Exporting Electrodes to Australia in the 1930s:

Sawada Shigeo, Okura & Company, and Tokai Electrode

Authors

  • Simon James Bytheway Nihon University
  • Oshima Hisayuki Takachiho University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/shashi.2024.70

Abstract

Using the internal records of trading companies operating in Australia that were seized by the Australian government after the Japanese attack on Pearl in December 1941, the present study examines the role played by Okura & Company and its Managing Director in Sydney, Sawada Shigeo, as intermediaries in the development of a potential Australian market for Japanese electrodes in the interwar period. International trade in foreign markets required Japanese manufacturers to respond “flexibly” to the terms, conditions, and practices of the new markets into which they were exporting, especially in relation to any technological difficulties (real or perceived) with their products. General trading companies (like our example, Okura & Company) were employed to provide essential market information and to bridge any “gaps of recognition” between Japanese manufacturers (like our example, Tokai Electrode Manufacturing Company) and their new, non-Japanese clients. The interwar experience of “market development” in Australia was integral to the remarkable success of Japan’s export-oriented industries during the postwar reconstruction period, when electrode manufacturing quickly became an important export industry for Japan.

Author Biography

Simon James Bytheway, Nihon University

Simon James Bytheway is an Associate Professor in Financial History at the Business School of Nihon University in Tokyo, where he has worked for over a decade. He is the author of a number of historical studies in both Japanese and English on the subject of foreign investment in Japan, including the book Nihon Keizai to Gaikoku Shihon (2005) and the forthcoming Investing Japan (2014). Proudly West Australian, Simon holds a BA (first class Honours) from Curtin University, and was awarded a doctorate by Tohoku Gakuin University in Sendai. His present research concerns itself with Asian economic development and financial history from the 19th century to the present day.

Downloads

Published

2024-04-26 — Updated on 2024-06-19

Versions

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 1 (2024): Government and Private Concerns

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Simon Bytheway, Oshima-sensei

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
  6. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  7. The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  8. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.

Revised 7/16/2018. Revision Description: Removed outdated link.