The Thomas Auto-Bi Roadster, Gladiator quadricycle, and Thomas Auto-Tri 3-wheeler, at the first motor vehicle race in Japan, Nov 3 1901 The Thomas is generally considered the first production motorcycle in the US, and its appearance in Japan at this early date is remarkable. The first motor vehicle race in Japan was staged between the two Thomas machines and a Gladiator quadricycle, on Nov. In 1901, a Thomas motorcycle and tricycle were imported, and the motorcycle was ridden extensively through Tokyo, and generated considerable press comment. The first motorcycle appeared in Japan in 1896 a Hildebrand and Wolfmüller imported by Shinsuke Jomonji, a member of the Japanese House of Representatives, who demonstrated the machine in front of the Hibiya Hotel in Tokyo (destroyed by earthquake in 1923?).
Later the company produced Thomas motorcycles – so Thomas Auto-Bi is the generally accepted name of the brand. A contemporary photos of an Auto-Bi c.1900, generally considered to be the first production motorcycle in America, by E.R.Thomas in Buffalo, NY. Meiji-era advertisement for an American ‘Auto-Bi’ motorcycle, built by E.R. These missions served Japan well, for within a generation the country had become acknowledged as a modern global power, with a burgeoning industrial base. They organized ‘learning expeditions’ to the US and Europe from the 1870s onwards, where large teams of diplomats and students examined all manner of manufacturing and governmental institutions (military, courts, schools, etc). The sudden/forced opening to European influence was embraced by the Meiji government, who saw modernization as the only way to defend Japanese sovereignty and culture. The first railroad opened in Japan in 1872, between Yokohama and Tokyo (Shimbashi) (‘Net) Such treaties were implemented soon after by European countries, a humiliating turn of events which led to the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, which was replaced by the Meiji oligarchy in 1868. He returned the following year with 7 warships, and forced the Shogun to sign ‘Treaty of Peace and Amity’…classic ‘gunboat diplomacy’ the treaty forbade the Japanese from levying tarrifs on trade (although of course the US could), and gave US citizens immunity from prosecution in Japan ( ‘extraterritoriality’ – same as in Iraq/Afghanistan today – some things never change). Europeans tried for 200 years to establish relations with Japan by trickery or force, but were successfully repelled until July 8, 1853, when Commodore Mathew Perry brought four US Navy warships (the kurofune, or ‘Black Ships’) into Tokyo Bay, and broke the resistance of Japanese forces. Trade with Korea, the Ainu people of northern Japan, and the islands of the Ryukyu kingdom (Okinawa etc) were all handled at specific sites. All trade with China went through Dejima as well. Japan still traded with the outside world, through tightly controlled channels: the sole European access was limited to the artificial island called Dejima, in Nagasaki harbor, where the Dutch East India Company handled imports and exports. A contemporary Japanese woodcut depicting one of Commodore Perry’s steamships (‘Net)
Ultimately this unified Japan, and created a national identity. As with all politics, while the colonial threat was the primary excuse for an iron grip on Japanese trade, an important effect was to enrich the Tokugawas and deprive rival feudal groups of trade revenue. These laws remained in effect until 1868 (230 years!), the end of the Edo period, and the start of the ‘Meiji Restoration’. In response, the Tokugawa shogunate (the feudal military rulers in Edo castle – this is also called the ‘Edo period’) passed laws starting in 1633 which drastically restricted contact and trade with the outside world, making entry into Japan by foreigners, and exit from Japan by locals, punishable by death. When Spanish and Portugese traders arrived on Japanese shores in the late 1500s, the introduction of Catholicism in southern Japan was seen as the spearhead of a possible colonizing effort by Europeans. Japan was never isolated or ignorant of world affairs, having conducted sea trade for centuries with neighbors in China and Korea, and was well aware in the 1500s that an aggressive colonial expansion by European countries had begun in the New World. To understand the slow and chaotic beginning of the Japanese motorcycle industry, it helps to understand a little of the country’s background, and history of its relations with the West. The first motorcycle to appear in Japan a Hildebrand and Wolfmüller, in 1896 (Iwatate)
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