Kazuo Inamori, Akio Morita, and other charismatic Japanese business leaders in treasured photos

Economic journalist Takashi Matsuzaki was surprised when he covered the collapse of Japan Airlines (JAL). This was in early 2010, when Kazuo Inamori, founder of Kyocera Corporation, was involved in the restructuring of the company. Mr. Matsuzaki looks back.

Kazuo Inamori, Kyocera Corporation

A woman in charge of public relations said to me, “Mr. Inamori starts McDonald’s in the morning. She said, ‘Mr. Inamori eats a lot of McDonald’s hamburgers and Yoshinoya beef bowls in the morning. At the time, Mr. Inamori was nearly 80 years old. That’s how powerful and full of spirit he was.

On August 30, it was announced that Mr. Inamori had passed away. In the past, there were many charismatic business leaders like Mr. Inamori who were passionate not only about the companies they led but also about Japan’s economic growth. We would like to introduce their personalities with their secret photos.

Mr. Inamori is known as a man of hardship.

During the Pacific War, he tried to enter the entrance examination for Kagoshima Daiichi Junior High School, but failed two years in a row. In the university entrance examination, he was not accepted to the medical school of Osaka University, and went on to the newly established Kagoshima Prefectural University (now Kagoshima University). After graduation, he started working as an engineer at an insulator manufacturer in Kyoto, but clashed with his boss over the development of parts. After leaving the company, he founded Kyoto Ceramic (now Kyocera) when he was 27 years old,” said a reporter from the business department of a national newspaper.

Inamori entered Buddhism in September 1997 at the age of 65. He received his ordination at Enpukuji Temple of the Rinzai sect in Yawata City, Kyoto Prefecture. Mr. Matsuzaki says, “I was influenced by my grandmother.

He had been interested in Buddhism since childhood under the influence of his grandmother. She also emphasized the Buddhist phrase “self-interest and altruism” in her business management. It means, ‘Thinking about the interests of others makes you happy. I believe that it was because of his management philosophy of “helping others” that he undertook the restructuring of JAL, which many people had shied away from, without compensation.

Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda Motor Co. Every year, he raises about 3,000 ayu fish in a man-made river he built at his home in Nishi-Ochiai, Tokyo. In the summer, he would hold ayu fish parties for dignitaries from Japan and abroad, looking forward to seeing the joy on the faces of the participants. Mr. Matsuzaki continues.

Mr. Honda thought of the company as a public institution. For this reason, he did not want his relatives to join Honda. He thought that family management was not suitable for an organization that is a public institution.

Akio Morita, the founder of Sony Corporation, who served as a pallbearer at the May 1987 wedding of Hironobu Abe, the elder brother of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (now president of AB Communication), was also a man with unique beliefs. Akio Morita, the founder of Sony, was a man of unique convictions.

He always said, “A company is not an amusement park for adults. You cannot be spoiled. He believed that each individual should have a high level of awareness and learn to support the organization.

Why are there so few managers like them today?

Since the 2000s, there has been a widespread tendency to place priority on short-term profits, and managers have lost their ability to see the big picture. Developing people is costly in the short term, but in the long term it brings great benefits to the organization. Society has lost its leeway.

The philosophies of the managers who built an era have much to teach us today.

Akio Morita, Sony Corporation

Former Prime Minister Abe’s brother, Hironobu, at the dedication ceremony in January 1987. From left to right: mother Yoko, father Shintaro, Mr. Morita, Mr. Kannobu, Mrs. Sachiko, Mrs. Morita, Jiro Ushio, then chairman of Ushio Electric, and Mrs. Ushio.

Soichiro Honda, Honda Motor Co.

August ’85. Mr. Honda invited about 70 dignitaries to his home in Nishi-Ochiai, Tokyo, and held a party for ayu (sweetfish). They fished and ate ayu fish in a man-made river.

Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, Seibu Railway Group

January 1991. He was entertaining IOC officials at an upscale ryotei restaurant in Nagano, Japan, which was then running as a candidate to host the Winter Olympics.

Recruit Hiromasa Ezoe

Around 1985, Mr. Ezoe danced proudly with a woman who was the All-Japan ballroom dancing champion in front of a group of Recruit Co. employees.

FRIDAY, September 23, 2022 issue