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The Mitsubishi company was established as a shipping firm by Yatarō Iwasaki (1834–1885) in 1870. In 1873, its name was changed to Mitsubishi Shokai. The name Mitsubishi (三菱) consists of two parts: "mitsu" meaning "three" and "hishi" (which becomes "bishi" under rendaku) meaning "water caltrop" (also called "water chestnut"), and hence "rhombus", which is reflected in the company's logo. It is also translated as "three diamonds". Mitsubishi was established in 1870, two years after the Meiji Restoration, with shipping as its core business. Its diversification was mostly into related fields. It entered into coal-mining to gain the coal needed for ships, bought a shipbuilding yard from the government to repair the ships it used, founded an iron mill to supply iron to the shipbuilding yard, started a marine insurance business to cater for its shipping business, and so forth. Later, the managerial resources and technological capabilities acquired through the operation of shipbuilding were utilized to expand the business further into the manufacture of aircraft and equipment. The experience of overseas shipping led the firm to enter into a trading business. In 1881 the company bought into coal mining by acquiring the Takashima Mine, followed by Hashima Island in 1890, using the production to fuel their extensive steamship fleet. They also diversified into shipbuilding,banking, insurance, warehousing, and trade. Later diversification carried the organization into such sectors as paper, steel, glass, electrical equipment, aircraft, oil, and real estate. As Mitsubishi built a broadly basedconglomerate, it played a central role in the modernization of Japanese industry. In February 1921 the Mitsubishi Internal Combustion Engine Manufacturing Company in Nagoya invited British Sopwith Camel designer Herbert Smith, along with several other former Sopwith engineers to assist in creating an aircraft manufacturing division. After moving to Japan, they designed the Mitsubishi 1MT, Mitsubishi B1M, Mitsubishi 1MF, and Mitsubishi 2MR.

The Mitsubishi Group is made up of about 40 individual companies with no controlling parent company. Each of the Mitsubishi companies owns substantial portions of the shares of the others. Instead of a parent company exercising control over subsidiaries, the group operates under the direction of a triumvirate of the three most important sister companies: the Mitsubishi Bank, the Mitsubishi Corporation, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The senior managers of these three companies act as the co-chairman of a coordinating board called the Kinyo-Kai, or Friday Conference. The Kinyo-Kai, which is made up of the top executives of 25 of the Mitsubishi companies, establishes common policies as a sort of senior board of directors for the entire group.

© 2016 by Pulse Media 

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