Hirotoshi Honda
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He was born on September 22, 1898, in Jin Village, Kamimashiki District, Kumamoto Prefecture (now Mifune Town), the third son of his father Shiro and mother Toyo. His grandfather Naoki had served four terms as village mayor and his father three. He went from Kumamoto Middle School to Tokyo Higher Commercial School, graduated in the spring of 1921 amid a tight job market, and joined Tokyo Gas. He worked on the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake, served as the youngest-ever head of the Azabu sales office during the slump of the early Showa era, and in March 1932 was sent to Europe to study the gas industry there.
Selection
In November 1946, the purge of public officials forced out Chairman Kunizo Hara, President Hanroku Ota, three Managing Directors and four standing auditors, and ten department heads were newly elected as Directors. Honda was one of them, also serving as General Manager of Sales, and Goro Takada became President after the purge. In May 1947 he was promoted to Managing Director along with Hiroshi Anzai and others, became Executive Vice President in 1951, and President in 1953. The major shareholders at the time were life insurers and trust banks, and the company was not controlled by a founding family.
Initiatives
Following the five-year reconstruction plan begun in 1948, he pursued a five-year facility expansion plan from 1953. In April 1952 an oil gas generator went into operation at the Senju plant, pioneering the shift of feedstock from coal to oil. At the Toyosu plant, completed in March 1957, carbon monoxide content became an issue, and converters were installed to cut it from 18% to below 5%. In 1962 the company adjusted 7 million gas appliances in 2 million customer households within six months, and on October 1 raised the calorific value of its gas from 3,600 kcal to 5,000 kcal.
Career
Career
Tokyo Gas
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1921 | Joined |
| Nov 1946 | Director, General Manager, Sales Department |
| May 1947 | Managing Director |
| 1951 | Executive Vice President |
| 1953 | President |
| Nov 1967 | Chairman |
| Nov 1967 | Stepped down as President |