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| “I am here to announce that I will take over leadership
of Mitsubishi and do my best to expand our shipping business. I will strive to
fulfill the long-cherished desire of my deceased brother with his same indomitable
spirit.” With these words, Yanosuke Iwasaki, the younger brother of founder
Yataro Iwasaki, became Mitsubishi’s second president in 1885. Sixteen years
junior to his brother, Yanosuke Iwasaki previously spent a brief period in the
U.S. where he studied and learned about American culture and customs, an experience
that would influence his actions throughout his lifetime. His international education,
however, was cut short by his father’s untimely death in 1873 and the young
Iwasaki returned to Japan, where he stepped into his brother’s role as
the administrative leader and became the driving force of a new and prosperous
Japanese company. |
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| One of the achievements for which
founder Yataro Iwasaki deserves credit is his efforts to diversify the company’s
holdings early in its history, namely with the purchase of the Takashima Coal
Mine, in 1881. The previous owner had acquired the mine from the Japanese government,
and owing to poor management and a lack of expertise in the mining business,
ran the company into disarray. On the advice of young Yanosuke Iwasaki, Yataro
Iwasaki purchased the company. Under new management, the mine later emerged as
a profitable enterprise, as new mining technology was introduced. Through his
early experiences researching the mining business for his older brother, Yanosuke
Iwasaki became Mitsubishi’s expert in mining, later acquiring mines for
the company in Chikuho and Karatsu as well as in Nagasaki. |
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During Japan’s Edo period,
many clans had mansions in the Marunouchi district surrounding Edo Castle. Following
the Meiji Restoration, the area became government property and was transformed
into military barracks, drill fields and other military facilities for the Imperial
Palace Guards.
The army made a plan to construct barracks
of bricks at Azabu. The government attempted to raise money for the plan by selling
the land lots at Marunouchi, an area of about 135 thousand tsubo (about 413 thousand
㎡). When calling for bids among the predominant company syndicates of the time,
tender prices were found far smaller than that anticipated by the government.
Therefore, in order for the government to
rebuild its military installations, then Finance Minister Masayoshi Matsukata,
facing insufficient government funding for the effort, asked Yanosuke Iwasaki
to purchase the property. The young Iwasaki was brimming with ambition to establish
a business district reminiscent of those in cities he had visited abroad, and
with Mitsubishi’s purchase of Marunouchi, yet another era for the growing
company had begun. |
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| With the enactment of Japan’s
commercial code in 1893, Mitsubishi was restructured and renamed Mitsubishi Goshi
Kaisha. Fulfilling a promise to his older brother, Mitsubishi’s founder,
Yanosuke Iwasaki then stepped down as president in favor of his nephew, Hisaya,
turning over the reigns of power |
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and leadership to the next generation.
He continued to be involved in the activities of the growing company in a supervisory
role and continued to maintain an instrumental role in the management of the
Company. At this time in Mitsubishi’s history, Yanosuke Iwasaki was 42
years old, and Hisaya Iwasaki only 28.
Yanosuke Iwasaki went on to become Governor
of the Bank of Japan three years after retiring from Mitsubishi, an appointment
he received from then Prime Minister Masayoshi Matsukata. In 1896, as the Governor,
he established the gold standard system and a collaborative framework with Yokohama
Shokin Bank, Ltd., the predecessor to today’s The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi
UFJ, Ltd., a full-fledged foreign exchange bank. This decision demonstrated the
elder Iwasaki’s visionary understanding of things to come in Japan’s
banking industry.
Yanosuke Iwasaki established the Seikado
Bunko Library with books that he had collected from his former teacher, scholar
Yasutsugu Shigeno. Iwasaki was an avid collector of Oriental art and cultural
artifacts during the Meiji Restoration, a time when things oriental were being
cast aside for anything western. A true visionary, Iwasaki understood the value
in preserving the heritage of his culture and country. During his lifetime, Koyata
Iwasaki also continued to collect items for the library, following his father’s
example. |
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