Asia This Week

Small Japanese factories aim to attract World-class athletic fame (2013x2)

Data di messa in onda: Apr 12, 2013

A project in Tokyo's Ota–ward aims at grabbing a share of Olympic glory. The area is filled with small factories that manufacture parts for machines, for everything from cars to satellites. One of them is developing a bobsled for Japan's Olympic team to be used in the 2013 Winter Games in Sochi,áRussia. Big western corporations such as Ferrari and BWM have long led bobsled production, and no Japan–made bobsled has ever been used in the Olympics. The company that seeks to change that has only about 30 employees. Other small factories in Ota as well as a company in western Japan and even a university have joined the bid for global recognition. Their bobsled took part in an international competition last month, the first Japan–made sled to do so.