was generous and the cocktails were made the old fashioned way.
Source: Jeffreywalexander.com
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