Raw Japan

Call me “Crasher”

My nickname among the Reuters photographers in Tokyo is “Crasher”.

They call me that because I always seem to get pictures right at the moment of a crash whenever I cover motorsports.

One colleague sometimes teases me saying “You’ve got to stop pouring oil on the track,” and I answer: ”I would never use oil — I only use banana skins!”

In motorsports the most exciting moment you can capture in a picture is a crash.

That instant can be the difference between life and death, and it’s a picture that is most difficult to capture.

from Left field:

Will there be a Japanese Grand Prix next year?

Toyota-owned Fuji's announcement that they are pulling the plug on hosting the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix leaves a question mark over the country's future on the championship calendar.

Fuji had been due to host the race next year as part of an agreement to alternate with Honda-owned Suzuka. However since that deal was done, Honda have pulled out of Formula One and may not have too much of an incentive to pick up the slack.

Kazuki Nakajima is the only current Japanese driver on the starting grid and he is a Toyota protege, racing for Toyota-powered Williams.

Honda pulled out for financial reasons, just as Fuji have now done.

Toyota have yet to win a race since their debut in 2002 but have been much more competitive this season than they were last year. What would Honda gain by picking up the tab for a Japanese grand prix without any of their cars present but that could be won by Toyota?

Asked about the situation on Tuesday, a Honda spokesman said Suzuka had made no decision beyond planning to host the race this year and in 2011 and it was now up to Formula One organisers to decide on the fate of next year's race.

Japan is important to give the championship a truly global feel, particularly now that there are no North American races, and has been on the calendar without fail since 1987.

Toyota’s long and winding F1 road

For not seeing a win since joining Formula One in 2002, Toyota‘s commitment to the sport is admirable, especially after Honda’s pullout in December left the team the last Japanese standing in the glamour sport.

Toyota have been one of F1′s biggest spenders, with an estimated annual budget of $300 million, previously exceeded only by Honda. But the question for the sport’s perennial underachievers remains just how much cash do they have left to burn?

Team principal Tadashi Yamashima told me on Monday that Toyota had been close to following Honda out of the sport, and the Cologne-based team’s budget has been slashed several times as the world’s No.1 car maker  is set to suffer its first ever annual operating loss.

Honda blamed their own exit from F1 on the need to cut costs and Toyota’s survival in the sport was by no means clear-cut. A renewed sponsorship deal with Japanese electronics giant Panasonic was said to be a factor in their continued F1 presence.

“I had never seen such cost cuts in all my time at Toyota,” Yamashina said, adding that dozens of contract workers lost their jobs as the team was forced to streamline F1 operations.

Still, Toyota are upbeat about their chances in the new season that begins in Melbourne on March 29.