Soichiro Ohara

Profile
Tenure
May 1939 – Aug 1947
Years in office
8.3 years
Name in Japanese
大原總一郎
Title at appointment
President
Performance in office
Tenure

Tenure

Background

He graduated from the Faculty of Economics at Tokyo Imperial University in 1932 and joined Kurashiki Kenshoku in November that year. He became Managing Director in December 1938 and Director and President in May 1939, six and a half years after joining. The change came as founder Magosaburo Ohara stepped down as President. In August 1947 he left the presidency to become Vice Director of the Price Agency, resigned that post in April 1948 and returned as President in June that year. He was from Okayama Prefecture, home also to Kurashiki, where the company was founded.

Education: Tokyo Imperial University, Faculty of Economics (now University of Tokyo, Faculty of Economics) (1932)

Selection

In May 1939 he took over the presidency from the founder. Kurashiki Kenshoku was then a pure rayon producer and had just completed four plants by 1936, including Kurashiki, Saijo and Okayama. After wartime conversion to military production and a change of name, it restored the name Kurashiki Rayon in April 1949, and its listing returned in May that year when the exchanges reopened. He returned to the presidency after the gap of 1947 to 1948 spent as Vice Director of the Price Agency, preserving the founding family's continued control of management.

Initiatives

He pushed the commercialization of vinylon, made from limestone, coal and water, and production began at the Okayama Plant in November 1950. A high-strength type appeared in 1954, widening uses to fishing nets and cement reinforcement, and in May 1962 a poval plant using the natural gas process started up in Nakajo, Niigata Prefecture. In 1963 the company signed a contract to export an integrated vinylon production plant to the People's Republic of China, with which Japan had no diplomatic relations, and delivered it in 1966 after winning government approval in the face of strong opposition. In November 1964 it began producing Clarino artificial leather.

Career

Career

Kuraray

Date Position
Nov 1932 Joined
Dec 1938 Managing Director
May 1939 President
Aug 1947 Stepped down as President
Jun 1948 President

Price Agency

Date Position
Aug 1947 Deputy General Manager
Apr 1948 Resigned as Deputy General Manager

Kurabo Industries

Date Position
Dec 1953 Director
References 3

References (Japanese primary sources)