Nissui - Company History

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Financial history 1954–2026 — revenue, cost structure, balance sheet, cash flow and key ratios, year by year →

Founded 1911
Founder Tamura Ichiro (田村市郎)
Founding location 山口県下関市
Core business at founding Steam trawling
Listed 1949
President & CEO Tanaka Teru President & CEO since 2025 (age 61, as of 2026)
Current priority Overseas expansion · Capacity investment Raising aquaculture output and strengthening seafood processing in Europe and North America
Founding
In May 1911 Tamura Ichiro 田村市郎 founded Tamura Kisen Gyogyobu at Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Steam trawling was one of the businesses subsidised under the Distant-Water Fisheries Encouragement Act of 1897, and Tamura, a son of Kuhara Shozaburo, put his inheritance into it, building at the Sakurajima works of Osaka Iron Works the Daiichi Maru (199 gross tons), the first steel steam trawler built in Japan. He was beaten to it by six months by Kuraba Tomisaburo of Nagasaki, who had brought in a British-built trawler in 1908, and the Daiichi Maru's trial fishing fell short of what had been hoped for. Reading the gap as one of design and fishing method, Tamura sent Kunishi Kosuke to Britain, and founded the company in the month the Minato Maru he ordered there arrived. In 1919 it acquired most of the shares of Kyodo Gyogyo and absorbed Nihon Trawl, and in 1930 it moved its base to Tobata and became the largest capitalised fishing company in Japan. After passing through the Japan Marine Fisheries Control Company in 1943, it changed its name to Nippon Suisan in December 1945.
The Decision
Long after its peers had withdrawn from catching fish, the company went on concentrating capital in fishing vessels, and the turn away took twenty years. In September 1983 the large trawler Echizen Maru (2,800 gross tons) was launched at Innoshima in Hiroshima Prefecture. She cost about $12.6M (¥3bn), and the decision to keep concentrating capital in catching even as the fishing grounds were halved ran to four newbuildings and some $50.5M (¥12bn) from 1980 onwards. Revenue at the time was 16 per cent own catch, 54 per cent trading and 29 per cent processing, and yet almost all of the profit came out of the catching division. The exclusion from foreign waters advanced faster than had been assumed: in the year to March 1990 the company posted a recurring loss of $1.8M (¥260m), its first since listing, and cut its trawlers from fourteen to eight. It moved over to the selling side in August 2001, acquiring the leading frozen-seafood brand in the United States for US$175m. The brand it bought, though, piled up as goodwill and brought a different fragility with it — a net loss of $173.2M (¥16bn) in the year to March 2009.
Today
Inside the marine business, catching has been replaced by aquaculture and by processing overseas. Consolidated revenue for the year to March 2026 was $5.9B (¥931bn) and operating profit $255.4M (¥40bn). Foods is the largest at $3.2B (¥501bn) of revenue and $187.2M (¥30bn) of profit, followed by Marine Products at $2.4B (¥380bn) and $112.5M (¥18bn), and Fine Chemicals, which handles EPA, at $107.5M (¥17bn) and $5.1M (¥800m). By region Europe at $1.1B (¥182bn) and North America at $1.1B (¥181bn) stand side by side, roughly twice their level in the year to March 2018. In 2022 the company rebuilt an earnings structure that had depended on catching, and left pharmaceuticals by selling Nissui Pharmaceutical to Shimadzu. In January 2026 it took full ownership of Pesquera Yadran of Chile for US$133m, and it is widening domestic salmon farming from about 3,000 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes. The capital it concentrated in fishing vessels in 1983 now goes to fish farms and to processing sites abroad.
Competition
The contest is not in Japan's fish markets but in the frozen cases of supermarkets in Europe and North America. At home Umios, which drew together everything from wholesaling at the fish market to foodservice ingredients, was formed in 2007 when it made Nichiro a wholly owned subsidiary, and its consolidated revenue of $7.0B (¥1.11tn) in the year to March 2026 is above Nissui's $5.9B (¥931bn). What Nissui chose was not scale in distribution but shelf space in the consuming markets. After Gorton's in 2001 it took in the foodservice supplier King & Prince Seafood in 2005, Nordic Seafood of Denmark in 2006 and Cité Marine of France in 2007, until European revenue of $1.1B (¥182bn) came to exceed North America's $1.1B (¥181bn). Against peers that sell their raw material through at home, placing processing and selling in the consuming markets is what produced the present revenue mix, with more than four-tenths earned overseas.

Timeline

1911–1945From British-model trawlers and Kuhara money to Japan's largest fishing company under Nissan

  1. 1911Tamura Ichiro founds Tamura Kisen Gyogyobu at Shimonoseki
  2. 1914Kyodo Gyogyo founded with ¥2m capital and twenty-five trawlers
  3. 1919Tamura merges Nihon Trawl into Kyodo Gyogyo, capital ¥5m
  4. 1920Hayatomo Fisheries Research Society set up as Japan's first private marine institute
  5. 1930Fishing base moved from Shimonoseki to Tobata
  6. 1934Kyodo Gyogyo merged into Nihon Sangyo of the Nissan combine
  7. 1937Renamed Nippon Suisan after merging Nihon Shokuryo Kogyo
  8. 1938Factory-ship fishmeal business Shinko Suisan merged
  9. 1943Nippon Kaiyo Gyogyo Tosei established under the Fisheries Control Ordinance
  10. 1945Ordinance repealed and the name Nippon Suisan restored

1946–1976Post-war hunger and the reopening of the northern seas and the Antarctic

  1. 1946Antarctic whaling becomes possible and recovery begins with whales
  2. 1949Shares listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in May
  3. 1952Full-scale fish sausage production begins at the Tobata plant
  4. 1952Fishing in the northern seas resumes with one salmon-and-trout fleet
  5. 1953Factory-ship crab fishing resumes in Bristol Bay, Alaska
  6. 1955Hokoku Suisan becomes a subsidiary
  7. 1959The five-year restructuring programme begins in April
  8. 1961Hachioji integrated plant completed
  9. 1962Nissan Kenkyusho renamed Nissui Pharmaceutical
  10. 1967Full-scale production of at-sea Alaska pollock surimi begins
  11. 1974Joint venture Nippon Suisan (U.S.A.) established
  12. 1974Joint venture UniSea Inc. established

1977–2000Fishing investment that carried on after the 200-mile limit halved the grounds

  1. 1977The United States 200-mile zone takes effect on 1 March
  2. 1978Chilean joint venture Empresa de Desarrollo Pesquero de Chile established
  3. 1981Argentine joint venture Explotación Pesquera de la Patagonia established
  4. 1982Sale of an EPA dietary supplement begins
  5. 1982Manufacture and sale of pharmaceuticals added to the objects clause
  6. 1983The large trawler Echizen Maru is launched
  7. 1988Chilean salmon farmer Salmones Antártica acquired
  8. 1990First recurring loss since listing; the trawler fleet is cut from fourteen to eight
  9. 1990Nissui Pharmaceutical listed on the second section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange
  10. 1994Oita Marine Research Centre completed
  11. 1994Himeji integrated plant completed
  12. 1998Nihon Cookery established

2001–2026From a North American brand through the weight of goodwill to a name without the sea in it

  1. 2001Stake taken in Sealord Group of New Zealand
  2. 2001Gorton's and BlueWater retail frozen seafood businesses bought for US$175m
  3. 2004Kurose Suisan becomes a subsidiary and yellowtail farming begins
  4. 2005North American foodservice company King & Prince Seafood acquired
  5. 2009A consolidated net loss follows the Lehman shock
  6. 2011Tokyo Innovation Centre completed
  7. 2013Yumigahama Suisan established
  8. 2014Head office relocated
  9. 2017Matono Akiyo becomes president
  10. 2020Hamada Shingo becomes president
  11. 2022All shares in Nissui Pharmaceutical sold to Shimadzu
  12. 2022The corporate name is changed to Nissui in December
  13. 2024Tanaka Teru becomes president

Founding Story

1911–1945From British-model trawlers and Kuhara money to Japan's largest fishing company under Nissan

The company that became Nissui began as one man's wager that Japan could fish the way Britain did, and it took twenty-three years for that private venture to be absorbed into a zaibatsu. Between the founding of Tamura Kisen Gyogyobu at Shimonoseki in 1911 and the end of the Pacific War it grew by merger — into Kyodo Gyogyo, into the fisheries arm of Nihon Sangyo, into a Nippon Suisan holding some 60 per cent of the national industry — and then lost, in three years of war, seven-tenths of its hulls and more than eight-tenths of its tonnage, keeping its licences and its knowledge of the grounds but not the ships to use them.

Capital-intensive fishing, begun with the first steel trawler built in Japan

In 1897 the Meiji government promulgated the Distant-Water Fisheries Encouragement Law, subsidising vessels, gear and crews to push the industry from the coast towards offshore and distant-water grounds[1]. Steam trawling was the new technology that rode that encouragement. When the steel steam trawler Fukae Maru, bought from Britain in 1908 by Kuraba Tomisaburo (倉場富三郎) of Nagasaki[2], produced good results[3], Tamura Ichiro (田村市郎) — a son of Kuhara Shozaburo (久原庄三郎)[4] — had the first domestically built steel steam trawler, the 199-gross-ton Daiichi Maru[5], constructed at the Sakurajima works of Osaka Iron Works[6]. Her trial operations in the Seto Inland Sea fell short of what had been hoped for[7]; Tamura judged the gap to lie in immature design and fishing method, and in July 1910 sent Kunishi Kosuke (国司浩助) to Britain as construction supervisor[8]. The 188.84-gross-ton vessel Kunishi ordered from Smith's Dock was completed in March 1911[9]; named Minato Maru, he sailed aboard her himself and brought her out to Japan in a little over two months[10]. With her arrival, in May 1911 Tamura established Tamura Kisen Gyogyobu at Shimonoseki[11] and, with Kunishi in charge, went into the trawling business[12].

The trawling fleet swelled to 139 vessels by 1912, supply of fish outran demand and the operators' finances deteriorated[13]. To deal with the distress the firms combined: in 1914 Kyodo Gyogyo was founded with capital of ¥2 million and twenty-five trawlers[14]. When the First World War broke out the operators sold their vessels at high prices to European countries for minesweeping and submarine lookout duty, and by 1917 only seven steam trawlers were left in Japan[15]. Kyodo Gyogyo too made unexpected profits from selling ships and paid a 140 per cent dividend in 1917[16], but the business shrank and in 1918 its capital was written down to ¥300,000[17]. Tamura acquired most of the shares of this shrunken Kyodo Gyogyo and in 1919 merged into it Nihon Trawl, which he had been running himself, making Kyodo Gyogyo a company of ¥5 million capital[18]. In February 1920, on Kunishi's proposal, the Hayatomo Fisheries Research Society was set up at Shimonoseki as Japan's first private fisheries research institute[19], charged with introducing diesel trawlers and developing on-board quick-freezing equipment[20].

From the Taisho era into the early Showa years Kyodo Gyogyo widened its organisation, absorbing or bringing under its wing companies engaged in teguri danish-seine fishing, freezing and cold storage, wholesaling, land transport and box-making[21]. In November 1929 it announced that it would move its fishing base from Shimonoseki to Tobata[22], completed the move in 1930[23], and became the largest capital-intensive fishing operator in the country[24]. Scale did not translate directly into earnings: profit peaked at ¥1.11 million in the second half of 1930 and fell to ¥820,000 in the second half of 1931[25], a drop of more than 20 per cent under the Showa Depression. Capital was raised from ¥5.74 million in 1926 to ¥15 million in June 1933[26] and the number of shareholders grew from 447 in 1927 to 1,354[27], but profit marked time at ¥860,000 to ¥950,000 from 1932 through the first half of 1934[28].

Mergers under the Nissan combine, and the end of Tamura family management

At Kuhara Mining in 1926 the president Kuhara Fusanosuke (久原房之助), a younger brother of Tamura Ichiro[29], signalled his intention to resign in order to move into politics, and Aikawa Yoshisuke (鮎川義介) was brought in as his successor[30]. In 1928 Aikawa reorganised Kuhara Mining into a holding company, renamed it Nihon Sangyo[31] and built it into the Nissan combine. At Kyodo Gyogyo president Matsuzaki (松崎) stepped down in 1933, Aikawa becoming chairman and Tamura Keizo (田村啓三) president[32]. The following year the head office was moved from Kobe to Tokyo and Kyodo Gyogyo was merged into Nihon Sangyo[33]. In June 1934 Nihon Sangyo set up a fisheries department to govern its affiliated fishing companies[34] and had the trawling division transferred to the associated firm Hoyo Gyogyo, which raised its capital to ¥10 million and in July renamed itself Kyodo Gyogyo[35]. The company Tamura Ichiro had founded on his own account had become, twenty-three years after its founding, the fisheries division of a zaibatsu[36].

In May 1934 Nihon Sangyo established Nihon Hogei with capital of ¥20 million for Antarctic whaling[37], buying the whaling factory ship Antarctic and renaming her Tonan Maru[38]. Norway and Britain had gone ahead in the Antarctic[39], and Japan needed to extend its own presence before an international agreement was concluded. Nihon Sangyo also pressed on with consolidating the fishing companies: in September 1936 it merged into Kyodo Gyogyo both Nihon Godo Kosen, which held a near-monopoly of factory-ship crab fishing in the northern seas, and Nihon Hogei[40]. In January 1937 Kyodo Gyogyo took over the entire business of the former Chuo Suisan Hanbaijo[41], and in March that year merged Nihon Shokuryo Kogyo — an ice-making, freezing, cold-storage and canning business — bringing capital to ¥91.5 million and changing its name to Nippon Suisan[42]. As a result it held 61 of the 70 licensed trawlers[43], three Antarctic whaling fleets led by the Tonan Maru, twelve crab factory ships and some 300 ice-making and freezing plants[44], amounting to about 60 per cent of the national industry[45]. In September 1938 it merged the factory-ship fishmeal business Shinko Suisan, taking capital to ¥93 million[46].

With the 1937 change of name Nippon Suisan became a company of four divisions: alongside capital-intensive fishing — trawling, west-of-Japan bottom trawling, factory-ship crab fishing, factory-ship whaling and coastal whaling[47] — it had ice-making, freezing and cold storage together with marine processing; the sale of marine products; and investment related to all of these[48]. By 1940 it had 27 directors[49] and 13,227 employees, 6,100 ashore and 7,100 at sea, owned 237 vessels of 144,000 gross tons[50], and operated not only in Japan proper but throughout Korea, Taiwan and China[51]. Its investee companies had grown from ten in 1927 to 157[52] — thirteen in fishing, fifty-nine in ice and cold storage, forty-five in sales, nine in processing and thirty-one others[53]. Shareholders fell from 32,893 in January 1937 to 26,064 in January 1938[54].

The Fisheries Control Ordinance carves out a fishing-only company, and the fleet is destroyed

The Sino-Japanese War had little effect and business stayed strong[55], but in March 1943, under the Fisheries Control Ordinance, Nippon Kaiyo Gyogyo Tosei was established around Nippon Suisan's fishing division[56]. The ice-making, freezing, cold-storage and sales divisions were transferred to Teikoku Suisan Tosei, which became the post-war Nippon Reizo and is today Nichirei[57]. Nippon Kaiyo Gyogyo Tosei restarted as a purely fishing company with capital of ¥94,262,000[58], with Ueki Kenkichi (植木憲吉) as president[59]. The ordinance separated the business of going out and catching fish from the business of chilling and selling what had been caught into different companies[60], and Nippon Suisan was written into the war economy as a firm that did only the former.

As the Pacific War intensified, the requisitioning and sinking of vessels, the call-up of employees and shortages of materials together pushed production down[61], and when the distant-water fishing grounds became battlefields and the air raids on the home islands grew heavy, production collapsed[62]. A fleet that at its peak had numbered 257 vessels of about 136,000 tons stood at 75 vessels of about 20,000 tons at the end of the war[63] — a loss of 70 per cent of the hulls and more than 80 per cent of the tonnage[64]. The whaling factory ship Dai-ni Tonan Maru was sunk in the South China Sea in August 1944[65], and not one of the 55 trawlers, among them the Kasado Maru, the Ryokai Maru and the Suruga Maru, came back[66]. At least 681 employees are known to have died in the war[67]. Nippon Suisan came to the end of the war with its fishing licences and its knowledge of the grounds intact and the means of using them — the ships — gone[68].

In December 1945, with the repeal of the Fisheries Control Ordinance, the company reverted to a joint-stock company under the Commercial Code and took back the name Nippon Suisan[69]. In the same month it was designated a restricted company; in August 1946 a special accounting company[70]; and in February 1948 a target of the Law for the Elimination of Excessive Concentration of Economic Power[71]. The MacArthur Line limited the fishing zones and management was extremely difficult[72]. The Nissan-affiliated shareholding structure that had concentrated the shares before the war was broken up in the dissolution of the zaibatsu[73], and the founding Tamura family did not return to management. Suzuki Kyuhei (鈴木九平), who became representative director in June 1949 in succession to Masui Susumu (増井進), took the presidency in June 1950[74] — a manager from neither the founding family nor the zaibatsu now led the company.

1946–1976Post-war hunger and the reopening of the northern seas and the Antarctic

Rebuilding began with whales, because whale meat was protein and protein was what a hungry country lacked. Over the next three decades Nippon Suisan raised its capital again and again to put hulls back in the water, met the shock of the 1956 Soviet salmon regulations with a five-year restructuring programme, and doubled its tonnage twice over, sales rising from $80.3M (¥29bn) in the 1959 financial year to $195M (¥70bn) in 1968. Every recovery, though, was bought at sea, and the habit of sending capital back to the ships hardened in these years into the company's way of managing.

Recovery begun with whaling, and a fleet restored on repeated rights issues

In the years immediately after the war, securing a source of protein to make up the shortfall in the national food supply was treated as vital[75], and in August 1946 Antarctic whaling became possible[76]. Nippon Suisan's own recovery likewise began with whaling[77]. In March 1949 it raised its capital to $972,222 (¥350m), and in December of the same year doubled it again to $1.9M (¥700m)[78], applying the money to restoring vessels of every kind, whaling ships first among them, and to rebuilding its installations. In May 1949 its shares were listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange[79]. With the peace treaty in force the various restrictions were gradually eased, ships and installations were restored one after another[80], and in 1952 fishing in the northern seas resumed with one salmon-and-trout fleet putting to sea[81].

In 1953 factory-ship crab fishing resumed in Bristol Bay, Alaska[82], and in June of that year capital was raised to $3.9M (¥1bn) to fund the building of the 10,000-ton-class refrigerated vessel Miyajima Maru[83]. In October 1952 full-scale production of fish sausage had begun at the Tobata plant[84], giving the company a product that spread through households as a cheap animal protein. When two crab fleets and two salmon-and-trout fleets were authorised for the northern seas in 1955 the fleet grew to 114 vessels of about 100,000 tons[85], and to fund them capital was raised to $7.8M (¥3bn) in February that year[86]. Total sales for the year to March 1955 were $17.1M (¥6bn)[87], from a business that by then combined Antarctic whaling, coastal whaling, southern tuna fishing, west-of-Japan trawling and bottom trawling and northern-seas fishing with a shipping operation of four large tankers and with canning, ice-making, freezing and cold storage[88].

Post-war fisheries raised their catch as fishing in the northern seas resumed, and from 1952 the catch rose steeply[89]. The population had grown from 56 million before the war to 89 million[90], and latent demand remained in fish consumption per head[91]. Constrained grounds and the loss of operating bases pushed the industry towards factory-ship fishing, in which a large mother ship processed and packed what many catcher boats brought to her[92] — the feature that defined fisheries management in this period. Wider fishing zones and more fleets in the northern grounds raised catches, the results of the participating companies improved sharply[93], and earnings from the northern seas governed each firm's performance[94]. Coastal stocks were being exhausted, but it was thought that fisheries still had room to grow if the industry put its strength into distant water and made fuller use of what it caught, and that canned exports could be increased as well[95].

The shock of the Japan–Soviet talks and the five-year restructuring programme

In April 1956 the Soviet Ministry of Fisheries announced its regulations for salmon fishing in the northern seas[96]; by requiring a permit to put to sea they amounted in effect to a ban, and they shook the industry[97]. The Japan–Soviet fisheries talks were settled in May of that year, but three of the seven fleets in the second wave could not sail[98], and opinion in the industry hardened that the time had come to reconsider how distant-water fishing was done[99]. By the autumn of 1959, with salmon and trout in the northern seas well down and no advance in prospect in Antarctic whaling, Nippon Suisan shares were said to have nothing to recommend them[100], and fisheries itself was seen as a declining industry[101]. The company put some $8.3M (¥3bn) of capital expenditure into canneries and other shore installations in the 1959 and 1960 financial years[102], but the results were taken to be two years away.

The five-year restructuring programme was drawn up in October 1958 by Nakai Haruo (中井春雄), then executive managing director[103]. It came in the middle of the pot-bottom recession[104], at a time when the industry was gripped by a feeling that Japanese fisheries might simply disappear as a result of the Japan–Soviet fisheries talks begun in 1957[105]. The programme set three pillars — to open new fishing grounds on the base of fishing itself[106]; to pursue advanced processing of fish and the modernisation of sales as diets became both simpler and more sophisticated; and to move into shipping in line with national policy[107] — and to run the business comprehensively within those three alone. In carrying it out the dividend was cut at a stroke to 6 per cent[108], a series of small 6 per cent bonus issues was pushed through, and the directors took a 20 per cent cut in pay[109].

The five-year programme ran from April 1959 to March 1964[110]. Capital expenditure over the period reached $64.7M (¥23bn) in the sea-going division, $30.8M (¥11bn) on shore and $17.5M (¥6bn) in subsidiaries — $113.1M (¥41bn) in all[111] — while depreciation, including on existing assets, came to $60.3M (¥22bn)[112]. Owned tonnage doubled from 140,000 to 290,000 gross tons[113]; ashore, cold stores holding 50,000 tons, ham and sausage plants producing 40,000 tons a year and canneries producing three million cases a year were placed across six regional blocks[114]. Employees grew from 6,000 to 10,000[115], sales rose from $80.3M (¥29bn) in the 1959 financial year to $153.3M (¥55bn) in 1964, and profit from $1.5M (¥550m) to $5M (¥2bn)[116]. Borrowings also swelled from $39.7M (¥14bn) to $94.7M (¥34bn), and the equity ratio fell to 22 per cent[117]. In June 1961 the Hachioji integrated plant was completed, marking full-scale entry into shore-based processing[118].

Deep-sea grounds, overseas trawling, and capital that went back to the sea

In 1965, invited to a session of the Securities Analysts Association, president Nakai Haruo said he could not call the outlook for the fishing industry bright[119]. International regulation was cutting the Antarctic whaling quota from 4,500 whales in the 1965 season to around 3,000 the next[120], and Bristol Bay crab had been reduced in talks with the United States from 235,000 cases the previous season to 185,000[121]. The way out he named was the development of deep-sea grounds: for eleven years the company had been working as a business on bottom trawling that extended grounds from the customary depth of about 100 metres down to between 500 and 1,000 metres[122], and six years earlier it had opened 5,000 miles of grounds along the Atlantic coast of Africa[123]. The other pillar, overseas trawling, was thought promising precisely because it lay outside international regulation[124]. While heading beyond the regulated zones the company also widened the uses of what it caught: when Nishitani Kyosuke (西谷喬助) of the Hokkaido Fisheries Experiment Station found a way of making surimi that did not lose its elasticity on freezing[125], the company began full-scale production of at-sea Alaska pollock surimi in 1967[126].

Over the four years from 1965 to 1968 the company doubled its capital expenditure to $68.1M (¥25bn)[127], 85 per cent of it at sea and 15 per cent ashore, and took $49.7M (¥18bn) of depreciation[128]. It was the result of a sharp turn in the investment plan by president Nakai, who after seeing cost inflation at first hand in Europe in 1965 judged that Japan would go the same way unless ships were built and productivity raised as soon as possible[129]. Owned tonnage rose from 292,000 to 396,000 gross tons[130], and the catch including affiliates from 530,000 to 790,000 tons in raw-fish equivalent[131]. Sales grew from $138.9M (¥50bn) in the 1964 financial year to $195M (¥70bn) in 1968, and recurring profit from $5.6M (¥2bn) to $8.6M (¥3bn)[132]. Subsidiaries were reduced from 42 to 37[133], and a net loss of $3.3M (¥1bn) in the 1964 financial year turned into a profit of $3.9M (¥1bn) in 1968[134].

Part of the reason capital sent ashore bore no fruit lay at the consuming end: retail prices of fresh and frozen fish ran at two to three times the producer's wholesale price[135], and a distribution chain crowded with small wholesalers and retailers made for high prices[136]. In the 1968 financial year the company and its affiliates caught 800,000 tons, of which 300,000 tons were sold as frozen fish at an average of more than $278 (¥100,000) a ton[137], but at retail this became $166.7M (¥60bn) to $222.2M (¥80bn)[138]. The company obtained $55,556 (¥20m) of government funding to found the Japan Frozen Food Association and invited electrical-appliance and dairy makers to take part as well[139]. Even so, when the mass retailers rose in the second half of the 1960s, president Nakai and his board, mindful of the effect on their appointed distributors, went no further than reinforcing the existing system; it was 1971 before they moved to change the distribution structure[140].

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Notes

  1. 日本産業史 第1巻 水産・農林 (A History of Japanese Industry, vol. 1: Fisheries, Agriculture and Forestry), “Fisheries — beyond the rough seas to distant waters”↩
  2. 日本産業史 第1巻 水産・農林 (A History of Japanese Industry, vol. 1: Fisheries, Agriculture and Forestry), “Fisheries — beyond the rough seas to distant waters”↩
  3. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 2, “The rise of modern fisheries — the founding of Tamura Kisen Gyogyobu”↩
  4. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 2, “The rise of modern fisheries — the founding of Tamura Kisen Gyogyobu”↩
  5. 日本産業史 第1巻 水産・農林 (A History of Japanese Industry, vol. 1: Fisheries, Agriculture and Forestry), “Fisheries — beyond the rough seas to distant waters”↩
  6. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 2, “The rise of modern fisheries — the founding of Tamura Kisen Gyogyobu”↩
  7. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 2, “The rise of modern fisheries — the founding of Tamura Kisen Gyogyobu”↩
  8. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 2, “The rise of modern fisheries — the founding of Tamura Kisen Gyogyobu”↩
  9. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 2, “The rise of modern fisheries — the founding of Tamura Kisen Gyogyobu”↩
  10. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 2, “The rise of modern fisheries — the founding of Tamura Kisen Gyogyobu”↩
  11. Nissui, securities report, corporate history section↩
  12. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 2, “The rise of modern fisheries — the founding of Tamura Kisen Gyogyobu”↩
  13. 日本産業史 第1巻 水産・農林 (A History of Japanese Industry, vol. 1: Fisheries, Agriculture and Forestry), “Fisheries — beyond the rough seas to distant waters”↩
  14. 日本産業史 第1巻 水産・農林 (A History of Japanese Industry, vol. 1: Fisheries, Agriculture and Forestry), “Fisheries — beyond the rough seas to distant waters”↩
  15. 日本産業史 第1巻 水産・農林 (A History of Japanese Industry, vol. 1: Fisheries, Agriculture and Forestry), “Fisheries — beyond the rough seas to distant waters”↩
  16. 日本産業史 第1巻 水産・農林 (A History of Japanese Industry, vol. 1: Fisheries, Agriculture and Forestry), “Fisheries — beyond the rough seas to distant waters”↩
  17. 日本産業史 第1巻 水産・農林 (A History of Japanese Industry, vol. 1: Fisheries, Agriculture and Forestry), “Fisheries — beyond the rough seas to distant waters”↩
  18. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  19. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 3, “Industrial expansion and technical innovation — the growth of Kyodo Gyogyo”↩
  20. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 3, “Industrial expansion and technical innovation — the growth of Kyodo Gyogyo”↩
  21. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  22. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 3, “Industrial expansion and technical innovation — the growth of Kyodo Gyogyo”↩
  23. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 3, “Industrial expansion and technical innovation — the growth of Kyodo Gyogyo”↩
  24. Nissui, securities report, corporate history section↩
  25. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  26. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  27. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  28. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  29. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 2, “The rise of modern fisheries — the founding of Tamura Kisen Gyogyobu”↩
  30. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  31. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  32. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  33. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  34. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  35. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  36. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  37. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 4, “The new zaibatsu and the fishing industry — Nihon Sangyo and Nippon Suisan”↩
  38. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 4, “The new zaibatsu and the fishing industry — Nihon Sangyo and Nippon Suisan”↩
  39. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 1 ch. 4, “The new zaibatsu and the fishing industry — Nihon Sangyo and Nippon Suisan”↩
  40. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  41. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  42. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  43. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  44. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  45. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  46. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  47. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  48. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  49. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  50. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  51. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  52. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  53. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  54. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  55. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  56. Nissui, securities report, corporate history section↩
  57. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  58. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  59. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  60. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  61. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  62. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  63. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  64. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  65. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 2 ch. 1, “The controlled wartime economy and the fishing industry”↩
  66. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 2 ch. 1, “The controlled wartime economy and the fishing industry”↩
  67. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 2 ch. 1, “The controlled wartime economy and the fishing industry”↩
  68. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  69. Nissui, securities report, corporate history section↩
  70. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  71. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  72. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  73. 日本水産50年史 (Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 1961)↩
  74. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  75. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  76. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  77. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  78. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  79. Nissui, securities report, corporate history section↩
  80. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  81. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  82. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  83. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  84. Nissui, securities report, corporate history section↩
  85. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  86. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  87. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  88. 会社銀行八十年史 (Eighty Years of Companies and Banks, Toyo Keizai Shinposha, 1955), fisheries section, entry for Nippon Suisan↩
  89. ダイヤモンド (Diamond), 1 January 1956, “Fisheries — catches to rise further as the northern fleets increase”↩
  90. ダイヤモンド (Diamond), 1 January 1956, “Fisheries — catches to rise further as the northern fleets increase”↩
  91. ダイヤモンド (Diamond), 1 January 1956, “Fisheries — catches to rise further as the northern fleets increase”↩
  92. ダイヤモンド (Diamond), 1 January 1956, “Fisheries — catches to rise further as the northern fleets increase”↩
  93. ダイヤモンド (Diamond), 1 January 1956, “Fisheries — catches to rise further as the northern fleets increase”↩
  94. ダイヤモンド (Diamond), 1 January 1956, “Fisheries — catches to rise further as the northern fleets increase”↩
  95. ダイヤモンド (Diamond), 1 January 1956, “Fisheries — catches to rise further as the northern fleets increase”↩
  96. 読売新聞 (Yomiuri Shimbun), 22 April 1956, “Soviet Union announces salmon fishing regulations”↩
  97. 読売新聞 (Yomiuri Shimbun), 22 April 1956, “Soviet Union announces salmon fishing regulations”↩
  98. 読売新聞 (Yomiuri Shimbun), 15 May 1956, “Reaction to the settlement of the Japan–Soviet fisheries talks”↩
  99. 読売新聞 (Yomiuri Shimbun), 15 May 1956, “Reaction to the settlement of the Japan–Soviet fisheries talks”↩
  100. 読売新聞 (Yomiuri Shimbun), 14 September 1959, “Investment advice”↩
  101. 読売新聞 (Yomiuri Shimbun), 21 October 1959, “Diagnosis of a problem share — Nippon Suisan”↩
  102. 読売新聞 (Yomiuri Shimbun), 14 September 1959, “Investment advice”↩
  103. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  104. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  105. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  106. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  107. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  108. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  109. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  110. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  111. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  112. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  113. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  114. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  115. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  116. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  117. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  118. Nissui, securities report, corporate history section↩
  119. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  120. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  121. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  122. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  123. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 3 no. 8, 1965, “The fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  124. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 7 no. 6, 1969, “Japans fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  125. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 3 ch. 3, “New development and expansion in the fishing industry”↩
  126. 日本水産百年史 (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, Nippon Suisan, 2011), part 3 ch. 4, “The end of the growth period”↩
  127. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 7 no. 6, 1969, “Japans fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  128. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 7 no. 6, 1969, “Japans fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  129. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 7 no. 6, 1969, “Japans fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  130. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 7 no. 6, 1969, “Japans fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  131. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 7 no. 6, 1969, “Japans fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  132. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 7 no. 6, 1969, “Japans fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  133. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 7 no. 6, 1969, “Japans fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  134. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 7 no. 6, 1969, “Japans fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  135. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 7 no. 6, 1969, “Japans fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  136. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 7 no. 6, 1969, “Japans fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  137. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 7 no. 6, 1969, “Japans fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  138. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 7 no. 6, 1969, “Japans fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  139. 証券アナリストジャーナル (Securities Analysts Journal), vol. 7 no. 6, 1969, “Japans fishing industry and Nippon Suisan — its present state and future”↩
  140. 日経産業新聞 (Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun), 31 October 1990, “The shock of the 200-mile limit”↩

References & sources

  1. Nissui corporate histories (A Hundred Years of Nippon Suisan, 2011), Fifty Years of Nippon Suisan (1961) and Seventy Years of Nippon Suisan.
  2. Yomiuri Shimbun: 22 Apr 1956 on the Soviet salmon fishing regulations; 15 May 1956 on the reaction to the settlement of the Japan–Soviet fisheries talks; 14 Sep 1959 on investment advice; 21 Oct 1959, the diagnosis of Nippon Suisan as a problem share.
  3. Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun, 31 Oct 1990, The Shock of the 200-Mile Limit, part one.
  4. Diamond (Diamond, Inc.), 1 Jan 1956, on the sharp rise in catches as the northern fleets increased.

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