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1 Yamaha Motor Monthly Newsletter Paris Dakar Rally (1984) Spotlight: Spirit of Challenge February 17, 2014 (Issue No. 14)

Spirit of Challenge The corporate culture that guided Yamaha s pioneers forward ヤマハ発動機本社近くにある中田島砂丘で最初の試作車 YX15 の走行テストを行った時の様子(1965 年 8 月 ) Yamaha Motor founder Genichi Kawakami The (front)

trophies, He is pictured commemorative items and information telling here in February 1957 on the way to unveil the the story YD-1 of the model company s in Tokyo.

2 Spirit of Challenge The corporate culture that guided Yamaha s pioneers forward ヤマハ発動機本社近くにある中田島砂丘で最初の試作車 YX15 の走行テストを行った時の様子(1965 年 8 月 ) Yamaha Motor founder Genichi Kawakami The (front) Communication assembled his Plaza own at Yamaha Motor headquarters is full of prototype engines and took the lead in vehicle memorable testing. trophies, He is pictured commemorative items and information telling here in February 1957 on the way to unveil the the story YD-1 of the model company s in Tokyo. illustrious history in the race arena. At the 43 rd Tokyo Motor Show 2013, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (YMC) unveiled the TRICITY Concept three-wheeled commuter concept model, the MOTIV automobile currently under research and development and other models that attracted much attention from the media and show visitors. Yamaha is taking on the new challenges of developing new businesses that create a growing world of personal mobility, and winning new customers through these businesses. Each employee in the global Yamaha Motor group knows how the company s pioneers took on challenges, and they all have inherited the same spirit and passion for innovation as they strive to realize Yamaha Motor s corporate mission of being a Kando* Creating Company. For this month s issue, we introduce a few stories of people who embody this Spirit of Challenge. *Kando is a Japanese word for the simultaneous feelings of deep satisfaction and intense excitement that we experience when we encounter something of exceptional value. Genichi Kawakami: The founder s words and actions inspire his employees challenges Yamaha Motor celebrated its 25 th anniversary in July 1980, and for the first time the following year, the company published a commemorative book that looked back on the company s footsteps and introduced recollections from key people in the company s history. In the introduction are the words of Yamaha Motor founder Genichi Kawakami (company Chairman at the time) that read, As time passes and we establish and develop more new businesses, every employee should understand the history of the company they work in and the spirit that their predecessors have treasured until now. I always feel this is more important than anything else. What is this spirit that they treasure and is not listed in the company s chronology? The more editors of the book talked to employees from when Yamaha Motor was Yamaha Motor Monthly Newsletter 2

3 founded, the more they were told it s a history of taking on difficult challenges in unfamiliar fields. Deeply impressed by this, the editors entitled the book Challenge the Origins of Yamaha Motor s Founding. From this, the word challenge went on to hold a special meaning within Yamaha a meaning that has been passed down and eventually become an inseparable part of the company s culture. The fourth president of Nippon Gakki Co., Ltd. (today s Yamaha Corporation) and the man that took the company into the motorcycle industry and founded Yamaha Motor, Genichi Kawakami is a symbol of Yamaha s Spirit of Challenge. During the chaotic period that followed after the end of World War II, Kawakami turned his eyes to the world stage faster than most, as evidenced by the study tour he took around the globe over the course of 90 days in the late 1950s. He often said, It isn t a product if it isn t world-class, and pushed for innovation, high quality and excellent design in Yamaha s Monozukuri (engineering, manufacturing and marketing). In developing the company s first motorcycle, the YA-1, the requirements he placed on the factory were strict and no compromises were allowed. Then, when the first prototype was complete, President Kawakami took the lead and test-rode the motorcycle, touring through the suburbs of Hamamatsu. When the second prototype was finished, he ordered a 10,000 km endurance test and again, he rode the prototype himself, circling the 60 km test route around Lake Hamana. He did not just ride the prototypes either. In October 1954, when the decision was made to release the YA-1 on the market, Kawakami set off for Tokyo in the rain riding the YA-1 to attend the unveiling press conference. Despite there still being many unpaved sections of the National Route 1 leading to Tokyo, he reached the conference on schedule after a two day ride, further demonstrating the high durability and quality of the YA-1. Also, in Japan during these post-war times, the concept of using products for fun or leisure was still relatively unfamiliar. Based on the experiences he had during his overseas tour, Kawakami saw the future of Yamaha Motor as a company that would contribute to society at large by offering a more fulfilling lifestyle for people. This vision led to Yamaha building outboard motors based on its motorcycle engine technology, and also developing President Kawakami (left) often enjoyed marine leisure himself, Leisurely time is a necessity in the daily lives of Japanese people. Showing them the proper way to enjoy this time is our social obligation. and manufacturing boats made of fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) to mount them. This was followed by initiatives to promote and spread the culture of recreation on the water, such as establishing marina facilities, boating schools and programs to learn how to enjoy various kinds of marine leisure safely, as well as a boat rental system to create more opportunities for people to experience enjoying time on the water. After that, Yamaha moved into new product fields one after another, such as snowmobiles, generators, racing karts, swimming pools and golf cars, all aimed at bringing more fulfilling lifestyles to people. At the same time, the company expanded from domestic to overseas markets by establishing joint-ventures and local group companies, thus building the foundation for the global corporation it is today. Takehiko Hasegawa worked under Genichi Kawakami on developing the YDS-1 and Toyota 2000GT among others and also served as team manager for Yamaha teams in the World GP before becoming Yamaha Motor s 4 th president. Of Kawakami, he says: While it probably looked like he was moving on a whim or an idea that simply popped into his head, President Kawakami was very curious about many things and frequently did his own research in great detail. As I worked with him, his example inspired me to set my own aspirations and sights higher and overcome many difficulties. I think that s really the Spirit of Challenge that he showed us all. Yamaha Motor Monthly Newsletter 3

Jean-Claude Olivier: The charismatic former president of Yamaha Motor France makes history in the Paris-Dakar Rally In the 1960s, Yamaha Motor was working to expand its markets while participating in

4 Jean-Claude Olivier: The charismatic former president of Yamaha Motor France makes history in the Paris-Dakar Rally In the 1960s, Yamaha Motor was working to expand its markets while participating in the World GP. In Europe, there was a man named Jean-Claude Olivier who embodied the Yamaha Spirit of Challenge through his actions and unique perspective, and he used it to propel the Yamaha brand forward. Over his nearly two decades serving as president of Yamaha Motor France S.A. (YMF), he also made a name for himself in the now legendary Paris-Dakar Rally as one of its top riders in the 1980s. If you had to describe him in a word, Olivier was a walking embodiment of Yamaha. He was a man who was always thinking about how to make Yamaha products even better and how to get more people to enjoy them. It filled his mind 24 hours a day. His love of Yamaha was so strong that all of us on his staff, the dealers and the race riders were completely swept along and it became our passion as well, recalls a Yamaha employee from Japan who formerly worked with Olivier in France. He was also known for his great ability to get his employees to push themselves and deliver 120% on every job. No matter how you looked at it at first, the high goals that were set seemed impossible to clear. But we felt that if it s for President Olivier, then we re doing it! He inspired us to take on the challenges, and when we did, we d found that we d succeeded before we knew it. It wasn t just his character; it was his genius for winning the hearts and minds of people with a perfect mix of work and play. In 1966, Olivier was given responsibility for sales of Yamaha products at Sonauto, the predecessor of Yamaha Motor France. He took to the job with vigor, loading Yamaha motorcycles in a truck himself and visiting dealerships to build a sales network for Yamaha products. At the same time, he enjoyed using the products himself in order to have the same perspective as the users, and began participating in races to promote the fun and appeal of Yamaha products. This led him to form the Sonauto Yamaha Team in 1969 for full-fledged race participation. A big turning point came in 1979 when the first Paris-Dakar Rally was held on the vast desert terrain of North Africa. The same YMC employee who worked with Olivier recalls those days: Riding through the African desert is like being on another planet. The mental and physical demands on the rider are tremendous, but Yamaha had the XT500, which was perfect for the task in terms of its basic product concept. So, we thought this was a challenge we had to take head on and succeed in. Olivier competed in that very first Paris-Dakar Rally himself, and although he was unable to complete the rally, privateer Cyril Neveu rode an XT500 to victory that year. The following year, Neveu and the Sonauto Yamaha riders were a dominant force in the rally and their success immediately made the XT500 a top seller. After that second rally, Olivier led the campaign of his Sonauto Yamaha Team while also supporting other Yamaha riders, and he Olivier s attitude was expressed in the words, We re not here to participate in the race. We re here to win it. That uncompromising drive inspired the Yamaha Motor France employees around him as well as the users. Olivier spread the Yamaha brand name throughout France with racing activities ranging from on-road and off-road motorcycle competition to races in the marine field. returned to competing as a rider himself from Improving steadily each year, he finished an impressive 2 nd in the 7 th Paris-Dakar Rally, but the single-cylinder machine of the time simply lacked the power and speed to take the win. That led Olivier to make an unprecedented proposal to Yamaha Motor in Japan to build a new monster machine. Convinced by Olivier s determination, the new FZ750T Yamaha Motor Monthly Newsletter 4

model powered by a 750cc liquid-cooled 4-cylinder engine was built and taken to the rally in 1986.

5 model powered by a 750cc liquid-cooled 4-cylinder engine was built and taken to the rally in Olivier s aim was not to enter a model with conventional performance that could finish among the leaders, but to bring in a model with the technological potential to overpower the rival makers 2-cylinder machines. The YMC employee on Olivier s staff at the time says, The machine s 190 kg weight was a disadvantage, but its high-speed performance was in a class of its own. He was just dying to see how that machine would perform in the ultimate off-road competition. In the end, the 4-cylinder machine didn t deliver the results he had hoped for, but Olivier s passion would lead to the development of a new 2-cylinder machine and the nurturing of the legendary Stéphane Peterhansel, who became the Yamaha ace among the next generation of Dakar Rally riders. The YMF team took an amazing six victories in the Rally over an eight-year span beginning in Perhaps the strongest image of Jean-Claude Olivier that stays in our minds today is that of a challenger who poured all of his intellect and senses into the task of steeling himself and overcoming the extreme conditions of the desert. In racing and in business, he was a man of perspective who never lost sight of the big picture, a man who knew the importance of finding methods and applying good judgment to overcome the immediate challenges at hand and a man who was willing to make the efforts it took to put together a team with people that shared these qualities. That was Olivier s challenge and the way he prepared to win. Now that Jean-Claude Olivier has passed away, when the YMC man who worked with him finds himself in a difficult situation, he often recalls Olivier saying, I want to make the most of the things I learned during my challenge in desert and impart them to my colleagues at Yamaha. That spirit lives on today in the new challenges that the graduates of the Olivier School are pursuing today. Masato Suzuki: A spirited Yamaha Motor engineer on a quest to set world records for human-powered flight Since the company s earliest days when the engineers and craftsmen of a musical instrument maker dared to build a motorcycle, when a motorcycle engine designer developed a snowmobile and a boat designer drew up plans for an industrial-use unmanned helicopter Yamaha Motor has had numerous inspired and hard-working project leaders going beyond their fields of technical expertise and experience, and becoming the driving force behind the company s long-held multi-axial business policy that seeks to develop new product lines. This continues today with many YMC employees constantly applying their talents in a wide range of fields. Among these YMC employees, you will find people who instruct university student teams competing in solar car races, ones involved in developing chair-skis for alpine skiing competition by the disabled, ones who have pursued the human-powered boat world speed record and many more. One of these spirited employees is Masato Suzuki, who now heads the R&D team developing the MOTIV compact automobile Masato Suzuki holds a model of one of his human-powered aircraft in front of the Yamaha automobile currently under research and development. Every day brings new challenges. I m always excited by the joy that lies in creating new personal vehicles based on new ideas, he says. prototype that attracted so much attention at the Tokyo Motor Show in Suzuki also happens to be a leader among Japanese challengers designing human-powered aircraft to break the world records for straight distance flights and longest flight duration. Suzuki was in 8 th grade (2 nd year of Japanese middle school) when he became fascinated with the idea of human-powered flight after reading a magazine article about the challenge to break the world records. The article described how the aircraft were built using every means to reduce weight even by a Yamaha Motor Monthly Newsletter 5

tenth of a gram and to increase structural precision by even one millimeter. The university he later chose to enter was one known for its achievements in human-powered flight.

6 tenth of a gram and to increase structural precision by even one millimeter. The university he later chose to enter was one known for its achievements in human-powered flight. That was around the time that a Japanese television program began holding a Japan International Birdman Rally for human-powered aircraft. Suzuki entered the contest, and in the program s 4 th Rally, he would pilot his team s craft to victory in the glider category. During my university years, I was always in the hanger, spending time on aircraft design and construction. I also wrote my graduation thesis on human-powered aircraft, he recalls with a smile. After entering Yamaha Motor, he worked in basic technological development in the areas of hydrofoil design and hydroelectric power generation. But, it wasn t long before he got a number of fellow employees to join him in forming a club of human-powered flight enthusiasts that they named Team Aeroscepsy. Dedicating their private time to designing, constructing and testing human-powered aircraft, the team succeeded in breaking the Japanese records for straight-distance flight recognized by the FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) in 1992 and Team Aeroscepsy was born from the Aeroscepcy means the feeling of airflow in Latin. Most of the aircraft the team makes have a roughly 30 meters wingspan and a cockpit positioned directly under it with a bicycle pedaling mechanism to turn the propeller. aspirations of just five members, but today they have ten. They come from a number of divisions of the company, including people who work on the development of our motorcycles like the YZF-R1 and the YZR-M1 MotoGP race machine, development of our industrial-use unmanned helicopters and industrial robots as well as others involved in motorcycle manufacturing technology and quality control. This team of diverse talent and expertise is working toward their goals of breaking the world records of km for straight-distance flight and a time of 3:54:59 for continuous flight duration. For me, a challenge doesn t mean going on reckless adventures or chasing crazy, unattainable dreams, and it has nothing to do with the idea that if there s a will, there s a way. I believe that the true meaning of a challenge is something you can definitely achieve if you go through the necessary processes and steps, even though you may have to overcome numerous difficult trials and failures along the way. You could think of this process as similar to the work of verifying the results of ongoing research, and it s something that I feel applies to our work at the company as well. By nature, I love to try doing things that people don t usually do, and trying to do completely new things. The atmosphere at Yamaha Motor encourages us to pursue the ideas that interest us with an If you want to do it, go all the way with it kind of approach. I ve been able to take on various new challenges that interested me, in my job and in my hobbies. Having received that kind of support until now, I feel that it s now my turn to encourage ambitious young people to pursue their challenges. I can tell if they re serious about their pursuit by the look in their eyes, says Suzuki. Inspired by the footprints and achievements left behind by our predecessors, or encouraged by the difficulties we see our fellow workers overcoming, we get a positive attitude and the will to never give up or be beaten by a challenge. Whenever Yamaha Motor has advanced to the next level of progress or innovation or faced setbacks or a crisis, it has always been the unbroken legacy of our Spirit of Challenge that has propelled the company forward. We will continue to open up new horizons for the future with our own hands and make dreams come true, for ourselves and for people who use and love our products. Yamaha Motor Monthly Newsletter 6

7 Message from the Editor Whenever we start talking about what true Yamaha-ness is, the Spirit of Challenge always comes into the conversation. In the process of preparing this month s issue, I had the opportunity to interview a number of people and gained a renewed appreciation of how interesting it is to work at Yamaha Motor. One thing that impressed me was that every time someone passionately said, Let s do it! a group of colleagues would gathered to support and encourage the challenge and inject more energy into it. I think that the Yamaha people who create each new product that Revs your Heart are people with the Spirit of Challenge and people who love people with the Spirit of Challenge. As for me, my challenge is to get as many people as possible to read this newsletter and think, Yeah, I like Yamaha. Though I still have a long way to go, I want to do my best to make every issue as good as I can, and to value every encounter I have with you readers. It s a big challenge, but all of us on the editorial team will take it on! Mariko Saito Global PR Team, Public Relations & Advertising Division, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd Shingai, Iwata, Shizuoka, Japan TEL FAX saitoumar@yamaha-motor.co.jp *Prior to any use of the article(s) and photographs contained within this newsletter, please contact me. Yamaha Motor Monthly Newsletter 7

Yamaha Motor Monthly Newsletter

Yamaha Motor Monthly Newsletter October 15, 2015 (Issue No. 34) The 1 st floor display space of the Plaza opened after renovations in July 2015. With a more open view from the entrance, the scope of exhibits