An initiation speech
June 22nd, 2005
President of the Ozeki Co. Ltd.
Mr.Ryutaro Ozeki
My classification is Inorganic Chemical Products - Dye Distribution. Dyes are used for coloring, and are divided into 2 categories: inorganic dyes made from metals and minerals, and organic dyes made from petroleum makes colors brighter.
Although many dyes are used in our living space, the source of the coloring is rarely questioned. Dyes are an important by - player in enriching our living.
Dyes have existed from before history as ancient ruins tell us. Soot was used to prepare ink for writing. In the ancient Chinese palaces, lead was used for whitening cosmetics, and silver was used for red lip coloring.
In the world, lead red was discovered in the 8th century, bur in the 14th, and lead yellow early in the 19th century. Cosmetics came to be widely used for coloring faces in the latter half of the 19th century and basis for modern cosmetic coloring was created.
In Japan, until the Edo Period (1600 a.d.- ) lead red was used for lacquer ware, lead white for cosmetics, silver red for coloring the ‘Torii’ gate at the entrance to shrines, and metal rust for coloring structures and pottery.
With the advent of the chemical industry after the Meiji restoration and the growth in our boom period of our petro - chemical industry the cosmetic industry saw an explosive growth.
At the time of the Meiji Restoration (1867) Japan had no chemical industries to speak of, and such products were all imported.
After the Russo - Japanese War (1905) with the growth of our publishing industry, the need for printer’s ink arose, and also with the expansion of our shipbuilding and rolling stock manufacturing, painting such products called for paints.
When imports were curtailed due to World War ��, local industry arose to fill the gap.
In 1952, the growth of the petro chemical industry and the appearance of synthetic plastics strongly impacted our industry as a new market for synthetic plastic coloring appeared.
With the growth of our automobile industry, and our civil
engineering projects such a bridges and highways, high quality paints were required. With color pages becoming popularly used and color being used more in food packaging the demand arose. Recently, with color copying machines coloring is becoming widely used for digital processes.
However our paint industry faces a challenge from the lessening of demand due to the bursting of our bubble, the over supply in Europe and America, and the emergence of the Chinese paint industry.
Paint and coloring is now a world industry. For the future we see an Increasing demand in developing nations, the emergence of new markets our products, the use of paint as an environmental medium.
As persons make choices according to what they like and dislike, coloring will continue to be an important by-player in your lives.