was a company established by

Shōichi Miyoshi Shōichi, Shoichi or Shouichi (written: , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese photographer and editor *, Japanese professional wrestling announcer and executive *, Japanese professi ...

and

Fujioka Ichisuke Fujioka may refer to: * Fujioka, Aichi, a former town located in Nishikamo District, Aichi, Japan * Fujioka, Gunma, a city in Gunma, Japan * Fujioka, Tochigi, a former town located in Shimotsuga District, Tochigi, Japan People * Fujioka (surname)

, two of Japan's industrial pioneers during the Tokugawa /

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterize ...

. It specialized in the manufacture of light bulbs. The company was established in 1890, and started out by selling bulbs using bamboo filaments. However, following the opening up of trade with the West through the

Unequal treaty Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to a series of treaties signed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, between China (mostly referring to the Qing dynasty) and various Western powers (specifically the British Empire, France, th ...

, Hakunetsusha met with fierce competition from imports. Its bulb cost about 60 per cent more than the imports and the quality was poorer. The company managed to survive with the booms after the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the p ...

of 1894–95 and the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and ...

of 1904–05, but afterward its financial position was precarious. In 1905 the company was renamed

Tokyo Denki was a company established by Shōichi Miyoshi and Fujioka Ichisuke, two of Japan's industrial pioneers during the Tokugawa / Edo period. It specialized in the manufacture of light bulbs. The company was established in 1890, and started out by s ...

(Tokyo Electric) and entered into a financial and technological collaboration with

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energy ...

of USA. General Electric acquired 51 percent share of ownership, sent a vice president, and provided the technology for bulb-making. Production equipment was bought from GE and Tokyo Denki soon started selling its products with GE's trademark. In 1939, Tokyo Denki and

Shibaura Seisakusho was the new name given to the company Tanaka Seisakusho (Tanaka Engineering Works), after it was declared insolvent in 1893 and taken over by Mitsui Bank. In 1910, it formed a tie-up with GE USA, which, in exchange for technology acquired about ...

were merged to form Tokyo Shibaura Denki (Tokyo Shibaura Electric Company, now

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure syste ...

References

Manufacturing companies based in Tokyo Electrical engineering companies of Japan Toshiba Electronics companies established in 1890 1890 establishments in Japan Electronics companies disestablished in 1939 1939 disestablishments in Japan {{japan-company-stub