Makinohara, Shizuoka Prefecture: 4 people
Takuma Edamura (枝村 匠馬 Edamura Takuma, born 16 November 1986 in Makinohara, Shizuoka, Japan) is a Japanese footballer.
Kazuo Ueda (Japanese: 植田 和男, Hepburn: Ueda Kazuo; born September 20, 1951) is a Japanese economist who has been serving…
Kazuo Ueda (Japanese: 植田 和男, Hepburn: Ueda Kazuo; born September 20, 1951) is a Japanese economist who has been serving as the 32nd Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) since April 2023. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) and also worked briefly as a professor at Kyoritsu Women’s University after his retirement from UTokyo in 2017. He was the dean of the Faculty of Economics at UTokyo and president of the Japanese Economic Association.
Hideji Katō (加藤 秀司, Katō Hideji) (born May 24, 1948) is a Japanese former professional baseball first baseman in Nippon…
Hideji Katō (加藤 秀司, Katō Hideji) (born May 24, 1948) is a Japanese former professional baseball first baseman in Nippon Professional Baseball. He played for the Hankyu Braves from 1969 to 1982, Hiroshima Toyo Carp in 1983, Kintetsu Buffaloes from 1984 to 1985, Yomiuri Giants in 1986 and the Nankai Hawks in 1987. He was the Pacific League MVP in 1975.
Tanaka Chōbei (田中 長兵衛) was a merchant and purveyor to Japan's military during the Meiji Period. He established Kamaishi…
Tanaka Chōbei (田中 長兵衛) was a merchant and purveyor to Japan's military during the Meiji Period. He established Kamaishi Mine Tanaka Ironworks (Kamaishi Kōzan Tanaka Seitetsusho) in 1887, which was Japan's first modern private ironworks and remained the only one in the country until 1901, when the state-run ironworks was built again. A few years earlier, in 1874, Japan's Ministry of Industries (Kōbushō) had decided to build a modern furnace at Kamaishi . It appointed German engineers who went on to build a large-scale mill (with a railway system to carry the product and iron ore) utilizing two imported 25-ton furnaces. Local experts had advised a more modest method of learn-by-doing and gradual scale-up. The government, which never questioned the superiority of Western technology, overrode these objections and proceeded to construct the plant and operation started in 1890. However, within 196 days the plant had to be shut down and the government gave up- mainly due to the use of poor quality coke. Tanaka entered the steel business by taking over this loss-making government-run enterprise. He reverted to the earlier advise of building with smaller furnaces (5-6 ton), adapting the technology to local conditions, and then scaling up. Building on local knowledge, he adapted foreign technology through a process of trial and error – it took his people 22 months and 49 trial operations before they could finally produce iron. There was also help from Kageyoshi Noro. By 1894, Tanaka was in a position not only to repair but also redesign British-made furnaces and succeeded in restarting them using coke as fuel. Tanaka Chōbei owned mines all over Japan, as well as the Jinguashi mine in northern Taiwan. His ironworks in Kamaishi produced the majority of Japan's domestic pig iron in 1894.