Yoshisuke Aikawa Founder of Isuzu Motors Ltd

Biography of Yoshisuke Aikawa

Early Life

Yoshisuke Aikawa founder of Isuzu Motors Ltd was born on 6^th November 1880 in Aikawa which is now a part of Yamaguchi city, Yamaguchi prefecture. He belonged to very elite family as his mother belonged to Meiji period and she was a niece of Inoue Kaoru. He completed his graduation in the department of engineering from the university named Tokyo Imperial University in 1903.

Interest in Shibaura Seisakusho

After completing his graduation from Tokyo Imperial University he went on to work for the forerunner of Toshiba named Shibaura Seisakusho.

Travel to the United States of America

His work for Toshiba earned him very less money but was proved sufficient enough for him to travel to the United States of America. He went to the United States on a study trip. He went on to study cast iron technology of malleable iron.

Return to Japan

After getting practical education in the field of metals from the United States of America, he returned to his home town in Japan. In Japan, he opened a company metal with the financial backing of Inoue Kaoru and some other representatives in the diet of Japan. It was opened in 1909 and named as Tobata Foundry in Kitakyushu. Today that company is known with the name of Hitachi Kinzoku (Hitachi Metals) Ltd.

Way to Industrial Hub

He took over a company from his brother in law in 1928, that company was named as the Kuhara Mining Company, today that is known as Nippon Mining and Metals Company, and after taking over he became its president. His brother-in-law’s name was Fusanouske Kuhara. He changed that into a holding company and renamed it to Nihon Sangyo or simply Nissan. That was the start of his industrial hub’s carrier. He was also involved in the politics of the country and built ties with the Prime Minister Giichi Tanaka and some of the other political leaders and military influential. From those ties he took full advantage in setting his own industrial hub.

He used those ties and relations in the boom of stock market of 1931 after Manchurian Incident. During that era he capitalize on the opportunities generated from that boom and bought so many companies by buying majority of the shares of companies. He bought about 132 subsidiaries of different companies and created a hub of industries and named that hub as zaibatsu, the Nissan Konzerne. The companies that he bought during that time included NEC Corporation, Holdings Company, Nippon Mining, Nissan Motors and so many other corporations and enterprises.

Founder of Isuzu Motors Limited

This Company came into existence in 1916 as a ship building company but with another name. It was later on named as Isuzu Motors Ltd. Mr. Yoshisuke Aikawa is named as the founder of the company, although his name is not found in the history of the company but he got this honor because he acquired the company during industrial stock market boom and after that he was the one who was responsible for the progress of the company. Isuzu was also one of the companies from his acquisition of 132 companies after stock market boom.

Isuzu Motors Ltd.

Isuzu Motors Limited is a multinational company of Japan in the field of automobile manufacturing. It’s headquarter is based in Tokyo, Japan. This company is primarily involved in the manufacturing and selling purpose of commercial vehicles with diesel engines. There are some other subsidiaries of the company which are working under the same name of Isuzu. Its large trucks and vehicles are largely being used in so many countries of the world.

It was named as Isuzu after a merger between a car maker company and a gas company of Tokyo, that name was taken from a river name, Isuzu River.

Later Life

After the World War II, when Japan surrendered, he was arrested by the American Forces. He was in the custody of Americans for more than twenty months. When he got freedom his company was completely dissolved, but he started everything from the scratch again and played an important role in post war reconstruction process of Japan. Again he came in the industrial field and served as the chairman of an oil company. By 1960s he again purchased so many small companies.

Death

He died on 13^th February, 1967 in Tokyo. The cause of his death was an acute gall bladder inflammation. He was buried in Tokyo and his grave is present in a graveyard of Tokyo named the Tama Cemetery.