Yasuzaemon Matsunaga

Japanese: 松永安左エ門 - まつながやすざえもん

Born: December 11, 1875 in Iki
[Died] June 26, 1971. Tokyo A businessman who worked in the electric power business for three generations during the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa periods. He dropped out of Keio University in 1898, and worked in the foreign exchange department of the Bank of Japan in 1899. He left the company and established the successful coal trader Fukumatsu Shokai in 1901. He participated in the establishment of the Fukuhaku Electric Tramway in 1909, and established and managed Kyushu Electric in 1910, Nippon Gas, and Kyushu Electric Light Railway in 1912. Kyushu Electric Light subsequently expanded by absorbing other companies in the same industry, and Nippon Gas similarly absorbed other companies to become Seibu Gas, gaining control over most of the public utilities in Kyushu. He became a member of the House of Representatives in 1917, and in 1922 he also served as president of Seibu Gas. In the same year, he merged Kansai Electric Power and Kyushu Electric Light to establish Toho Electric Power, which developed into one of the five major electric power companies, and in 1924 he merged two electric power companies in the Kanto region to establish Tokyo Electric Power, which expanded into Tokyo. The company competed fiercely with the existing Tokyo Electric Light Company, and in 1928, with the mediation of the business world, the two companies merged, with Matsunaga serving as a director of Tokyo Electric Light Company as its largest shareholder. In 1938, the Electric Power Control Law was enacted, and the following year, in 1939, Japan Electric Power Transmission Company was established. At the same time, he temporarily retired from the business world, but returned in 1949 to help realize the reorganization of the electric power industry, and launched nine new electric power companies. He subsequently held important positions, including director of the Central Research Institute of the Electric Power Industry.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

[生]1875.12.11. 壱岐
[没]1971.6.26. 東京
明治，大正，昭和の3代にわたり電力事業に取り組んだ実業家。 1898年慶應義塾中退，1899年日本銀行為替課に勤務したが，退職して 1901年石炭商福松商会を設立して成功。 1909年福博電気軌道の設立に参加，1910年九州電気，1912年日本瓦斯，九州電灯鉄道を設立して経営にあたる。その後九州電灯は同業他社を吸収して拡大，日本瓦斯も同様に他社を吸収して西部瓦斯となり，九州における公益事業の大半を手中に収めた。 1917年には衆議院議員となり，1922年西部瓦斯の社長を兼任，また同年関西電気と九州電灯を合併して東邦電力を設立し五大電力の一つに発展，さらに 1924年関東の2電力会社を合併して東京電力を設立し東京へ進出。同社は既存の東京電灯と激烈な競争を展開，1928年財界の調停で両社は合併し，松永は東京電灯の筆頭株主として取締役に就任した。 1938年電力管理法が成立し，翌 1939年日本発送電株式会社が設立されると同時に一時実業界を退いたが，1949年電力事業再編成実現のため再起し，九つの新電力会社を発足させた。その後も電力中央研究所所長などの要職を務めた。

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