Issued: 4.Nov.1997

Exhibitors -Domestic Motor cycles 1- Despite it being a weekday, the morning again saw large numbers of people trying to visit the show before it ends tomorrow. Many foreigners and other tourists came by tour bus. Tomorrow will bring the close of the 32nd Tokyo Motor Show, which will have lasted 15 days including two press days. Exhibitors Manufacturers try to stimulate the market with popular big motorcycles Popular big motorcycles, the Kawasaki booth Domestic Motorcycles From the spring of this year driving schools have been able to grant drivers licenses for large displacement motorcycles (over 400cc), and all motorcycle manufacturers have been expecting the market to expand. In addition, they have been trying to stimulate the market for bikes under 50cc as "a convenient vehicle". The motorcycle booths at the Tokyo Motor Show were inundated with people, mainly youth, with the big bikes getting the most attention. Kawasaki is focusing on 250cc motorcycles, introducing one as a convenient tool for families. Of course, Kawasaki hasn't forgotten about its favorite big motorcycles with modified Ninja series and ZRX line-ups. the Yamaha booth Yamaha's most remarkable model is the ultra-light weight 1,000cc YZF-R1. Its attention grabbing weight of 177kg is nearly the same as the 400cc class. Exhibitors -Domestic Motorcycles2- Suzuki's "Street Magic II" (above) and Honda's "Dream Kids Suzuki is making good on its policy to produce a variety of models to meet the variety of users' needs. They are displaying many original motorcycles. One of the most popular is the Djebel 250 with a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) navigation system. Honda's strategy is to deepen the relationship between humans and motorcycles by touching them from youth. The Dream Kids series is one such approach with a component system, which allows carrying by car after disassembly. The Honda booth also displays riding gear, including helmets and jackets. Exhibitors -Foreign Motorcycles- In spite of weighing over 280kg, the BMW K1200RS seems lighter thanks to its adjustable seat, handlebars and footrests. BMW insists that balance, not weight, is the important factor for motorcycles, especially when riding tandem; and when someone rides this bike he/she will not notice the weight because of the low stable balance. Harley-Davidson's 95th anniversary model The Harley-Davidson, celebrating its 95th anniversary, is displaying thirteen American style motorcycles. The Ducati booth is separated into four classifications, Monster, Super Sport, 916/748 and Sport Touring. The new SS900 shows-off its beautiful, powerful lines. There are other motorcycle booths including Piaggio and Bimota, featuring its racy and prestigious styling. Exhibitors -Foreign Parts- Providing a concrete approach to the present and the future Foreign Parts Exhibitors Many of the reorganizational efforts by foreign parts vendors are beginning to take effect, as a result automotive parts are moving towards modularity. The theme of this area is Light-weight, Cost reduction, Reducing fuel consumption and Saving energy. There are three large outstanding American part vendors, Delphi, TRW and Visteon in the area. And you can also see several industry booths organized by the governments of the USA, Austria, Canada and France. Interestingly, the German industry booth has a unique layout symbolizing huge auto parts, each part displaying related industries. A careful look at around this area will reveal some interesting products. For example, IEE in Belgium is introducing PPD (Passenger Presence Detection) technology, which can detect whether a person is seated or not, and it also measures the occupant's weight to control deployment of the SRS airbag. Diwwy, a percolator for the car produced by Evian in France, heats water pumped from a PET bottle placed in the trunk to 65�Ž, users then get the water from a dispenser inside the car. Today 4 Nov. Navigator Too busy for lunch, the Multimedia Experience Corner There are five Multimedia corner (sponsored by Japan Telecom, NEC, Toshiba, J Stream, Hitachi Software, IBM, Sony Computer Entertainment, Fuji Photo Film, and others) in the Tokyo Motor Show area. As of November 3rd, the total number of visitors to these booths has surpassed 110,000. The NEC Multimedia booth is located in the "Yasuragi" Mall between the Central Hall and the West Hall. There are four personal computers which allow Internet access to the Official Site of the Tokyo Motor Show, and four personal computers with CD-ROM drives to view the CD-ROM version of the Japanese Motor Vehicle Guidebook called the "Motor Searcher '98". The booth has more than 1,500 visitors on average daily. But on holidays, more than 2,000 visitors pour in and approximately 3,000 persons are gathered around in total. Reportedly, the instructors are too busy to even have lunch. The "Enjoy Print Shop" located on the second floor of the North Hall, sponsored by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., is also popular. The shop takes a visitor's picture and instantly inserts it into a picture with any concept vehicle, all without charge. More than 4,000 people have had their picture taken. The News Studio constructed by the Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. is open in the Central Entrance Hall on the second floor of the International Exhibition Hall. From the studio two newscasters, Yuko Hamada and Tamami Matsumoto, are broadcasting every 30 minutes during the show. VICS traffic information is also broadcasted in the evening. Forty Play Stations are next to the booth and are occupied by young people every day. In the "Yasuragi" Mall, DirecTV, which will start service in Japan December 1st, is running an opening campaign. They said that about 1,000 people during the weekdays and about 2,000 people on holidays are answering a questionnaire. Welcome To Tokyo Motor Show H.E. Santiago Salas Ambassador of Spain Visitors 111,500 attendees

JAPAN MOTOR INDUSTRIAL FEDERATION, INC.