>Honda, the world's number one motorcycle manufacturer, and Yamaha, the number two, share a deep connection. During World War II , Yoshiichi Kawakami , president of Nippon Gakki Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (now Yamaha ), a munitions factory that manufactured fighter plane propellers , was troubled by the company's lack of metalworking technology and lack of productivity. He turned to Soichiro Honda , then president of Tokai Seiki Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (now Tokai Seiki ) . Using a homemade automatic cutter, Soichiro reduced production time from one week to 15 minutes. Yoshiichi praised Soichiro as the " Edison of Japan " and appointed him as a special advisor.
>After the war, the propeller factory converted to motorcycle manufacturing and became Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. Kaichi again sought advice from Sōichiro and contributed to its establishment.


Was Yamaha the bad guy all along?