[Deathwatch] Genichi Kawakami, Japan's Piano Man and Motorbike King, 90

[Deathwatch Central]

Japan's Piano Man and Motorbike King Dies, Aged 90 
Sun May 26, 7:31 AM ET 

TOKYO (Reuters) - The man who made Japan's Yamaha a household name
around the world through an odd mix of musical instruments and
motorbikes, died Saturday at the age of 90, local media reported. 
  
Genichi Kawakami, who shunned publicity despite his business success,
lived and died in the industrial town of Hamamatsu, 125 miles west of
Tokyo, where his two companies were based. 

In 1950 Kawakami took over his father's musical instrument company,
which had been established in the 19th century, and developed it into
the world's largest maker of pianos, in the process helping to fuel a
music boom in Japan. 

A visit to America and Europe in 1953 convinced Kawakami that the
recreational market had a bright future in Japan. 

The company went on to make an extremely popular range of wind and
stringed instruments and also developed Japan's first electric organ,
the "Electone," and a range of audio equipment. 

The author of several books on music, Kawakami in 1966 established the
Yamaha Music Foundation, which drove the popularity of the company's
products by setting up music schools and competitions in Japan and
abroad. 

LEAP OF FAITH 

The apparently bizarre leap to motorbike production came after Yamaha
had used its knowledge of wood products gained from piano-making to
diversify into the manufacture of wooden airplane propellers during
World War Two. 

>From there it started producing metal propellers, but the equipment for
making them fell idle after the end of the war. 

Under Kawakami's leadership, the company adapted the machinery in the
1950s to produce Yamaha's first motorbike, the YA-1, nicknamed "aka
tombo" or red dragonfly. 

Spun off as Yamaha Motor Co in 1955, the motorbike manufacturing firm
entered an overcrowded Japanese market from two single-story wooden
factory buildings with a capacity to turn out 200 motorcycles a month. 


Subsequent success in international motorbike races brought recognition
to the Yamaha bike brand around the world. It is now the world's
second-largest manufacturer of motorbikes, after fellow-Japanese maker
Honda. Yamaha Motor also manufactures boats, outboard motors,
snowmobiles and golf carts, as well as industrial machinery. 

Though Japan's stagnant economy and aging population are affecting
domestic sales of motorbikes, the firm is marketing its products
aggressively in the younger markets of China and India. 

"I believe the most important thing when building a product is to keep
in mind the standpoint of the people who will use it," a Yamaha Web
site quotes Kawakami as saying shortly after founding Yamaha Motor. 

Yamaha has been looking to diversify still further by developing new
businesses in the infotech and biotech areas. 

Kawakami retired from Yamaha in 1992 and had been in hospital for some
months prior to his death, which was attributed to old age. A private
family funeral is to be held on May 29.