Yoshisuke Aikawa

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Yoshisuke Aikawa (or Gisuke Ayukawa) (鮎川 義介 Aikawa Yoshisuke, November 6, 1880 - February 13, 1967) was a Japanese businessman. He turned the Kuhara Mining Company into Nissan in 1928 (with Nihon Sangyo). He was the founder and first of the president of Nissan zaibatsu between 1931 and 1945.

He was born in Yamaguchi, and graduated from Tokyo Imperial University in 1903. After working in United States for one years, he founded some companies including Nissan Motors and NEC helped by Inoue Kaoru, who was his close relative.

In 1937 he moved to Manchukuo and made a close relationship with Kantogun. He took charge as chairman of the Manchurian Industrial Development Company, the "Manchu Industrial Zaibatsu". In this position he guided all industrial efforts in this country, implementing during the 1930s two five-years plans, following the previous economical and industrial plan lines organized for this nation by Army ideologist Naoki Hoshino. He set up some loans from American steel industrialists to support the Manchukuo economy in the initial period of the Japanese administration there, before 1941.

He proposed Fugu Plan, which introduced Jewish refugee to Manchukuo.

He predicted German defeat and clash with Kantogun. In 1942 he resigned chairman of the Manchurian Industrial Development Company, and moved back to Japan.


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