Yoshiaki Nagasawa has a list of customers who favor bicycles handmade for them, including Koichi Nakano, a former professional bicycle racer and 10-time world champion track sprinter.
While bicycles made by Nagasawa cost ¥200,000 to ¥300,000, he says, "I don't think even ¥500,000 is expensive because I make bicycles you can ride for life."
Born in Asahi, Chiba Prefecture, Nagasawa represented the prefecture in a bicycle race at the National Sports Festival when he was a third-year student at a local high school. As a freshman at Nihon University, he finished fourth in the Japan National Championships Road Race, and later was chosen as a hopeful to race for Japan at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.