Honda of Bowie

This story begins immediately after the March 11^th earthquake struck, when Honda CEO Ito Takanobu learned one of his employees had perished and 17 others were injured in a building at the company's Tochigi facility. Despite the terrible state of the county's roads, Ito was determined to make the 100-k (62-mi) trek from Tokyo to Tochigi fast.

Knowing he couldn't take a car, Ito took his very own Honda CB1100, the flagship of the motorcycle division. According to Ito, the motorcycle was able to navigate through disrupted roads around the facilities in a manner which a…