History of Innovative Entrepreneurs in Japan, by Takeo Kikkawa

Japan Forward

19-05-2025

Takeo Kikkawa's History of Innovative Entrepreneurs in Japan (Springer, 2023) combines the things I am passionate about: biography, Japan, innovation, and history. Having them all in one makes the book essential reading for me and hopefully for those reading this review.
Kikkawa is a professor of business history at the International University of Japan in Niigata Prefecture. He is also a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo and Hitotsubashi University. In his book, he offers a comprehensive exploration of Japan's entrepreneurial evolution from the 17th century to the present. This open-access volume delves into the lives and innovations of over 20 Japanese entrepreneurs. Significantly, it provides insights into the nation's economic and business history.
Remarkably, this 291-page treatise with 20 case studies is not a collection of essays by different authors. Rather, except for one essay, all are prepared by Kikkawa himself. I can only imagine the years of work and decades of knowledge that went into the timely book.
I write "timely" in that while it is a historical study, Kikkawa seeks as well to understand the "post-bubble stagnation." He notes for his fellow scholars (and readers in general) that "uncovering the true causes of Japan's economic slowdown is an essential task for a business historian in order to explore ways to revive Japan's economy" (p 2).
In other words, it is important to study the past to extrapolate possible lessons for the future.
The book addresses three critical questions: Why did Japan industrialize earlier than other non-Western countries? What factors contributed to its remarkable economic growth between the 1910s and 1980s? Why has the economy stagnated since the 1990s?
Kikkawa attributes early industrialization to a combination of proto-industrial activities and the adoption of Western technologies. The subsequent economic boom is linked to systematic innovations and effective management practices. Conversely, the stagnation period is analyzed through the lens of Japan's struggle to adapt to disruptive innovations emerging globally.
Kikkawa organizes the book into three distinct periods.
The first part, entitled "The Era of Breakthrough Innovations," covers two sub-periods — the Edo Period and the Meiji Period. (See the section titled "From Port Opening to Post Russo-Japanese War.") It examines early industrialization efforts, discussing in detail, many for the first time in any detail in English, the following figures: Zenemon Konoike, Takatoshi Mitsui, Genzaemon Nakai, Hikojiro Nakamigawa, Yataro and Yanosuke Iwasaki, Zenjiro Yasuda and Soichiro Asano, and Eiichi Shibusawa. Each laid, respectively, the groundwork for Japan's economic transformation. The new 10,000 yen bill features a hologram of Eiichi Shibusawa's face. (©Kyodo)
As with the other parts, Part 1 includes "Overviews" at the beginning of the sub-periods and a "Discussion Point," which draws comparisons of the entrepreneurs covered and their interactions, at the end. In this particular part, Kikkawa includes Japan as a "latecomer nation" to industrialization (p 85).
This reviewer has chosen not to include the name of the company these men are identified with because, in some cases, they have created multiple companies and/or are known for so many contributions to business and society as a whole. Instead, I encourage readers to pick up the Open Access book and read for themselves. Some of the family names, of course, will be instantly recognizable.
Part II, "The Era of Incremental Innovation," covers the time from World War I to the 1980s. This is an unusual but interesting way to look at the 20th century. While it may be viewed as an example of "rise and fall" or "rise and fall" twice over, Kikkawa is more concerned with the technological progress made and the effects of incremental innovations on long-term growth (p 216) over the 80 decades covered.
In this period, more well-known, yet still historic, names are introduced: Ichizo Kobayashi, Yasuzaemon Matsunaga, Saburosuke Suzuki II, Kiichiro Toyoda, Shitagau Noguchi and Yoshikawa Aikawa, Sazo Idemitsu, Yataro Nishiyama, Konosuke Matsushita, Masaru Ibuka, Akio Morita, Soichiro Honda, Takeo Fujisawa, and Toshio Doko. These men contributed to high economic growth, enormous technological innovation, and rapid and deep global expansion. Tadashi Yanai, Chairman and CEO of Fast Retailing, on August 1, 2024.
Finally, the third part looks at the period since the 1990s. Entitled "The Era of Struggle: Japan Caught Between Two Types of Innovation," it looks at how Japanese-style management turned "dysfunctional" (p 222). In this shorter chapter, he looks at four modern entrepreneurs, most of whom are household names. They are the late Kazuo Inamori, Toshifumi Suzuki, Tadashi Yanai, and Masayoshi Son.
Addressing the economic stagnation known as the "Lost Decades," Kikkawa analyzes the challenges faced by these modern entrepreneurs in adapting to global competition and bringing about disruptive innovations.
The book ends with a concluding chapter providing a summary of its content. It includes a discussion on "Ways to Revive Innovation." In it, Kikkawa calls on Japanese companies to "confront breakthrough innovation from developed countries and disruptive innovation from less developed countries and regions" (p 263). Chairman and President Masayoshi Son nominates shareholders during a Q&A session at the SoftBank Group's shareholders' meeting in Tokyo. (Screenshot via video)
No matter one's interest or industry, this book will provide key insights. Its main strengths include the depth of the author's knowledge, the comparative discussion, and the detailed case studies. The case studies provide concrete examples of entrepreneurial innovation across different eras.
While the book provides extensive coverage of major entrepreneurs, it could benefit from a deeper examination of lesser-known figures and regional enterprises that also contributed to Japan's economic development. Additionally, more comparative analysis with entrepreneurs from other countries could offer a broader context.
With this said, History of Innovative Entrepreneurs in Japan is a must-read and hopefully will give birth to future innovators, too. (Book cover)
Title: History of Innovative Entrepreneurs in Japan
Publisher: Springer Nature
Author: Takeo Kikkawa
Translators: Two translators brought this book to the English-reading world: MS Murphy and Kazuya Hirai
ISBN: 978-981-19-9453-1 (hardcover), 978-981-19-9456-2 (softcover), and 978-981-19-9454-8 (E-book)
Get the Book: This book is Open Access. Anyone can download it from the publisher for free. (Hardback and softback versions are also available for sale.)
Reviewed by: Robert D Eldridge, PhD
Dr Eldridge is a former political advisor to the US Marine Corps in Japan and author of numerous books on Japanese political and diplomatic history. He was a 2024 Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fellow at Tamkang University and is a consultant on a broad spectrum of Japan-related matters.