Marubeni

Marubeni Corporation is one of the largest of Japan's general trading companies, known as sogo shosha. With a global network of almost 200 representative offices and more than 600 affiliated companies in 84 countries, Marubeni is involved in a wide variety of activities, including domestic, import, export, and offshore trade; investment activities; and product development operations--ranging from development of natural resources and raw materials to the marketing of finished products--in a variety of industries. Marubeni is a member of the Fuyo Group, an industrial organization consisting of about 150 companies, including Hitachi (electronics), Nissan (automobiles), Canon (cameras), Showa Denko (chemicals), Kubota (farm machinery), and Nippon Steel; the group is centered around Fuji Bank. The Fuyo Group ( Fuyo is another way of referring to Mount Fuji) was created by several corporate leaders in the early 1960s and its member companies cooperate through joint ventures and other activities of mutual benefit. In 1872 a young merchant named Chubei Itoh established a small store in Osaka to serve as an outlet for his commercial trading business. A symbol for the store was created that placed the word beni (Japanese for "red") inside a circle, or maru. In 1883, as the Itoh trading company expanded, the Marubeni store was made its head office. Over the next 20 years, C. Itoh & Company took over an increasing number of duties from foreign trading agents and established its own international trading network. The company experienced particularly strong growth after Japan asserted its military dominance in the region by defeating Chinese armies in 1895 and the Russian navy in 1905. At the outbreak of World War I, C. Itoh & Company took advantage of several opportunities in international trading, created when companies in Europe redirected their energies toward production of war material. Japan allied itself with the Entente later in the war, and when Germany was defeated in 1919 Japan was awarded German colonies and commercial rights in Asia. Within two years, however, uncontrolled economic expansion caused a serious recession that threatened hundreds of companies with financial collapse. C. Itoh & Company was forced to reorganize in 1921. The company itself was renamed Marubeni Shonten, Ltd., and several divisions belonging to its larger subsidiary C. Itoh Trading became a new company called Daido Trading. Marubeni was mainly involved in textile trading, but expanded over the course of the decade to include a wider variety of industrial and consumer goods. In the early 1930s a group of right-wing militarists within the Japanese armed forces initiated a rise to political power based on subversion and terrorism. As strong opponents of Communism, these militarists were natural allies of the Nazi and Fascist governments of Germany and Italy. After taking control of the government they declared a "quasi-war economy" in preparation for the Japanese conquest of East Asia and the western Pacific. Large Japanese conglomerates known as zaibatsu (Mitsui, Mitsubishi, and Sumitomo) and companies such as Iwai, C. Itoh, and Marubeni were viewed by the militarists as self-interested institutions of laissez-faire capitalism. One widely recognized goal of the militarists was the nationalization of these companies. At the time, however, nationalization was not possible. These companies were responsible for virtually all of the weapons, machinery, and provisions needed to maintain the Japanese occupation of Korea, Manchuria, and China, and to conduct subsequent military campaigns. Initially, Sanko performed better than most Japanese companies in the war economy. Later in the war, however, Japanese forces failed to consolidate their gains and the war turned in favor of the United States. Additional demands were placed on the economy in general and companies such as Sanko in particular. In 1944, the year the Japanese mainland became exposed to America