Takazumi Katayama (片山敬済, born April 16, 1951 in Japan) was the first Japanese rider to win a motorcycle road racing world championship when he claimed the 1977 350cc title aboard a Yamaha. Although the Japanese became the major motorcycle manufacturer, hadn't produced any decent riders to go with their machines. Most of Big 4 Japanese machines were ridden by well-established riders( with big pay) to compete in road racing. He started to race in 1970's and by the 1973, he was the Japanese Champion. Became a test rider for Yamaha, then soon he found himself racing in Europe for world championship.
I remember reading interview of Katayama when I was a kid. He was complaining about harsh racial discrimination he encountered while he was touring Europe for the championship. Motorcycle racing was European thing; there were no Asian riders. The more he won the race, the more hatra he felt from his competitions.
In 1979 he accepted an offer from Honda to develop their exotic oval-cylinder, four-stroke NR500 race bike, mainly due to his respect toward Soichiro Honda.
After retiring from competition, Katayama became a motorcycle Grand Prix racing team owner.
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