Considering the current state of Japan’s economy, it’s remarkable to recall that 60 years ago there were hundreds of companies both old and new jockeying restlessly to fill the vacuum left after almost all the nation’s cities were heavily bombed in World War II — jockeying, that is, with the kind of entrepreneurial verve now associated with China or India.
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| All aboard: Kotaro Horiuchi pilots a three-strut hydrofoil he built in 1952. KOTARO HORIUCHI PHOTOS |
| The Horiuchi family in a German faltboot being paddled by his father in the mid-1930s. |
And yet, in the memories of many now elderly Japanese that bygone spirit of experimentation, creative product development and aggressive marketing lives on. Kotaro Horiuchi is a case in point. Read about Japan’s nostalgia for its days of innovation