Kawasaki Heavy Industries

## Background

The oldest corporation in Sol to have achieved the distinguished status of being a part of the megacorporate Big 5, Kawasaki Heavy Industries was first established long before the Warp War, at the tail end of the 19th century. For centuries, it has held a reputation as one of Japan's most skilled labor forces, and it was the only non-multinational corporation on Earth to be contracted by Rubinsky Aerospace during the initial construction of Luna City. Having provided much of the labor, Kawasaki was given the honor of having a secondary corporate headquarters built on Luna's surface in the mid 21st century.

In the 24th century, Kawasaki's greatest claim to fame is the invention of the first bipedal robotic vehicles in human history, otherwise known as Mechs.

Kawasaki products are built with extreme efficiency and a heavy focus on simplicity and longevity. Kept well-maintained, they have been known to continue operating for centuries.

## History

Shozo Kawasaki, born in 1836, was involved with the marine industry from a young age. He was involved with two offshore disasters but accredited his survival to the modernization of the ships. This led to the decision to create technological innovations for the Japanese shipping industry. In 1878, after struggling to find business, his first order was placed. This is marked as the companies start in the industry.

In 1886, Kawasaki moved the business from Tokyo to Hyogo. This allowed space for the rise of orders placed to his company and the renaming to Kawasaki Dockyard. The new and improved company went public as Kawasaki Dockyard Co., Ltd when the demand for ships rose during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894. Kojiro Matsukata was announced as the company's first president.

After opening a new factory in 1906, Kawasaki began diversifying its products. They began to produce parts for the railroad, automotive, and airplane industry by the end of World War 1. After the war, along with the Allied arms-limitation agreement in 1912, Kawasaki faced a huge decline in shipbuilding. In 1929, the Depression caused a large amount of financial problems with the company.

In the late 1947, the government introduced a new shipbuilding agenda and gave Kawasaki a rise in profits and helped restore the company. The company was able to resume all operations and by the 1950s, Japan was leading as the world's largest shipbuilder.

By the late 1960s into the 70s Kawasaki had begun to withdraw from the shipbuilding industry and diversified its company, producing motorcycles, jet skis, bridges, tunnel-boring machines, and aircraft. They also supplied technologically advanced railroad cars to the New York subway system.

In 1995, Kawasaki Heavy Industries came to an agreement with China to produce the largest containerships known to man. This led to the company announcing higher than expected profits in 1996. However, shortly after the profits, the company saw a long decline in business forcing them to find a solution.

With the company seeing continuous losses in the 21st Century, it formed a joint venture with Rubinsky Aerospace, and, by the late 2020s, had grown to be a major corporate power.

Following the Warp War, there was a need for construction and utility vehicles that could carry out complex operations in difficult, uneven terrain. Inspired by the wealth of Mecha science fiction and entertainment from past eras, Kawasaki's head engineer, Ito Sasaki, designed the first ever upright, walking vehicles - Mechs.