The Secret Story of Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi is known primarily for three things: reliable cars, rocket launches and finance. While it’s not the biggest Japanese company, it is, at least, in the top three. You see the name everywhere in Japan, yet, for all its ubiquitousness, there are still many things about Mitsubishi you may not know.

“Izo the Killer” Okada Izo (left), and Mitsubishi Founder Iwasaki Yataro (right)

Mitsubishi Only Exists Because a Terrifying Assassin Was Feeling Lazy

This story requires a bit of context but stick with it. It’s worth it.

After Japan was forced to open its borders in the mid-19th century, supporters of the emperor — who had been powerless for 500 years at that point — decided to use the resulting unpopularity of the shogunate to topple the military government and restore imperial rule.

Among the many royalist groups that popped up in the late Edo period, there was one that decided to make its political vision a reality with fewer pamphlets and more murder.

The Tosa Kinno-to was led by Takechi Hanpeita in a manner that was almost cult-like. Said to be extremely charismatic, Takechi urged his followers to be avatars of righteous anger and tools of divine punishment in their fight against their opponents. One member of the Kinno-to really took it to heart.

Okada Izo was born to a low-ranking samurai family but, thanks to his talent with a sword, he became immortalized as one of the Four Hitokiri (Manslayers) of the Bakumatsu period, who targeted those seen as threats to the imperial cause or those who supported the Tokugawa Shogunate. He was also known as “Izo the Killer” and the “Master of Divine Punishment.”

Sporting criminal tattoos (most likely bands around his arms) after being branded and expelled from Kyoto, Izo struck a terrifying figure. But he was apparently also fond of women and drink and would occasionally neglect some of his tasks.

That’s why, when he was ordered to kill Inoue Saichiro — a Tosa official investigating the Kinno-to — he failed to tie up loose ends and left Inoue’s travel companion alive. That man was Iwasaki Yataro, the future founder of Mitsubishi.

The A6M Zero fighter plane (c. 1943) | Wikimedia

Making Zeros: Mitsubishi’s Surprising Diversification

Iwasaki started a shipping company in 1870, which was renamed Mitsubishi Shokai in 1873. Loosely translated as “three rhombuses,” the logo of the company was based on the crest of the samurai family that ruled over Tosa Province (modern-day Kochi Prefecture), where Iwasaki was born.

Taking advantage of Japan’s rapid modernization during the Meiji period, Iwasaki expanded the scope of the company to coal-mining, steel, industrial machinery, real estate and more. His smartest move was forging close ties with the government, mainly by supplying crafts for moving soldiers, including to the Satsuma Rebellion, the last stand of the samurai.

They probably could’ve gotten there without the company’s help, but the sentence “Mitsubishi helped kill the last of the samurai” is not technically wrong.

Unfortunately, that’s not everyone they helped kill. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries built warships, tanks and aircraft for the Empire of Japan during World War II, becoming a backbone of its industrial-military complex.

The A6M Zero fighter, one of the most feared planes in the Pacific theater because of its maneuverability and firepower — which left a lasting impression on Pearl Harbor — was the company’s invention. Its official name is “the Mitsubishi A6M Zero.”

In lighter news, Mitsubishi was also one of the primary investors of the Japan Brewery Company in the late 19th century. Today it is known as the Kirin Company, one of the largest beer and beverage producers in Japan. Mitsubishi Corporation is also the majority stakeholder of the Lawson convenience store chain.

In July of this year, Mitsubishi Corporation announced that it was acquiring a piece of Norway’s Grieg Seafood. Combined with its ownership of the Cermaq food processing company, Mitsubishi will soon be the second-largest salmon producer in the world. It feels weird when you say it out loud, but it’s the truth.

Mitsubishi Workers with the “Model-A” car (c. 1917), the first mass-production car in Japanese history | © Mitsubishi Archives

There Is No Such Thing as the ‘Mitsubishi’ Company

Every time we talk about Mitsubishi as if it was a single company, we are speaking in error. There are, in fact, about 600 completely independent companies that usually, but not always, include “Mitsubishi” in their name, like Mitsubishi Corporation (a trading house), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsubishi Estate.

They may even use the familiar three rhombuses logo, but they are completely independent, sharing only “a common heritage and … a common set of values.” There isn’t some high board of directors that sets their agendas or business plans. They are just part of an antimonopoly ”community” known as the Mitsubishi Group.