NTN Corporation (hereafter NTN, Head office: Osaka City, President: Hiroshi Ohkubo, listed on First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange) will be the title sponsor of “Tour of Japan” (hereafter TOJ), the largest international cycle road race in Japan that will be held in May 2018, continuing on from being the title sponsor in 2017.

TOJ is the highest-level UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) official international cycle road race to be held in Japan. This year the race spans a total of eight stages over eight days, starting with the Sakai stage (in Osaka) on May 20 (Sun) through to the Tokyo stage (in Tokyo) on May 27 (Sun). The world's leading cyclists from 16 teams joined the race last year, attracting some 350,000 spectators to watch over eight days.

NTN will be celebrating its 100th anniversary on March 1 this year, and has raised its vision of “developing a smooth society over the next 100 years”. There are many activities being planned for the 100th anniversary, and sponsorship of this event is considered of significant importance, due to the common factors between bearing technology being developed to pursue the ultimate “smoothness” and the cycling race, as well as the level of contribution the event will have in regional communities.

Significance of TOJ sponsorship

Bicycles have become the symbol of ecology, a topic that is in common with the concept of global environmental conservation behind NTN's tribology technology. Bearing technology aimed at making things move smoothly, and this cycle road race that pursues the smoothest run, align perfectly with the goals of NTN.

TOJ is also effective for regional promotion as it attracts a large audience from the general public, and NTN also considers it an extremely important event for contributing to the local community. With this in mind, NTN hopes to make a valuable contribution to the development of regions hosting cycling stages.

NTN Rotating Workshop

The “NTN Rotating Workshop,” an event to boost ties between communities and next-generation, will also be held in each stage again this year.

Organized mainly by NTN employees, a curriculum that includes workshops and active learning for local children and spectators to help them learn about energy-saving technology related to sustainable societies as well as bearings that are NTN's core products, and other fields while having fun.