Shōjirō Ishibashi

Who was Shōjirō Ishibashi?

Shōjirō Ishibashi was a Japanese businessman who founded the Bridgestone Corporation, the world's largest maker of tires, in 1930 in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. Bridgestone was named after its founder: In the Japanese language ishi means "stone" and bashi means "bridge". hence the origin of the company's name in English.

Ishibashi's daughter, Yasuko Hatoyama, became heir to Ishibashi's considerable fortune and has used the inheritance to fund her family's political causes. She married former Japanese Foreign Minister Iichirō Hatoyama. The couple had two sons, who are Ishibashi's grandchildren - politicians Kunio Hatoyama, who served as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, and Yukio Hatoyama, who was Prime Minister from 16 September 2009 to 8 June 2010.

Ishibashi's motto for Bridgestone was to "serve society with products of superior quality". He founded Ishibashi Cultural Center and the Bridgestone Museum of Art and was a major benefactor of the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, having also constructed the building in which it is housed.