Doi (株式会社ドイ, Kabushiki Kaisha Doi) was a large Japanese retailer and distributor, best known outside Japan as the company that revived the Makina in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Doi in the 1950s
Doi Shōten (土居商店), also referred to as Doi Shōkai (土居商会), was a Japanese retailer, distributor, or both.[1]
In 1951, the company was advertising its distribution of the Elegaflex and of elega (ヱレガ) items.[2] Its address was 大阪市北区曽根崎中1–32. Slightly later advertisements for the Elegaflex say that its distributor is the Tokyo-based Nittō Shashin Yōhin, for which this is given as the Osaka address.
Doi Kimio (土居君雄), son of the Mr Doi of Doi Shōten, started a branch in Fukuoka (福岡市博多区冷泉町) at some time around 1956. In 1959 this became Doi (株式会社ドイ, Kabushiki Kaisha Doi).
Notes
- ↑ The advertisement on p. 122 of Kokusan kamera no rekishi is by Doi Shōkai; Hagiya refers to Doi Shōten (pp. 196–7).
- ↑ Advertisement placed in Asahi Camera, September 1951; reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 122.
Sources / further reading
In Japanese:
- Asahi Camera (アサヒカメラ) editorial staff. Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi (昭和10–40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史, Japanese camera history as seen in advertisements, 1935–1965). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. ISBN 4-02-330312-7. Item 418.
- Hagiya Takeshi (萩谷剛). "Makina 67: Ribaibaru shita jabara-kamera" (マキナ67：リバイバルした蛇腹カメラ, Makina 67: A bellows camera revival). Chapter 10 of Zunō kamera tanjō: Sengo kokusan kamera jū monogatari (ズノーカメラ誕生：戦後国産カメラ10物語, The birth of the Zunow camera: Ten stories of postwar Japanese camera makers). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 1999. ISBN 4-257-12023-1.