Tojiro Ukiya 1942-1965: What connects Kohta Takahashi and HONDA

My childhood dream was to be a racer.

I remember well that when I was five years old, my parents begged me not to do anything life-threatening, and I gave up.

I had read many of Tojiro Ukitani's books since I was a child.

The reason was that the Ukitani family wanted to adopt me because of my father's work with celebrities, and his books were in our house, and when I asked "Who is this? I had heard that anecdote many times when I asked him "Who is this?

When I visited the Ukitani family, I was two or three years old, and I was stroking the chin of a dog that was bigger than my height, and we were all chilled to the bone.

Ever since then, I've always considered any dog, no matter how scary, to be on my side (laughs).

More than a few decades have passed since then... He sent his book "Gamushara 1500 km" to Mr. Soichiro Honda and became friends with his son Hirotoshi who is the same age as him... I thought today that HONDA CIVIC TYPE R is cool and looks like a Ridge Racer.

Didn't he die in the summer? I somehow recalled that now in late July, and I was right.

He ended up studying in the US and then became a contract driver for Toyota.

Spoiler alert, he was killed at Suzuka Circuit in 1965 when he tried to avoid two people walking on the track and hit a mercury lamp that was on the side of the track at the time.

The car Ukitani was driving at the time of the accident was not a racing car but a Honda S600, the personal car of "Crow" creator Minoru Hayashi.

The seatbelt had been removed so that it could be transferred to a racing car (the later Tojiro-2) that was in the process of being built for Ukitani.

Well, I can't follow the rest in tears. Here it is.

https://ja.wikipedia.org/... /%E6%B5%AE%E8%B0%B7%E6%9D%B1...

The story is that I was wanted as an adopted child because he passed away and therefore my parents begged me to quit being a racer only.

It sounds like a made-up story, doesn't it?

But this is a history known only to my parents in the Ukitani and Takahashi families.

Because of my father's work, it is common for him to be associated with such prominent people. There are many others, but as far as racing is concerned, Tojiro Ukitani has had a great influence on me.

I was reminded of this today when I read an article about the Honda Civic Type R.

Well, I am too dangerous when I get excited by driving, so I am just fine with fantasizing about racing and making music to get excited about it (laughs).

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