Chikara Kurata
In the years immediately following Japan’s defeat in World War II, when the nation was still in a state of collapse and Western technology seemed overwhelming powerful, Japan tended to look overseas for all its technology. In the midst of this, Chikara Kurata decided that Japan had to quickly develop its science and technology and establish an autonomous technologies that were up to international levels. He devoted his life to achieving this goal, always emphasizing that in order to establish technology that was truly original, outstanding basic research had to be emphasized on a national scale, not just by a single enterprise. Kurata used his own retirement pay to help establish a foundation for promoting home-grown technology.
In 1947 Kurata became Hitachi’s second president. In what was Hitachi’s most difficult time, Kurata, citing the founding principle of using original technology to contribute to the nation’s industry and economy, helped to rebuild Hitachi’s business and also made a major contribution to building the foundation for the technological strength of modern-day Japan.
