Kunihiko Iwadare

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Kunihiko Iwadare (岩垂邦彦, Iwadare Kunihiko^?, August 15, 1857 - December 20, 1941) was a Japanese businessman. A graduate of the Imperial College of Engineering (Kobu Daigaku) in Tokyo, he worked as a telegraph engineer for the Japanese government. He left Japan in 1886 and traveled to New York. He was introduced to Charles Batchelor, an assistant of Thomas Edison. Iwadare was hired to work in an Edison facility in Manhattan at Goerck Street. Iwadare was transferred to Edison Machine Works in Schenetady, New York in January 1887. He returned to Japan, hoping to participate in building the electrical industry in Japan. He became the general sales agent in Japan for the Electric Corporation of the United States of America in 1895. Western Electric wished to expand their telephone equipment sales business in Japan. They met with Iwadare and proposed a limited partnership with Iwadare. Their representative was Walter Tenney Carleton. Iwadare accepted the proposal and a new firm was created in August, 1898. In 1899, changes to treaties between Japan and the western countries went into effect. The limited partnership created in 1898 was restructured into the joint stock company, Nippon Electric Co. Ltd. Western Electric held 54% of the stock. Iwadare was named Managing Director of what is now known as NEC Corporation.