destroyed much of the country's industrial base. Toyota manufactured automatic looms for the textile industry until 1935. Datsun had begun building cars on a small scale as early as 1911, but did not become a sizable business until 1933, when it was reorganized under Nissan Motor Company, Ltd., and sought technical assistance from the American Graham-Paige Company, which was absorbed into the abortive Kaiser-Frazer Corporation following World War II (Miller, 1990, pp. 36-37).
During this period of worldwide depression, jingoistic zeal in Japan outpowered a rapid industrialization. Most of the effort was directed toward rearmament but there were some Japanese, like a young rebel named Soichiro Honda--in some ways the Henry Ford of Japan--who remained fascinated with the technology of the passenger automobile. The son of a small-town blacksmith, Honda spent the thirties as a wild amateur car racer and founder of a firm which intended to manufacture piston rings. An impulsive man who scorned formal education, Honda belatedly discovered that his product was hopelessly brittle. He had been unaware of the crucial need for silicon in his metallurgy. He pressed ahead, corrected the problem, and managed to succeed.
Like the rest of his country, Honda's business was ravaged by the war. His small factory was first hit by American bombs, then leveled by an earthquake shortly after the war ended. Japanese industrial strength, from the Mitsubishi giants to the struggling Honda, was reduced to zero in 1945 (Toy, 1988, p. 90-96).
Yet the economic miracle of the 1950s was born, and with it came a new Japanese automobile industry. In the beginning it was s source of amusement to Westerners rather than a perceived threat. In 1953, Nissan began production of the British Austin A-40 sedan under license. Hino Corporation made a similar arrangement with Renault to manufacture the tiny 4-CV, and Isuzu contracted with the English Rootes ...