100 Stories1951 “Shun-ju Asahi” a Shareholder Magazine that Connected Shareholders with the Company

Asahi Kasei published a private information magazine for shareholders. The magazine was published twice a year from 1951 in response to the increase in the number of individual shareholders after the war, when stocks were widely popularized with the general public.

The magazine was also enjoyable enough to read, with dialogues and essays by executives and contributions from experts. The cover design of each issue became more and more elaborate, reminding one of that of a typical magazine. The magazine's appeal came from the fact that it allowed the reader to see the faces of the executives, as it included their thoughts on what they were thinking and what they wanted to do with the company.

The first issue of the magazine begins with President Takenobu Kataoka's opening remarks. It reads, “I have been constantly reflecting on various ways of going about the task of determining whether the solidarity between shareholders and the company is fine just the way it is now, and if not, what should be done about it.”

Kataoka had been holding shareholders' meetings twice a year, but he felt that they had become a formality, with some shareholders living far away and others unable to attend due to time constraints. The article describes the first issue as a first step towards providing shareholders with information on the company's business performance, what kind of industries it emphasizes, and the beliefs of its management.

An interesting part of this first issue is a dialogue among the company's management team, led by Kagayaki Miyazaki, who was the managing director at the time. The magazine was a project that revealed the personal side of the management team, which was the aim of the first issue of Shun-ju Asahi. The seven-page discussion on the theme of “The Current State of U.S.-German Industry and the Future of Asahi Kasei” was a great glimpse into the personalities of each of the members of the management team.

In November 1951, when Shun-ju Asahi was first published, there were 56 million shares outstanding, but as the company grew, the total number of shares issued grew to 1.2 billion, 15 years later. During this period, the Shun-ju Asahi continued to be published twice a year, serving as a link between the company and its many shareholders.

The Shun-ju Asahi continued to be published for a total of 45 issues over a 24-year period since its first issue in 1951. The April 1975 issue marked the end of the magazine's publication, but the richness of its content remained unchanged until the final issue. Among other things, it reliably delivered the present state of Asahi Kasei to shareholders, including the status of every industry, overseas operations, and regional activities, in a column titled “Asahi Kasei Activities.”

Although the Shun-ju Asahi sadly came to an end after its 24-year history, it has long been valued within the company as a source of detailed information about the company's state of affairs at the time. Today, the total number of shares issued by Asahi Kasei is close to 1.4 billion. The Shun-ju Asahi, which has connected the company with its shareholders since the postwar period when the total number of shares issued was still small, was a witness to Asahi Kasei's history.