I have just been reminded of a story that I heard when I was in the IOM.... apparently a motor racing circuit has been built on a island off the coast of Japan, Honda are the only motor cycle company in Japan that have not approved of it because they consider that the circuit is dangerous,.... now the Japanese goverment are asking Honda if they think that their circuit is dangerous why are they connected with the IOM TT mountain circuit !!!!!. Has anybody else picked this up ?.

Yep - At least the story rings very strong bells. Was a chat with Mr Tuxworth in TT week.

It was in one of the UK papers some time ago that the Government of Japan were putting presure on Honda.

i think lougher was at that circuit last year or something.
apparently it is quite a twisty little place but the biggest problem would be logistics. i think i read that the island is 40km from land or something.

From memory this was on an island that has previously been wrecked by an earthquake or something so maybe it's the island rather than the circuit that's considered dangerous?????

Phil Windrum Wrote:From memory this was on an island that has previously been wrecked by an earthquake or something so maybe it's the island rather than the circuit that's considered dangerous?????

thas right, it was wrecked by an earthquake and i think it was completely evacuated for a number of years and then the mayor of tokyo suggested a tt race. i remember there was a lot of japanese over in 06 to do a bit of investigating and thats why they let jun maeda away first in practice. then that horrible accident took place on the ballahutchin straight

I think Ian Lougher went and looked at it a couple of years ago, and everything was going to go ahead, but I think there would be major logistics problems. If it's hard to get everyone here, and put them up, what would it be like on an island that had fairly recently been wiped out... no infrastructure, and certainly no B&Bs ... don't fancy camping on lava!

A statement by the mayor of Tokyo in 2006
(Demonstrating the potential of the Tama and island areas)
Numerous leading companies, universities, and research institutions at the forefront of the era are concentrated in the Tama area, which supports the vitality of Tokyo in parallel with the ward district. Factories located here comprise just over 10% of Tokyo's factories but produce over 50% of the value of Tokyo's manufacturing output. This area is playing a major role in the industrial advancement of Tokyo and I have large expectations that the potential of this area will rise even further through progress in infrastructure development including the National Capital Region Central Loop Road (Ken-o-do).

Small and medium-sized enterprises support the industries in the Tama area, and in order to assist them on both the technological and managerial fronts we will aim to redevelop the former site of the Tokyo Metropolitan College into a full-fledged support base, which will include a center for exchange among industry, academia, and government by FY2009. In response to the characteristics of industry we will strengthen our technical assistance in the electronics and communications fields to further promote the industrial development of the Tama area.

On the occasion of my inspection tour of London, I visited the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. This island is roughly the size of Awajishima Island in Japan and has a population of less than 80,000. It is well known worldwide for the international motorcycle race that runs on its public roads and dates back over 100 years. I was overwhelmed by the power of the motorcycles that sped along the public roads right past private residences at speeds of over 200 km per hour. I was also able to see and hear first hand how each and every resident has an enthusiasm for motor sports and how the entire island supports the race.

While at one time the Isle of Man struggled with a downturn in the number of tourists visiting the area, its per capita gross domestic product is now greater than that of the U.K. This was achieved through not just the race but by also luring IT industries to its shores and other unique industrial promotion policies. The islands of Tokyo have much to learn from these pioneering efforts, and I imagine that the mayors of both Miyakejima and Hachijojima Islands who accompanied me on this trip felt the same way.

I hope that the people of the islands will combine their efforts to take the first specific steps towards the realization of setting motorcycle races to ignite tourism in the area. The TMG will also actively support new development of the islands that makes the best of the creative originality of the local area.

http://www.edutraveller.com/jp/en/places/ooshima.html

Here's some info on the islands.

And here's the original posting from November 2007 related to this NEW circuit - HERE



Edited by Malcolm.

I wonder who all the Japs were, coming out of PPs offices on Monday

FC Wrote:I wonder who all the Japs were, coming out of PPs offices on Monday

Oi! Get back to work, you're supposed to be painting, not peeping in PP's office!

The air service has been resumed to Miyakejima but no other news on the road race. The mayor of Tokyo is an innovative guy but he has a lot on his plate at the moment including a failed bank he promoted.