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VOL. 52 ISSUE 10 MARCH 10, 2015 P139 sible for the Kawasaki Z1-R Turbo). Masek's concept of Americans calling most of the shots on what bikes would be produced in Japan was called within the industry as "Going Native." Hamawaki said "Going Native" was a philosophy for management, which he shared "since I had a strong desire of initiating something different from Japa- nese competitors who were missing [this type] of management. This was the key to attract American expertise working for Kawasaki—leading product development to meet with the market needs in the States." With the American pipeline in place Kawasaki started producing motorcycles that filled a gap in the market. The niche they filled consisted of brutally fast two-strokes that owned the stoplight-to-stoplight segment. "Going Native" led to bold and iconic ma- chines such at the H1 (aka the Mach III). Kawasaki became the company that produced motorcycles perhaps slightly on the other side of socially ac- ceptable. The H1 was quickly followed by the H2, a 750cc, three-cylinder, two-stroke beast that still brings a devilish grin to motorcyclists of that era. Hamawaki, along with his fellow American Kawa- saki managers, foresaw the market trend that would lead to even larger bikes. "I requested H1 develop- ment in the Kawasaki factory," Hamawaki said. "Carrying the message from Masek and Don Graves (sales manager ). Then Dr. Ohtsuki [called HP], chief engineer, at the Kawasaki factory, who used to be racing manager, took that vision and accomplished producing the H1 Mach III and the H2. American enthusiasts were so excited by these motorcycles that Kawasaki began to grow rapidly." But the two-stroke era was coming to an end with emerging noise and pollution regulations. And then Honda changed the game with its CB750. If Kawa- saki were to remain the speed king it would have to come back strong. Its response was the legend- ary Z1—a 903cc four-cylinder, four-stroke that blew everything else into the weeds. "The Z1 was originally planned as a 750cc motor- cycle," Hamawaki explains. "But we modified that to 900cc after Honda's 750 was announced." With Hamawaki trusting his American associ- ates the company just kept on thinking outside the box. In 1975 Kawasaki became the first Japanese maker to open a U.S. plant. The first shiny KZ400 that rolled off the production line in January of 1975 was proudly presented to then Nebraska Governor, Jim Exon by Hamawaki. Hamawaki also trusted his American coun- terparts when hot rod painter Molly Sanders convinced them to make their corporate colors what he called Kawasaki Green. Reportedly the Kawasaki execs in the initial meeting at first winced at the color, but were somehow sold by Sanders' pitch that this shade of green would set them apart from all the other makers. The provocative color scheme fit perfectly with the personality of the company and it too became iconic. After his wildly successful launch of Kawasaki in America, Hamawaki was hot property and BMW scooped him up to open the Japan market to the German maker. Once again Hamawaki turned his magic and helped BMW become highly success- ful in Japan, to the point that it became Japan's Number one selling foreign car. When looking back on his years with Kawasaki, Hamawaki said he was most proud of helping to establish Kawasaki as one of the top brands world- wide, turning them around from a "crisis stage," where they were almost out of business. Surprisingly, with the groundbreaking mo- torcycles Kawasaki produced during his time there—like the H1, H2 and Z1—it's not one of those iconic bikes, but instead the little 250cc Kawasaki Samurai that was his favorite. "It was the motor- cycle that established American Kawasaki Motors," Hamawaki remembers. "So I have a lot of nostalgic memories for that motorcycle." CN BROUGHT US KAWASAKI Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

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