Japan: Sewing Up the Game

A pretty young accountant named Ikoku Yoda last week won the 80-meter hurdles in Japan's eastern regional industrial championship in a sensational 10.8 seconds, only .3 of a second off the world record. Ikoku Yoda was only the top star of an extraordinary team that has become one of Japan's greatest advertising attractions. Before the two-day meet was over, almost all the track and field championships had been won by 70-odd athletes from a single company: Tokyo's Riccar Sewing Machine Co., Japan^s biggest sewing machine maker!

Going for Gold. No one took greater pleasure in the victory than Shinji Hi-raki,...

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