The Dawning of a Concept

At the beginning of the 1960s, the Japanese economy was champing at the bit on the premonition of imminent explosive growth. In fact, incumbent prime minister Ikeda Hayato felt confident enough of such prospects to unveil and launch his Cabinet’s income-doubling plan for the nation. Preparations were also in the works for Japan’s post-war symbolic reinstatement within the community of nations through its holding of the 1964 Olympic Games. Japan was once more a fully viable, functioning socioeconomic phenomenon whose structural makeup merited detailed perusal. Not untypical of those surveying the landscape was a young scholar called Nakamura Hideichiro. He was researching for a book on the perceived problems of what in Japanese are referred to as chusho kigyo, and in English as small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs.