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5 Inspiring Japanese Business Stories
Japanese industries are known worldwide for their innovative technology and meticulous adherence to quality. Here I look at some interesting stories behind popular Japanese businesses.
Kihachiro Onitsuka (Asics)
Initially called “Onitsuka Co” the company’s name was later changed to “Asics”. The name was suggested by a war time friend of Kihachiro Onitsuka.
Onitsuka started by making shoes for children from a small office with just four employees. He chose the shoe making business because he strongly believed that sports and athletics were key to a healthy society. Despite his efforts to design shoes that promoted easy movement, he noticed that children wearing Asics shoes still could not move as freely as he envisioned. Determined to improve, he sought feedback and aimed to create basketball shoes that provided a firm grip without hindering players’ fast movements.
After several trials, he finally had his moment of epiphany one day while eating octopus salad. Taking inspiration from the firm grip of octopus suckers, he created shoes with suction cups. This was the “OK Basketball shoe” in the year 1951; a high school team went on to win championship that year wearing…
