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Chapter 01. Starting point |
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In the late nineteenth century, when Japan was rapidly transforming into a modern
nation in a process known as the Meiji Restoration, new industries such as
iron-foundries, shipbuilding, fertilizer production, and electric power generation started to emerge across the country. This time period has come to be referred to as the "era of the rise of enterprises" a golden era of entrepreneurship, especially for those who were young, ambitious, talented, and eager to take advantage of unlimited business opportunities.
 In
1870, Chubei Kobayashi, a promising young businessman, opened a store
specializing in soy sauce in Ishi-cho, Nagoya, after completing his
9-year apprenticeship at "Banshin Shoten", a miso (soybean paste)
merchant. At his own store, Chubei was engaged in making soy sauce,
in addition to a retail trade, by fully utilizing business know-how
acquired through his apprenticeship, as well as established a reputation
among the customers and merchants of being trustworthy. After 16 years
of successful business he sold it, and soon opened a new retail store
handling sundries, cosmetics, and western liquor in Monzen-machi,
Naka-ku, Nagoya city. "Kobayashi Seidaido", the forerunner of today's
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. was born in this way.
Chubei was well aware of the great potential of the drug industry,
especially based on the public's high esteem and demand for medicines.
Under the poor condition of the medical care in those days, medicine
played an essential role in people's daily life. For example, in 1885,
there was a smallpox outbreak which horrified the whole nation. Nagoya
was no exception and suffered from a significant number of infected,
as well as deaths. Lack of sufficient medical facilities and doctors
drove people to various religious rites in their attempts to be healed.
Even in more common cases such as colds, headaches, stomachaches,
people had come to rely on medicines, as far as they were available
to treat such conditions.
The miso or soy sauce business, on the other hand, was considered
sound and stable with a virtually guaranteed steady and predictable
stream of sales. Rather than staying with the tried and true, Chubei
preferred to take a risk of venturing into the unfamiliar pharmaceutical
business for its potential. Simultaneously, he anticipated a growth
of the miso or soy sauce business (which was stable but already matured)
to be negatively affected by the escalating competition among many
traditional soy sauce makers/retailers.
In Tokyo,Tokusaburo Fujii of "Ryukakusan Honpo" was convinced that
no one was more qualified than Komejiro Kobayashi, a son of Chubei,
as a successor for his business. Komejiro, an apprentice at Fujii's,
was being trained in the pharmaceutical business, in preparation for
his future role as assistant to his father. Komejiro, who had managed
to walk all the way to Tokyo from Nagoya (no transportation was available
between these two cities at that time), worked very hard, day and night, under any conditions. Tokusaburo, his master, particularly liked this diligent apprentice, determining with confidence that Komejiro was the right person to succeed his family business. Finally, Tokusaburo asked Chubei if he could adopt Komejiro as his son (a common practice especially in feudal Japan: businesses were run exclusively by the founder's family members). Although Chubei was proud of his son's achievement, he could not easily accept this request. Chubei was counting on his three sons including Komejiro, the second oldest, for the further business development at the "Kobayashi Seidaido".
Tokusaburo, however, continued to enthusiastically plead for this adoption, emphasizing how much he liked Komejiro and needed his talent. In the end, Chubei gave in and granted Tokusaburo's request. Consequently, Komejiro officially entered the Fujii family under the Japanese family registry system, as of April 30 in 1898.
This new relationship with the Fujii family contributed to solidify of the "Kobayasi Seidaido" as a pharmaceutical wholesaler, while Chubei devoted himself to promoting Ryukakusan Fujii's main product in the central part of Japan.
Around the turn of the century, Chubei successfully expanded his business by developing new medicines, including a blockbuster drug known as "Tamushichinki (medicine for athlete's foot)".
In order to smoothly operate the growing business, Chubei separated the wholesale department, and moved to a different location (still in Nagoya), while building a new store/corporate office in Shin-Yanagi-machi, Nagoya for wholesale and retail businesses. The original store in Monzen-machi was retained as a branch.
Decoration on the new store in Sin-Yanagi-machi was so creative and unique that it attracted considerable attention by the public. Conventional and traditional gold-colored signboards were hung at every visible spot around the store, including on the large roof and below the eaves. "What can I do to differentiate my store from my competitors and gain people's attention?" The showy store appearance was the answer that Chubei found after thorough consideration. Later, many pharmaceutical wholesalers imitated this kind of decoration, which became typical in this business in Japan.
Chubei was greatly respected as a trustworthy leader by his employees. He continued to be an exemplary hands-on leader, as well as a hard worker. It was well known that he got up before dawn every morning to complete a fair amount of work before his employees came to work. Moreover, he always treated his employees in a personal and sincere manner, as if they were his own family members. Therefore, even when he was strict and demanding to his employees as much as to himself, nobody complained about it.
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