The second generation
Tomijiro Kobayashi

Chapter 1

Next initiatives after
charity coupons:
The second stageof social contributions
Activities to promote oral health begin
Lion's activities to promote oral health, mainly initiated by Tomijiro Jr., continue torealize the vision of the company’s founder. To know how this unprecedented
commitment by business to contribute to society began, consider that era in Japan.
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A toothpick withbrush-shaped tip forcleaning teeth.

Major dietary changes
required better oral hygiene
From toothpicks to toothbrushes
From ancient times in Japan, it was customary for people to clean theirteeth with toothpicks, etc. Educational books from the 1700s note that, "If
you clean your teeth, you will not lose any, even when you are old." However, after 1854 when Japan's long era of seclusion ended, western culture
quickly entered the country, causing big changes in the Japanese diet.
Dining tables that had in the past typically held cold, hard foods, were now
dental cavities increased rapidly.
The first people to take remedial action were dentists who had studied
phlet on oral hygiene, and another went to schools to provide instruction on
how to prevent dental cavities. However, since dentists then did not enjoy
the social status that dentists enjoy today, they were unable to exert significant influence regarding dental hygiene. In the 1890s after Tomijiro Kobayashi & Co. was established, the use of toothbrushes and tooth powder
increasingly replaced use of toothpicks, but knowledge of oral hygiene waspoor, and each person had his or her own method of brushing, because noThe start of oral health promotion

western medicine. One person translated and published an American pam-Chapter 1

lined with warm, soft, sweet foods. The number of people suffering from

one in government, public administration or elsewhere was working systematically to disseminate information about oral hygiene.
15

The First Lion Lecture
Meeting, 1913, at Tokyo
YMCA Hall

Everything started from a lecture
The first Lion Lecture Meeting is held
Tomijiro Kobayashi & Co.’s promotion of oral hygiene awareness at thebequest of the late founder began with lectures for loyal users of Lion Dentifrice and distribution of pamphlets explaining toothbrushing methods.
However, the initial results were limited and the lectures seemed to be lesseffective than the charity coupons on bags of tooth powder had been. How
could the company communicate the importance of oral hygiene to more
Chapter 1
The start of oral health promotion
16people? The company’s commitment to community service and raisingawareness gave rise to Lion Lecture Meetings with prominent people discussing public concerns, as well as lectures on oral hygiene. However, very
few private companies at that time presented such lectures, so some potential attendees warily expected the meetings to be bothersome sales events,and concern emerged as to whether enough people would attend lectures
about oral hygiene, a subject that people were generally unaware of. Nonetheless, Tomijiro Jr. pushed forward in the belief that "Raising awareness oforal hygiene will lead to better health, especially among children who willlead the next generation."* In 1908, the company name was changed from Tomijiro Kobayashi & Co. to Kobayashi Co., Ltd.

Sosaku Midorikawa was a full-time
lecturer for Lion Lecture Meetings. Int h o s e d a y s , f e w e x p e r t s p ro v i d e dinstruction about oral hygiene, but Mr.
Midorikawa, who had been teaching that
subject at an elementary school, found akindred spirit in Tomijiro Jr.

Meetings held in China and Taiwan
The lecture meetings were managed by Sosaku Midorikawa, who had left
his dental practice to join Kobayashi, and Tanefumi Inoue, the Lion Lecture
director. To increase attendance, they created a program including features
such as music. The long-awaited first Lion Lecture Meeting successfully
left an impact on the audience that exceeded expectations. This boosted
confidence in the lecture series that totaled 175 lecture meetings nationwide
other documentation. Initially held at public halls and other urban venues
for the general public, the meetings spread throughout elementary, juniorand even overseas to Sakhalin, Taiwan, Korea, and as far as Manchuria. AsMr. Midorikawa said, "When you toss a pebble into a still pond, the impact
on the water is small, but expands widely. I want to be that pebble."
A total of 109,078 Lion Lecture Meetings promoting oral hygiene wereattended by 57,710,000 people over about 20 years, until 1933, greatly contributing to public health.

The start of oral health promotion

high, and various secondary schools, youth leagues, the military, factories,

Chapter 1in its first year. Presentation was enhanced at the lectures with photos and17

Oral health promotion
by the Dental Association
Thanks to Tomijiro Jr., activities began to take full effectIn addition to Kobayashi, The Japan United Dental Association (now theJapan Dental Association), a nationwide organization of dentists, was also
eager to promote oral hygiene awareness. In the same year as the first Lion
Lecture Meeting, the Association released and widely distributed a "ToothHealth" booklet through dentists across Japan to students at junior highschools and girls' high schools, teachers at elementary schools, etc., but
Chapter 1

budget limitations prevented the group from sufficiently scaling up its
activities. Consequently, Tomijiro Jr. donated 3000 yen (equivalent to about
60 million yen today) per year to the organization, which used it to start

The start of oral health promotion

full-scale production of samples, models, charts, movies, etc. to spreadknowledge about oral hygiene, and hold expositions and meetings on thesubject throughout Japan.
The large donation amounted to more than twice the Association’s previous yearly budget, as Tomijiro Jr. felt that dentists were critical for spreading awareness about oral hygiene throughout Japan. He continued to makeyearly donations to support the Association's oral health promotion activities. Over seven years, the company’s contributions to the Association
totaled around 10,000 yen (equivalent to about 200 million yen currently).

18

Looking back on Chapter 1

The passion to serve society ispassed on to the next generation.
Nowadays, companies regularly contribute to society, but 100 years
ago such activities were very rare in Japan. A portion of the purchaseprice of Lion Dentifrice with charity coupon went to charity, but theLion Lecture Meetings were free for attendees, as all costs were covered by Kobayashi. The burden of Tomijiro's donations to the Dental
Association and related costs was significant but worthwhile foradvancing the founder's aspirations to share a passion for working toChapter 1

improve the human condition.

The start of oral health promotion
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