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 1940s and 1950s
Doi Shōten (土居商店) was already active as a retailer or distributor in 1941 and 1942, based in Osaka.[1] It sold a number of cameras made by Riken Kōgaku Kōgyō.
After the war, it is said that the company was revived in 1949.[2] In 1951, the company was distributing the Elegaflex and Elega (ヱレガ) items, from another Osaka address.[3]
By November 1952, it had changed its name to Nittō Shashin Yōhin (日東写真用品㈱), with the same Osaka address. The new name means "Japan photographic goods".[4] By April 1953, the company had moved its main office to Tokyo and opened a branch in Fukuoka.[5]
It seems that the Fukuoka branch became K.K. Doi (㈱ドイ) in 1959, under the direction of Doi Kimio (土居君雄), son of the Mr Doi of Doi Shōten.
Notes
- ↑ Its address was Higashi-ku Zaimoku-chō (東区材木町) 10. Source: advertisements dated January 1941 to July 1942 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, pp. 64, 83 and 104, here in the Gochamaze website and here in Nostalgic Camera by Toshio Inamura.
- ↑ The date 1949 is given as the date of foundation in the Japanese Wikipedia page and in the English Wikipedia page.
- ↑ The address was Kita-ku Sonezaki-naka (北区曽根崎中) 1–32. Source: advertisement placed in Asahi Camera (September 1951), reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 122.
- ↑ Advertisement dated November 1952 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 123. Only the Osaka address is given for the company, with the mention "former Doi Shōten" (土居商店跡).
- ↑ The Tokyo address was Chūō-ku Nihonbashi Honchō (中央区日本橋本町) 1–6 and the Fukuoka address was Higashi-nakasu Sakujinmachi (東中州作人町) 168 in April and May 1953 and Kamioyamamachi (上小山町) 36 in July 1954. Source: advertisements dated April 1953 to July 1954 reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p. 123.
Sources / further reading
- 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.
- 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.
Links
In Japanese:
- Advertisement by Doi Shōten, published in the 29 July 1942 issue of Asahi Graph, reproduced in the Japanese camera page of the Gochamaze website
- Advertisement by Doi Shōten dated 1942, reproduced in Nostalgic Camera, a page of old Japanese advertisements by Toshio Inamura