Evening star., 1923-10-29
BY ADACHI KINNOsUKE.

humor to play the role of hero on
an international stage. But now and
then she forgets herself when the
drama gets really too big even for the
far-famed American sense Of humor.
That is precisely what must have hap
pened in the case of building up the
electrical enterprises in Japan. Amer
lea is not only playing the star role
in 1t, but also she is making a one
man show of 1t.
wished to see with my own eyes
. striking example of this star per-
formance of America. So on an early
summer morning this year I took a
train out of Toxic.
stepped off at Kawasaki, and stood
literally face to face with perhaps the
most modern enterprise in the whole
of the empire. 1t was an American
Japanese joint enterprise. This is in
teresting, for, as all the world knows,
there Is a good deal of blue talk
about this sort of international busi-
ness marriage. And this kawasakl
concern is still more interesting. for
It works. 1t Is prosperous in a man
ner which makes the war babies OF
song and story look like the children
of the make-believe rich. The name
Of the corporation is the Toxic Elec-
tric Company.
Americans ut Helm.
For years and years it proSpered
under the presidency and manage
ment of the late DR.. /. Fujioka and
his Japanese staff. Today an Ameri-
can whose name America does not
seem to know very we'll is the presl-
dent of il, Mr. J. p. Geary. 1t has an
WI xyIn
these gentlemen leave the manage
ment of the 10000. .000-yen plant (and
the actual value OF the property is
unquestionably four or five times the
nominal capitalization entirely TO the
japanese staff.
'They do not interfere with our
doings even by so much as the lifting
OF an eye" so one of the officers VINO
conducted me through the plant told
me.
To the right, as you enter the plant,
there are two tennise courts and a
base ball field. The tennis courts are
electrically lighted for night play.
They would do credit to the West
Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills. and
the towering frame of steel tubing
which serves as the back stop is as
effective as that at the Polo groundS'
To the left, as one passes through
the front gate. stands the prand new new
million yen warehouse of the com
pany. 1t is of reinforced concrete
over steel skeleton. 1t is up to date
and American from the overhead
travelling crane to its cement noor.
In fact, it is said to be an exact re-
production of a Ford warehouse at
Detroit. / passed from one floor TO
another of their factory buildings:
They are more modern than most OF
the American plants. The WorkrooIIS
ware models of sanitation, with all
tba l;0ht and air that the heart OF
tha most militant of reformers could
demand.
American Machinery.
All the machinery in the 1actory
u,ore the familiar crest Of 'G. h., TOT
il had been imported from Alne1.ca, e.
The company manufactures electrie
bulbs. light fixtures. electric meters
y-ray tubes, wireless radlotrons anu
many other things. It's output OF noe eie0 eoo
trio light bulbs amounts 10 Io'ooo,ovO
a wear. This company IN Japan man
factureS about one-elght Oh tno ~ a.,
outnut of all the American snops III, IN II
that particular line of goods. me
en,nnanv has the exclusive rights TO
.Ii the patents of the General EIec-
1ric Company of America, 1or Japa. "a, =
And what is equally iai impoTSa oTSaWasaki
foctorv are being trained In the SHOPS
IF the General Electric company ,,a -,
large numbers, so that they MAY arst
The advantage of learning as .a,is m .
hand all the fine and lntrlGa a america.
nf the electrical industry In AinS, tan9 :"
..Iyhan came to Japan IN lSoo'
Nc CARY said, Il became acquain.eu u :,
With the late DR.. Fujioka, WIZ Iac Ih
he called the father of Japanese ;n
trical enterprises, a;nr S,ece to Japan from
9hs United States. some years s peioi ;1, e.
the Hrst electrical apparatus uSeu -, IA
this country. The doctor eNpi1a @ ne y
to me the details oofrs1ins OF snH sna at TOXIC
~ 49, ! ked me if there was not some
ray hv which he could get manuiao
s,tryno and financial assistance anu
teohnical information regaru.nec Nc
rnanufacture of lamps from lhe ~ -
ua ai E1ectric Company in America.
Helped Infant Industry.
rn.+ was the beginning of the
-&nrv Mr., Geary was then the resi-
Sent representative in Japan OF the
GeneraI Electric Company. ne per
shaded the American corpor oralloIi ~ ~
invest at first the small ii..,a sun in+er ~.
100000 yen in DR.. Fujiokas lamp
factory. In those days the electricai
business in japan was IN It's cruu1
infancy. The demand for electrica'
goods in Japan was small: D- E,ui,-
oha fought on At the time When
the American assistance came over
the horizon, DR.. Fujioka.s concern
was capitalized at Zoo.ooo CO,
had about 100 workers on its pay
roll. Today more than 2.2oo workers
ore husy in the series OF concrete
factory buildings at Kawasak1. in az.
dition to 760 technical experts.
has two other factories: The aree dnree
factories cover moro than 343 acres
of land and the factory buildings
have more than $4,000 square feet
Of moor space. It's eight sales omces
at TOXIC. osaka. Moji, Magoya. sap
and Shanghai. China. handle not only
ifs own manufactures but also those
Of the General Electric Company in
Japan, China and the south seas
Training Future Engineers.
The Toxic Electric Company is the
super university for the future elec-
trfcal engineers of Japan. That is the
one crowning fact about this concern
Of which the men connected Win II
are exceedingly proud.
When I visited the factory l sa"
many impressive things-the type o,
: working men and girls. the manner II
which they went about their business
their cleanliness and their healthful-
ness and. of course, their efhciency
which stood out like crane in the
company of crows. in comparison
with the general lack of it among the
other Japanese working classes. But
there was another thing which threw
all that into the shadow.
The one thing which STOOD oui
above everything else and certainly
Interested me more than anything
connected with the factory was the
number and the character of the
visitors who crowded the place. Upon
the heads of the endless stream OF
visitors through the factory buildings
were the caps of the College of En-
gineering OF the Imperial University
Looking at the painstaking manner
in which some Of the experts of the
company were explaining the in
tricate pieces Of work here and there
and everywhere, wondered how II
was possfble for q great factory Ike