Hawaii / Waikiki is the #1 tourist destination for Japan in the world. They love everything about Hawaii. I have a friend who rents motorcycles in Waikiki. He started with a couple of Kawasaki's and a Harley. He couldn't keep the Harley in and the Kawasaki's for the most part sat until he sold them. He now has about 10 Harley's in 4 locations in Waikiki. They are booked most of the time and 90% of his customers are Japanese. When he had the Kawasaki's the only people that rented them were not from Japan. Part of this I'm sure has to do with the whole "Harley" thing. However, to rent a bike you need a motorcycle license and to demonstrate some skills - these are typically not novice riders renting these bike.
Another thing about Japan is that your insurance and required skills are dramatically higher as the size of the bike goes up. I have an employee ho lived in Japan for 16 years. He had to go to 6 months of class to get his license and that was only because his bike was under 400cc's. If it was higher he would have had to take more schooling. So as far as rentals in Waikiki - part if it with the Japanese is that they get the chance to ride a bike that they would never be able to own in Japan. Motorcycle registration for any vehicle in Japan is really expensive and gets higher as the size goes up. We should never complain about the cost of vehicle registration in the US - just go to Japan or Europe. Sean On Friday, October 12, 2012 9:32:05 AM UTC-10, Joey wrote: > > All, > Harley had a huge increase in the Asian market - wonder if that is > increased sales overall or is it pushing Honda out? > http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-11/made-in-usa-still-sells > Thoughts? > -Joey > > -- > -Joey Kelley > JoeyKelley.com - My Life Online > JoeyFixesComputers.com - Its What I Do! > JoeyKelleyPhoto.com - Photographing Today, For Tomorrow > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en-US.
