Featured In the November 2019 issue of Roadracing World:
Michio “Mitch” Arai says he started riding motorcycles when he was about seven years old, taught by his father Hirotake in about 1945—74 years ago. He’s still riding now, at age 81. More than that, he’s still working more than full-time running the company, started by his father Hirotake, that bears his family’s name, Arai Helmet.
Hirotake “Hiro” Arai started making motorcycle helmets in 1950. He was already a self-taught hat maker who made helmets (hard-hats) for miners and construction workers after World War II. He was riding a motorcycle, and decided to adapt one of the helmets he was already making, to protect his own head when he was riding.
It soon attracted the attention of riders and race organizers, who asked Hiro Arai to make and sell a helmet specifically designed for motorcycle riding. That, Mitch says, was the start of the motorcycle helmet industry in Japan …
—Shops: Arai Helmet Headquarters, by John Ulrich
Arai builds about 240,000 helmets a year, all designed according to the company’s philosophy of making helmets that do the best possible job of managing impact energy. Mitch Arai says he sees himself as a racer–leading the race to provide better protection for motorcyclists by building better helmets. The story of Arai Helmet is in the November issue of Roadracing World!
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