Kawasaki's DNA

　Shozo Kawasaki was born in Kagoshima as the son of a kimono merchant in 1837. At the age of 17 (1853), he went to Nagasaki—the only window to western civilization at the time—and accumulated training as a trade merchant. When he was 27 (1863), he moved to Osaka and started a shipping business, but it failed when his ship was wrecked and sank along with his cargo during a storm.
　After that, in 1869, he was employed at a company that handled Ryukyu sugar and had been established by a Kagoshima samurai. In 1873, he was commissioned by the Ministry of Finance to conduct investigations on Ryukyu sugar and sea routes to Ryukyu (currently Okinawa). The following year, he was appointed as vice president of Japan National Mail Steamship Company, and successfully opened a sea route to Ryukyu, transporting sugar to mainland Japan.
　During this time, Shozo Kawasaki encountered several sea accidents that influenced his destiny. Through these bad experiences, his trust in Western ships deepened, as they had more spacious interiors and were faster and more stable than the traditional Japanese ships of the Edo period. At the same time, he developed a strong interest in the modern shipbuilding industry.
　In 1878, with the support of Masayoshi Matsukata, an older man from the same hometown and the Vice Minister of Finance at the time, Kawasaki borrowed land from the government along the Sumida River, Minami Iida-cho, Tsukiji, (currently 7-chome, Tsukiji, Chuo-ku) in Tokyo. There, he established Kawasaki Tsukiji Shipyard, taking his first step into the shipbuilding industry.
　Three years later, he opened the Kawasaki Hyogo Shipyard in Higashidemachi, Hyogo Prefecture, which established a system for shipbuilding in both eastern and western Japan. Then, the government sold him the government-managed Hyogo Shipyard in 1887. After transferring the main functions of the Kawasaki Tsukiji Shipyard and Kawasaki Hyogo Shipyard, the newly established Kawasaki Dockyard had 618 employees, three building berths, two slipways, and five boilers (Totaling 111 horsepower).
　When the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1894, orders flooded into shipyards, mainly for ship repair work, and Japan's shipbuilding industry boomed. Kawasaki planned to reorganize the company into a joint-stock corporation to allow for major facility expansion.
　Shozo Kawasaki founded Kawasaki Dockyard Co., Ltd. on October 15, 1896. The first president was Kojiro Matsukata, the third son of Prime Minister Masayoshi Matsukata. Shozo Kawasaki, the largest shareholder, became his adviser.
　Afterward, while venturing into land management, he also participated in various business ventures. He was also a renowned art collector and opened a private art museum, among other things. He passed away in his home in Nunobiki, Kobe City, on December 2, 1912 when he was 75 years old.

He was born on May 22, 1866 as the third son of Tokinori Tanaka, a retainer to a daimyo, in Mino Province (currently Gifu Prefecture). When he graduated Tokyo Higher Commercial School (currently Hitotsubashi University) in 1890, he taught at his alma mater before being appointed as principal of Hyogo Prefectural Kobe Commercial High School, and then as managing director of Tokio Marine and Fire Insurance.

After the resignation of President Matsukata, he took the position of third president and first chairman of our company for three years, starting in 1933, due to management reconstruction.
Hachisaburo Hirao assumed the position on the condition he didn’t receive remuneration. While overseeing the replacement of executives and requesting orders from the military, he endeavored to reconstruct management by reducing costs, implementing a budget system, and promoting the strengthening and modernization of various management systems.
Hachisaburo Hirao thought rebuilding a company on the brink of bankruptcy first required thorough labor management, so he implemented reforms in various areas, such as employee treatment, welfare benefits, and education. He also concluded that young people must be given hope for the future, so he opened Kawasaki Higashiyama School in April 1936 as an institution for training mid-level skilled workers. The school was based on the 1935 Youth School Order.
And, in order to maintain the health of employees and their families, he constructed a modern comprehensive hospital in Higashiyama-cho, Hyogo-ku, Kobe City, opening the Kawasaki Hospital on January 6, 1936.
After that, he held various positions, including chairman and president of Nippon Steel (now Nippon Steel Corporation), chairman of the Great Japan Industrial Patriotic Association, and he was appointed as Privy Councilor in April 1942. He passed away on November 27, 1945, when he was 79 years old.