Corporations: The Original Japanese

When he approached Bell & Howell one day in 1951 to suggest that the Chicago firm should serve as his U.S. distributor, President Takeshi Mitarai of Tokyo's Canon Camera Co., Inc. got a disappointing hearing. Bell & Howell President Charles H. Percy freely admitted that the 35-mm. Canon which Mitarai had brought with him was a fine piece of craftsmanship. But although Japanese products had already begun to earn a better reputation abroad. Bell & Howell wasn't interested. Explained Percy bluntly: "'Made in Japan' means cheap, shoddy goods here."

Last January, Bell & Howell, at its own request, became Canon's Canadian and U.S. distributor. In the decade that it took to complete this change of heart, Canon has become one of the world's top camera manufacturers in both quantity and quality. Its sales totaled $19.8 million last year. This year the company expects a 36% gain in sales to $27 million. Half its production will be exported to 90 countries. Wall Streeters might well envy its growth: a $1 investment in Canon in 1949 is now worth $865.

A Boost from the Troops. Slight, scholarly Takeshi Mitarai, 61, thinks Japan might have overcome its reputation for shoddy manufacturing long before it did. "The capability was always there in Japan," he says. "But it was channeled into things like Zero fighters and dreadnoughts." Canon got started in 1933 when Mitarai, then a practicing M.D., enlisted some technician friends to develop better optical equipment for hospitals. While they were about it, they turned out Japan's first 35-mm. camera, a near copy of the German Leica. Recalls Mitarai: "My associates had a really difficult time producing this prototype without infringing on German patents." After Pearl Harbor, Canon was among the small and nonessential industries that the Japanese government wanted to close down. "I had many friends among the military," says Mitarai. "I had to take over to prevent the firm from being wiped out." He gave up his practice as a gynecologist and stepped in as fulltime boss.

In the desolation following Japan's defeat, Mitarai scrambled around for capital, wheedled rationed materials for his production line, drummed into his workers the necessity for finely ground lenses and precision parts. Looking for markets, he persuaded the U.S. Occupation forces to stock Canons in post exchanges and ships' stores. The enthusiasm of U.S. servicemen who carried their Canons home to the States launched the camera's foreign reputation. By the early '50s, after news photographers covering the Korean war spread the word that top quality Japanese lenses were at least the equal of German lenses, an export market began to open up.

Biggest Seller. Unlike Canon, some Japanese were still turning out the cheap and shoddy. Aware that his own export market could be ruined by poor Japanese cameras, Mitarai pressed for industry controls. In 1954, largely at his persuasion, the government organized the Japanese Camera Industry Association, which closely scrutinizes output, tries to keep poor models off the world market.