Yoji ‘George’ Hamawaki, Who Made the Good Times Roll at Kawasaki, Has Died

If you ever hummed along to the happy advertising jingle, “Kawasaki lets the good times roll,” or if you ever owned or even rode a Kawasaki here in the U.S., you have Yoji “George” Hamawaki to thank.

“Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. is saddened to share the news that former Kawasaki executive Yoji ‘George’ Hamawaki passed away on April 18, 2023,” the company said in a statement yesterday.

Hamawaki established the Kawasaki brand of motorcycles in the United States in 1966, and later made Kawasaki the first Japanese brand to establish a manufacturing presence here when the company invested $20 million in a plant in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1974.

“Although foreign manufacturers have made strong inroads in the United States automobile and motorcycle market, production and assembly here are a novelty,” read a 1974 New York Times article of the move.

Hamawaki was integral to all aspects of the brand, working with U.S. executives and employees to do everything a manufacturer needed to do to become successful in the U.S. market.

“In 1966, Mr. Hamawaki established American Kawasaki Motors Corp. and began working closely with Alan Masek to develop the Kawasaki dealer network across America with comprehensive policies, advertising materials and service training,” Kawasaki said in announcing Mr. Hamawaki’s passing. “While building the dealership and sales network, Hamawaki and Masek also studied the consumer needs and model features and communicated that information back to Japan.”

That studying lead directly to such iconic motorcycles as the 1969 Kawasaki H1 and later, the “New York Steak” 1973 Kawasaki Z1 900, which solidified Kawasaki as a superbike brand not only in America, but across the globe, the bike maker said.

Kawasaki was basking in high-performance at the time, having set a quarter-mile record for the Mach III 500 H1 and Mach IV 750 H2, established multiple national race wins, and won an AMA 500 Motocross title. All of these successes targeted performance enthusiasts, as did the national advertising campaign at the time, “Come Out Ahead on a Kawasaki.”