“Three Greatest Inventions in Japan”

In response to business opportunities created by the emergence of mass consumer society in post-World War I Japan, companies dealing in beer, western confectionery, seasoning, cosmetics, soap, light bulb, and other goods began to engage in marketing activities aimed at integrating production and sales. Leading the way were Suzuki Shoten (predecessor of Ajinomoto), Dai-Nippon Beer (predecessor of Asahi Beer and Sapporo Beer), Morinaga Seika, Shiseido, Kao Soap, Kobayashi Tomijiro Shoten (predecessor of Lion), and Tokyo Denki (predecessor of Toshiba).

Among these, Suzuki Shoten was known for Ajinomoto, an umami seasoning made of monosodium glutamate (MSG)—considered one of the three greatest Japanese inventions after the enactment of the nation’s 1899 Patent Law. The other two were pearl cultivation by Kokichi Mikimoto and the automatic loom by Sakichi Toyoda. Most of the products listed above were imported, but Suzuki Shoten’s Ajinomoto was the result of breakthrough innovation, an exceptional feat in Japan at the time.

Invention of Ajinomoto by Kikunae Ikeda

The umami seasoning Ajinomoto went on sale in May 1909 (Meiji 42) as a new, epoch-making product, launched thanks to the efforts of two key people, Kikunae Ikeda, its inventor and a professor at Tokyo Imperial University, and Saburosuke Suzuki II, who commercialized the product.Footnote 1

“Ajinomoto Kabushiki Kaisha Shashi” (1971), a 60-year history of Ajinomoto, describes Ikeda’s invention of Ajinomoto:

The experiment was temporarily suspended after the autumn of 1907 [Meiji 40], as Ikeda was busy with his professional research, but early in the following New Year he came across a dissertation asserting that umami promotes food digestion (Hiizu Miyake, “Food and Digestion”). Since Ikeda was always concerned with correcting Japanese nutritional deficiencies, he was strongly motivated to invent and industrialize inexpensive seasonings.

Thus, Ikeda resumed his research, spending about two years total with a break in between … . Through a relatively short experiment of about three months, he finally discovered that dashi kelp contained glutamate and that this substance (glutamate) was the main component of umami.

He later recalled the motivation for his research and the process of invention as follows:

“In Meiji 40, my wife obtained a bundle of good kelp from Goni-kai’s product fair. I thought that although the chemical industry was producing many beautiful pigments to please the eye and fragrances to delight the sense of smell, products that appealed to the sense of taste were rare, except for saccharin, a dubious sweetener. I felt that research into the main flavor components of kelp might help to make up for this shortcoming. I took the kelp to the laboratory, made a leachate, and removed the inorganic salts and mannitol by crystallizing them, but the flavoring substance was still in the residual liquid. The attempts to separate them in various ways failed. Since I was too busy with other research at the time to continue this experiment outside my professional area, I decided to temporarily halt it. The following year, in [Meiji] 41, I read an article by Dr. Hiizu Miyake in the Journal of Oriental Studies, in which he explained that good taste promotes food digestion. I was also one of those concerned about the nation’s malnutrition, and I had been thinking for a long time about how we could help, but could not come up with a good idea. However, after reading this article, I concluded that creating good and inexpensive seasonings and making meager yet nourishing food delicious would be a way to achieve the goal. I resolved to resume the research that I had suspended the previous year” (pp. 41–42).

These recollections were originally published as “Motive for the Invention of Ajinomoto” by Kikunae Ikeda, included in Tokuhei Kametaka’s “Jinsei Kagaku” [Life is Chemistry], published in 1933 (Showa 8) by Teibi Publishing Company. Clearly, Ikeda was motivated to invent Ajinomoto out of his desire to improve the health of the Japanese citizenry through increased nutritional intake.

The Commercialization Effort by Saburosuke Suzuki II and Others

As a new seasoning, Ajinomoto was subject to repeated trial and error in all aspects of business, such as production and sales. Saburosuke Suzuki II, of Suzuki Shoten, solved a variety of problems and successfully commercialized Ajinomoto.

Suzuki was born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1868 (Keio 3). With his younger brother Chuji and his eldest son Saburo, he incrementally solved problems and laid the foundation for the production and sales of Ajinomoto throughout the 1910s. The following sections describe this process.

Producing Ajinomoto was difficult as the company had no model to follow. However, technicians led by Chuji Suzuki boldly took up the challenge, making improvement upon improvement, and establishing the production technology as they went along.

Saburo was responsible for sales, developing independent and unique marketing activities. He established outlets, formed sales organizations, and conducted advertising and publicity. From its initial launch, Ajinomoto distribution channels were expanded beyond Japan to its colonies and Asian countries and regions such as Taiwan, Korea, and China, securing as broad a market as possible. The scope of Ajinomoto’s activities then expanded across the Pacific to the U.S., with the opening of a New York office in 1917.

Saburosuke took advantage of the World War I boom to expand his chemical business, by starting production and sales of potassium products (especially potassium chlorate) in addition to the existing production of iodine and nitrite. In 1917, he established Suzuki Shoten Kabushiki Kaisha. In the same year, the Suzuki family entered the electrochemical industry, and its business blossomed during the World War I period.

Saburosuke Suzuki II Before His Encounter with Ajinomoto

A biography of Saburosuke II entitled “Biography of Saburosuke Suzuki” was published in 1932, the year after his death, by the Saburosuke Suzuki Biography Compilation Society. The book includes a “Short Biography” (Part 1) describing his life history, his own recollections “My Beginnings and Footsteps” (Part 2), and memorial essays contributed by Kikunae Ikeda and other related persons (Part 5).

How was Saburosuke able to commercialize Ajinomoto? Statements included in the “Biography of Saburosuke Suzuki” provide the answer. The key was his character as an entrepreneur. A person’s character is often vividly revealed in difficult times. Before his encounter with Ajinomoto, Saburosuke faced challenges when he was a regular at the rice exchange in Kakigaracho, Nihonbashi, Tokyo in the late 1880s, making a series of mistakes in market transactions.

After his mother and wife tried to produce iodine products together, they found that they could make a small profit and asked him to return home [from Tokyo] and take a look. He said, “You are talking nonsense and it won’t work.” As was his nature, he was determined to succeed in Kakigaracho, despite repeated failures. This character was one of his strengths. He was able to achieve success in the production of iodine, the promotion of Ajinomoto, and the electric power business because of his prudence, diligence and unyielding efforts. Fortunately or unfortunately, however, success did not arrive in Kakigaracho. (Volume 1, pp. 34–35)

Noteworthy here is that Saburosuke’s failure in the rice market was tied to his personal strengths of prudence, diligence and unyielding effort. The biographer suggests that although Saburosuke’s attitude was admirable, he made a mistake in choosing the rice market as the target of effort. Although this view is persuasive in light of subsequent developments, one question remains. There were doubtless others who were equally diligent and determined but who failed in market trading and ultimately lost their livelihood. How did Saburosuke manage to revive his career when others failed? The following description in the “Biography of Saburosuke Suzuki” provides clues.

His momentum in Kakigaracho was as if he was casting his rod against a current, and instead of moving upstream he was swept downstream. Even Saburosuke, the most strong-willed and patient, came to realize that a change of direction would be best. By chance, his mother urged him to return to his hometown, so he returned, feeling drawn. Seeing his mother and wife working so hard, he must have felt remorse; helping them gradually he learned that the production of iodine was surprisingly interesting. As his interest grew, so did his willingness to help, until he finally decided, “I’ll go out on a limb and give it a try.” By nature, once he made up his mind, he was determined, and once he started, he was not satisfied until he achieved his goal. That is why he finally started a full-fledged effort to manufacture iodine products (Vol. 1, pp. 36–37).

Simply put, having failed in market trading, Saburosuke had a place of return, making his revival possible. The support of his mother Naka and wife Teru was crucial. Without the iodine manufacturing business started by Naka and Teru, Ajinomoto may not have come into existence.

One of Saburosuke’s contemporaries was Tomiro Nagase, who also failed in rice market trading in Kakigaracho, but later achieved success after opening Nagase Shoten, predecessor of today’s Kao Corporation, in 1887 (Meiji 20). In Nagase’s case, experience at Ino Kiichiro Shoten, a Western haberdashery merchant in Nihonbashi Bakurocho, was key to his revival. Nagase joined the business through the recommendation of a local caretaker (Takichi Akiyama). Recovery from a market trading failure is hard even for a diligent and devoted person. Only those fortunate enough to be surrounded by supportive people and who are given worthy goals can make a comeback.

Conditions That Enabled Ajinomoto’s Commercialization

To identify the conditions that made the commercialization of Ajinomoto possible, we need to look at the circumstances of the encounter between Saburosuke Suzuki II and Kikunae Ikeda. Ikeda, who contributed an obituary, “I was the birth parent, you were the foster parent,” to “Biography of Saburosuke Suzuki” describes their encounter as follows:

I first became acquainted with Mr. Suzuki in the 41st year of Meiji [1908]. For many years he had been well-known for his iodine manufacturing. At the time, I was consulted about the use of the by-products of iodine production, but I had nothing to contribute in this respect. However, [through this encounter] I learned that he was a man with an exceptional entrepreneurial spirit. So upon completion of my invention [monosodium glutamate/MSG], I entrusted him with its management, which he gladly accepted. In other words, he became the foster parent of my invention. The hardships of childbirth are great, but they are short-lived. On the other hand, the hardships of raising a child would last for years, and it is an extraordinary feat. (Vol. 5, p. 23).

This text shows that the two men met to discuss the byproducts of iodine production prior to negotiations over the commercialization of Ajinomoto. Ikeda was already so impressed by Saburosuke’s entrepreneurial spirit that he entrusted the commercialization of MSG to him almost immediately. What was Saburosuke’s reaction to Ikeda’s invention of MSG? In his memoirs titled “My Beginnings and Footsteps” (1928) included in “Biography of Saburosuke Suzuki,” Saburosuke recollected:

In Meiji 41 [1909], Dr. Kikunae Ikeda, a doctor of science, invented a seasoning mainly composed of glutamate, and I sincerely believed that if this method could be industrialized to produce a full-fledged product, it would make a great contribution to the happiness of mankind. At the same time, I believed that commercializing and undertaking large-scale production of this item would be an unprecedented experiment. So I worked on its manufacture and sales, named it Ajinomoto, and devoted myself to developing it as a standalone business (Vol. 2, pp. 2–3).

Saburosuke accepted Ikeda’s proposal for commercializing MSG, agreeing with Ikeda’s goal of contributing to human health through umami. Saburosuke also had the entrepreneurial foresight to realize that commercialization of MSG could produce a major global business.

This passage suggests that few people other than Saburosuke were willing to undertake the commercialization of Ikeda’s MSG. However, Teijiro Ishikawa’s “Biography of Saburosuke Suzuki” (Toyo Shokan) published in 1954, states that “Mitsui & Co. appeared as a competitor to Saburosuke in the commercialization of ‘Misei’ [MSG] that was patented by Dr. Ikeda” (pp. 145–146). Unfortunately, I could not confirm whether Mitsui & Co. did indeed emerge as a competitor to Saburosuke’s MSG.

Whether or not Mitsui & Co. emerged as a rival, the manufacture and commercialization of MSG was successful precisely because Ikeda entrusted the product to Saburosuke rather than Mitsui. Prior to World War II, zaibatsu obtained patents and other rights to use innovative technologies in several cases but failed to commercialize them due to conservative attitudes. Consequently, entrepreneurs who were not part of a zaibatsu commercialized such innovations.

The manufacture of synthetic ammonium sulfate by Shitagau Noguchi, to be discussed in Case 12, is a typical example. Commercialization by entrepreneurs occurred not only in the synthetic ammonia industry, but also in the electrical machinery, rayon, and aluminum industries. If Ikeda had left commercialization of MSG to Mitsui, it would have been delayed or halted.

In his later years, Saburosuke looked back on his own business activities and repeatedly stated that “All promising businesses in Japan tend to be monopolized by zaibatsu such as Mitsui and Mitsubishi, so I wanted to start a business that others could not imitate, and I wanted to succeed on my own.”Footnote 2 Ikeda’s entrusting of Saburosuke with this project brought the success of Ajinomoto’s commercialization.

Struggles Leading Up to Ajinomoto’s Commercialization

Actually the commercialization of Ajinomoto was a difficult task for Saburosuke. In his memoir, “My Beginnings and Footsteps,” he wrote:

The invention itself merely showed that artificial seasonings can be chemically produced, but how to industrialize the manufacturing and how to commercialize the product were major problems that remained unsolved. Therefore, it was not difficult to imagine the road ahead as tough for those involved. It had thought about it, but felt I would regret it if I changed my original intention because of the difficulties. I decided to dedicate my life to the project, and in Meiji 42 [1909], built a factory in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture. Work began on the invention but it proved far more difficult than expected, especially because it was an industry originating in our country, with no advanced factories or technology to use as a model. Thus, we suffered beyond description, but unable to advance or retreat, we pressed on with our research plan. After many ups and downs, the undertaking gradually showed promising results. We moved our factory to Kawasaki, Tachibana County, in the [Kanagawa] prefecture in October of Taisho 3 [1914]. In June of Taisho 6 [1917], Suzuki Shoten was organized and put into operation (Vol. 2, p. 3).

Suzuki and staff experienced great hardship not only in manufacturing Ajinomoto, but in its commercialization. Saburosuke’s speech at the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the launch of Ajinomoto (in the president’s speech at Sakau-ro [restaurant], Osaka) indicates this clearly:

To begin with, Ajinomoto was new. Unlike sake or soy sauce, it had not existed. Simply uttering “Ajinomoto” was not an option. In advertising, we had to explain in detail the “ingredients,” “properties,” “uses,” “directions for use,” and “amount used.” In terms of manufacturing, it was also a new business that required original research in equipment, machinery, and instruments. I cannot recall how often we repeatedly failed and produced wastefulness that seems foolish in retrospect. All our employees involved in aspects of manufacturing, sales, and advertising struggled tremendously. (Vol. 2, p. 22)

The entire process of production and sales was almost tearful, even from the perspective of its inventor Ikeda. In his essay “I was the birth parent, you were the foster parent,” Ikeda describes the struggles of “foster parent” Saburosuke as follows.

My invention was made on a laboratory table and had not yet been tested even in a small factory. Therefore, we had to first conduct a test to see if it was suitable for manufacturing. At this time, we had generally identified the difficulties with machinery and equipment required for manufacturing as well as the complicated processes. After completing the small-scale manufacturing tests, we encountered many problems in manufacturing, but your family gradually conquered these through perseverance and persistence. Although the manufacturing process was gradually perfected, it was even more difficult to commercialize the product and develop distribution channels: the product was completely unknown to the public. The first few years of production must have been difficult and miserable. But when the name Ajinomoto gradually gained recognition, the company decided not to rest on its small success and moved its factory from Zushi to Kawasaki, improving the product. At the same time, by applying clever advertising techniques, the company expanded sales channels and finally achieved its present-day success. In this feat, we should be able to see the true colors of your enterprise and your unparalleled business acumen (Vol. 5, p. 24).

What Made Ajinomoto’s Commercialization Possible?

How was Saburosuke able to commercialize Ajinomoto? The answer can be summarized by the following three points.

First, his personality and attitude towards the business, persisting in the original ideal. As noted earlier, he was a man of “prudence, diligence and unyielding efforts” even before his encounter with Ajinomoto. Saburosuke himself said: “I would regret it if I did not continue my original intention due to the difficulties involved. I decided to dedicate my life to this.” And Ikeda highly praised Saburosuke’s “perseverance and efforts.”

Second, Saburosuke’s entrepreneurial ability, foresight and business acumen. His ability is clearly demonstrated in his foresight that MSG could become a major global business. Through clever sales strategy he succeeded in commercializing Ajinomoto, an unknown product, and advanced the business with forward-thinking spirit, usually unthinkable for a zaibatsu.

Third, the Suzukis’ family-wide support. Saburosuke’s recovery from his market trading failure was possible because of the cooperation by his mother and wife. The support of his younger brother Chuji and eldest son Saburo was also indispensable in the commercialization of Ajinomoto. Ikeda’s praise of the efforts of “your family” in the manufacturing of Ajinomoto testifies to this.

Saburosuke Suzuki II passed away in March 1931. The following month Chuji Suzuki became the second president of Suzuki Shoten.