More than 1,100 motorcycles and over 1,400 people on board arrived at KATANA Meeting 2022, held on Sunday, 11 September 2022, at Hamamatsu Fruits Park Tokinosumika in Shizuoka, Japan. Suzuki KATANA owners and fans came together in person for an event built around the motorcycle and the community that surrounds it.

The local railway became part of the meeting’s identity. Nearby Fruit Park Station on the Tenryu Hamanako Railway had received the official nickname KATANA Station. At Tenryu Futamata Station, visitors could photograph a train decorated with KATANA markings that has operated on the railway since 2019. The venue also connected the gathering with the previous online event through the KATANA Big Flag, where owners looked for their own photographs and those of friends.

The flag was made from 877 photographs submitted by KATANA owners for the online KATANA Meeting 2021. It gave the physical gathering a visible link to that digital participation, alongside the motorcycles and displays at the park.

Displays, merchandise and engineering discussion

Visitors could view KATANA models, buy original goods carrying the event logo and browse booths offering motorcycle-related products and services. The parking area also included a Red KATANA section, where special KATANAs in red body colour, presented as a limited colour for Japan, were parked together.

The official festivities began with Toshihiro Suzuki, Representative Director and President of Suzuki Motor Corporation, arriving on a latest-model KATANA to the crowd’s applause. Suzuki engineers then took part in an interactive talk show about the motorcycle’s development. They discussed the effort to pay tribute to the legendary KATANA while shaping its appearance and level of performance for contemporary road use. Riders had travelled from the farthest parts of Japan, showing that the meeting’s reach extended well beyond its Hamamatsu venue.