The Nippon Challenge: Japan's Pursuit of the America's Cup

by Patrick Smith

For followers of the 1992 America's Cup, the words "Japan, Inc." may take on a whole new meaning. A Japanese team, for the first time in that island nation's shore-hugging history, joins the fleet of other challengers in this quintessentially Western race on the high seas. Whether the Japanese know how to compete on a "level playing field" is still uncertain, but their participation alone can be counted a triumph that will defy every commonly held cliche about the Japanese people. The Nippon Challenge is the absorbing story of the technology, financial resources and sheer willpower that in three years made Japan a credible contender in the 1992 event. In 1987, Japanese investment in the United States was booming and America's ire over the continuing trade imbalance with Japan was reaching dangerous levels. The timing was perfect for the Nippon Challenge, the brainchild of a Japanese business executive who hoped to prove his country's openness to competition in a Western arena. "It's time we demonstrated that we are a hot-blooded people," he explained, "not economic monsters." From the beginning, the Nippon team had the advantages of Japan's phenomenal achievements in industry and technology, the financial backing of seventy-five leading companies, and a New Zealander coach and skipper. But Japanese sailors lacked the experience and finesse obtainable only through years of effort and practice. The syndicate was also handicapped by the time-consuming and often conflict-ridden Eastern penchant for imitating Western ways, then surpassing the source by giving the method a Japanese spin. Japan has long eschewed open competition in favor of preparation behind closed doors and walls of protection. In effect, the America's Cup forced the Nippon team to change. Other first-time challengers would bring as much national pride to the America's Cup as the Japanese, but none would invest so much besides money, and no newcomers would set out to prove as much to a world that di

331 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1992