Ryugo and the Angel: Cross-industrial and cross-sector collaboration

on business archives exhibitions in Japan

Yuko Matsuzaki, PhD

Business Archives Specialist

Information Resources Center

Shibusawa Eiichi Memorial Foundation

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Collaborative Examples

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First introduced Western-style sweets to Japan in late

19th century

Now a leading sweets manufacturer in Japan

Taichiro Morinaga (1865–1937) trained in US as pastry

chef and converted to Christianity

Morinaga & Co., Ltd.

1905- 1915- 1920- 1927- 1933- 1951- 1986-present

http://www.morinaga.co.jp/company/about/history.html

Morinaga shashi

(volumes of business history):

1954 - Morinaga go-ju nenshi

(Morinaga 55 Year History)

2000 - Morinaga Seika hyaku nenshi:

Habataku enzeru isseiki

(Morinaga 100 Year History:

One Century of the Flying Angel)

Seiji Noaki was transferred to

the Office of Corporate History

in June 2003

Became a Registered Archivist with

the Japan Society for Archival Science

Morinaga & Co., Ltd.

Left: Morinaga Seika

hyaku nenshi

Below: Seiji Noaki at the Morinaga

Office of Corporate History

Strategy: enhance internal valuation of corporate

archives by increasing external appreciation

1. create finding aids, digitise archival materials,

preservation

2. marketing the collection

Mar 2010 – Morinaga Seika kigyo korekushon

wo ikashita tenrankai no go-teian

(Proposal for Exhibitions that

Take Advantage of the Morinaga

Corporate Collections)

Feb 2011 – collaborative exhibition planning

meetings with Tobacco & Salt Museum

Morinaga & Co., Ltd.

Pamphlet cover

Shared history of tobacco and salt in Japan:

Early 1900s – government monopoly

1949 – switch to management by government-affiliated

public corporation

1985 – establishment of Japan Tobacco and opening of

domestic markets

Nov 1978 – Tobacco & Salt Museum opened

managed by Tobacco Academic Studies Center

Collecting of items began in 1932

Majority of collections lost during/after

WWII from fires, confusion, or moves

Tobacco & Salt Museum

Above: current

building, opened

April 2015

Right: previous

building in

Shibuya, Tokyo

1) Virtual reconstruction of 1960s

sweets shop

2) Chronology of the development

of Morinaga from founding in

1899 to the present

3) Founding of the company

4) Morinaga milk caramel

5) Morinaga products and tie-in

merchandise and goods

6) Nostalgic advertisements

Special Exhibition: “Morinaga Candy Box: A Gift from the Angel”

11 Nov 2011 – 9 Jan 2012

Special Exhibition: “Morinaga Candy Box: A Gift from the Angel”

11 Nov 2011 – 9 Jan 2012

Expenses shared:

Tobacco & Salt Museum – fixtures,

transportation, insurance, catalogue

Morinaga – other expenses

External attention: 13,108 visitors

(average of 243 per day over 54 days)

More diverse age range than for

museum normally

Internal attention:

Visited by Morinaga board members

Featured in Kabunushi tsushin

(Shareholders Newsletter)

article on the exhibition at the Tobacco & Salt Museum

in Morinaga’s Kabunushi tsushin (fiscal 2011)

Special Exhibition: “Morinaga Candy Box: A Gift from the Angel”

11 Nov 2011 – 9 Jan 2012

Subsequent collaborative exhibitions

between Morinaga and local public

museums:

1) Morioka, Iwate prefecture

Visited by Morinaga chairman

and senior directors

2) Saga, Saga prefecture

Visited by Morinaga chairman,

president, and senior directors

Featured in Kabunushi tsushin

for fiscal 2013

3) Imari, Saga prefecture

Right: map of Japan

Below: (bottom right)

article on the exhibition in

Saga (Kabunushi tsushin)

Dedicated to memory and high ideals of

Shibusawa Eiichi (1840-1931), a leading

Japanese industrialist

Morinaga exhibition at Tobacco & Salt

Museum inspired the Shibusawa

“Tracing the Origins of Companies”

exhibition series:

Shibusawa Warehouse (Mar – May 2012)

Oji Paper (Mar – May 2013)

Imperial Hotel (Mar – May 2014)

Tokyo Chamber of Commerce

(Oct – Nov 2014)

Toyobo (Mar – May 2015)

Shibusawa Eiichi Memorial Foundation

1897 – Established by Shibusawa Eiichi in 1897 to further

the industrial and financial development of Japan

1909 – Reorganized as a joint stock company

1930s ~ Began expanding domestically

1950 – Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange

Late 1960s ~ Began expanding internationally into East and

Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe

Shibusawa Warehouse shashi (volumes of business history):

1931 – Shibusawa Soko Kabushiki Kaisha san-ju nen koshi

(Shibusawa Warehouse Co., Ltd. Concise 30 Year History)

1959 – Shibusawa Soko roku-ju nenshi (Shibusawa Warehouse 60 Year History)

1977 – Shibusawa Soko no hachi-ju nen (Eighty Years of Shibusawa Warehouse)

1999 – Shibusawa Soko hyaku nenshi (Shibusawa Warehouse 100 Year History)

Shibusawa Warehouse Co., Ltd.

Shibusawa Soko

hyaku nenshi

History of Shibusawa

Warehouse, its role in the

development of modern

Japan, and interaction with

the local community

Textual corporate records

Visual materials

Special Exhibition: “The Shibusawa Warehouse Co., Ltd.

and Shibusawa Eiichi”

17 Mar – 27 May 2012

Scenes from

the special

exhibition

Shirushi hanten: a short coat decorated

with the name or mark of a company

Shibusawa Warehouse shirushi hanten:

dark blue coat with scarlet ryugo mark

(silhouette of bobbin with thread)

Reference to Shibusawa family business

of manufacturing and selling aidama

(balls of indigo dye)

Ryugo is still used today – a symbol of

the company’s roots and Shibusawa

Eiichi’s business ethics

Special Exhibition: “The Shibusawa Warehouse Co., Ltd.

and Shibusawa Eiichi”

17 Mar – 27 May 2012

Right: Shibusawa

Warehouse

shirushi hanten

Below: Shibusawa

Warehouse home page

with ryugo mark

Special Exhibition: “The Shibusawa Warehouse Co., Ltd.

and Shibusawa Eiichi”

17 Mar – 27 May 2012

After exhibition photographic

fabric panels donated to

Shibusawa Warehouse

exhibited in corporate headquarters

leading to visits by employees,

customers, local citizens, and

school children

Corporate history workshops

organized collaboratively

by Shibusawa Warehouse

and the Shibusawa Museum

held at corporate headquarters and

nearby elementary school

Photographic

fabric panels

In conclusion…

“Due to a lack of exhibition facilities or of opportunity, historical archives, which in a sense have public value, were dead weight in a number of companies.

This exhibition is a very fortunate occasion for such companies. It is a company’s mission to provide access like this for the general public to its historical archives, which can be said to be equal to the cultural assets.

I sincerely hope that this kind of special exhibition can continue to be held in the future.”

Katsuhiro Utada President, Business Archives Association of Japan

Former Chairman and president, Ajinomoto Co., Inc.

President Utada at the

34th General Meeting of the BAA

May 25, 2015

In conclusion…

Thank you!

Yuko Matsuzaki

matsuzaki@shibusawa.or.jp