Iwasaki Yataro

Yatarō Iwasaki (岩崎弥太郎, Iwasaki Yatarō^?, January 9, 1835 - February 7, 1885), was a Japanese businessman, son of a samurai family, who played an important role in the industrialization of Japan. He is known for being the founder of Mitsubishi.

Biography

Yatarō Iwasaki was born in 1835, in the province of Tosa. As a young man he left his hometown for Osaka, where he made a name for himself as a rice trader. In 1860, he traveled to Nagasaki where he met Western merchants.

Mitsubishi

In 1870, Iwasaki leased three obsolete ships and with them established the Three Diamond Steam Mail Company (三菱グループ, Mitsubishi^?). He quickly turned it into the largest shipping company in Japan. He expanded his activities to shipbuilding, metal and coal mines.

When the government of Japan was planning to unify the Japanese currency, Yataro heard that the central government was going to buy the currencies of each local government. In this way, he bought many local coins and sold them to the central government. He made a fortune in this activity, even though it was what is known today as insider trading.

Later, Mitsubishi turned to military transportation. As he received numerous requests from the government, Yataro said "where the government is, Mitsubishi can be." But sometimes they criticized him for his business monopoly.

In 1882, he started a new transportation company. They competed for more or less 2 years, transportation prices dropped to a tenth of the first price. Also around this time, some foreign companies gained access to the Japanese market, so Mitsubishi competed against them as well. In the end, Yataro devised a system to finance another company using the ships as collateral and won the competition against other companies. This business was the beginning of what would later be the Bank of Mitsubishi.

Legacy

After his death in 1885, his brother and son inherited his business. Since then, Mitsubishi has expanded to all sectors of the economy such as heavy industry, oil refineries, chemicals, aircraft factories, banks, insurance. But it is world renowned for the manufacture of cars, trucks and buses.