10.Casa Tozan (Brazil)
History
Our South American business was started with far-reaching ideals in mind. In other words, among the South American countries, we selected Brazil, which has the closest diplomatic relations with our country through immigration, as the location for our business, and based on the idea of coexistence and mutual prosperity, we established a comprehensive company there covering all sectors of agriculture, industry, and commerce. It was established with the aim of contributing to the industrial development of Brazil, and at the same time contributing to the establishment of the economic life of our countrymen, who number 200,000 today, in the spirit of mutual aid.
Looking back at the history of the development of our company’s South American business, in 1927, we selected and acquired a farm covering 3,700 hectares near Campinas City, São Paulo State, and the following year, we purchased an additional farm of approximately 6,270 hectares near Pindamonyangaba Station, São Paulo State. The business’ origins date back to the merging of both farms and the establishment of the Monte de Este Farm, an agricultural and livestock business for coffee, rice, and other miscellaneous crops. Next, in 1928, a partnership company with a capital of 1,000 contos was established in Santos City called Casa Tozan (at the time of its founding, a separate name was used under Brazilian law as Mizukami Shokai), and it became the main branch of Brazilian agricultural products. Today’s Casa Tozan trading division was born out of the company’s involvement in the coffee business, and it was one of the first Japanese companies to enter the Brazilian commercial and financial worlds. Locally, this coffee handling business is called commissario business, and it also serves as contract sales of Japanese-produced coffee and related financial services. Today, Santos Coffee Commissario, which has more than 100 trading companies, Casa Tozan is the only Japanese company, and its success is outstanding.
Since then, while working to expand the commercial sector and improve the agricultural sector, centering on this commissary industry, we have also gradually attempted to enter the industrial sector, and are currently achieving steady development in both areas. In other words, in 1933, the commercial division established a branch office (currently the head office) in São Paulo and engaged in import and export business to Japan, and in 1940, it expanded to the capital city of Rio de Janeiro, further expanding its business. We have expanded the range of products we handle. The capital has now been increased to 3,500 contos, and the company structure has been changed to a limited liability company.
The industrial sector started later than the agricultural and commercial sectors, but in 1935 it started with the opening of a sake brewing factory on Campinas Farm, and in 1937 it acquired a silk weaving factory in São Paulo City. In 1940, it built the Tozan Fertilizer Factory on the Campinas Farm, and opened the Tozan Iron Works in São Paulo for the purpose of manufacturing machine tools and iron products. We are steadily putting together a system with the hope of making great strides in the future. A separate citrus processing factory has been set up within the Campinas farm, and trials are underway to manufacture processed citrus products.
In the field of finance, a bank was established in 1933 under the Brazilian Banking Law to serve as a separate auxiliary institution for agricultural financing conducted through the traditional commitsario business, and to also contribute to the savings and profit accumulation of Japanese settlers. This opened up a new field for Japanese financial services.
As the types of business became diverse and the scale of business expanded, in 1939, in order to improve the organization, all businesses were incorporated under the name “Casa Tozan” and the headquarters was moved from Santos to São Paulo. Under his control and direction, all operations have been divided into seven divisions as shown in the table below, and communication between each division has been maintained. (Formerly known as Casa Tozan, it corresponds to the current trading department.) For this reason, the Casa Tozan headquarters is referred to as the general manager’s office within the company. In 1940, the first general manager, Shin Kimizuka, was transferred to the head office, and now Kiyoshi Yamamoto is in charge as the general manager of Casa Tozan, and there are 58 employees in each department. There are 106 Japanese workers and 12 foreign employees, totaling 302 people.
Casa Tozan Headquarters (General Manager’s Office)
Department name
Business category
– Commercial Department
Handling all agricultural products, foreign trade operations
– Agricultural Affairs Department
Agricultural products, livestock farming, afforestation
– Banking Department
Deposit acceptance, lending
– Industrial Department
Silk weaving factory, agricultural processing, brewing industry, fertilizer factory, ironworks
– Real Estate Department
Real estate buying, selling, and management
– General Affairs Department
New business planning and research, human resources, company regulations, and other tasks that do not belong to other departments
– Accounting Department
Operations related to accounting audits
Below, we would like to provide a detailed explanation of the business content of each department, including the names given to them, for your reference.