In 2025, Tomioka Cleaning will celebrate its 75th anniversary.
There are many century-old companies in Japan, so 75 years is still quite young and not particularly unusual, but for our company it can be considered a milestone of some kind, so there is some excitement within the company.
And above all, we owe it all to our customers and business partners who have supported us to continue on until now. We would like to express our gratitude once again for their patronage, and we consider this to be a good opportunity to look back on ourselves and look to the future so that we can continue to grow as a company that is needed by all of you.
Thank you very much for all your support so far. I look forward to your continued support in the future.
Now, let's start by looking back to our founding, 75 years ago.
Our company was founded in 1950 (probably August?) by Kiroku Tomioka.
He was my grandfather. He was born in February 1903 (Meiji 36), so he was 47 years old when the second generation owner, Shigeyoshi Tomioka, was just 9 years old. So he started the business quite late.
Kiroku was born in Shimokita, Aomori Prefecture, and as his name suggests, he was the youngest of six sons.
(Tomioka in Shimokita can be traced back to its origins, when the family migrated from Mikuniminato in Fukui Prefecture around the time of the Genroku era in the Edo period, about four or five generations before Kiroku. The family's name was Kobari-ya, and they were a merchant family involved in Kitamae-bune shipping, perhaps as a speculator or shipping wholesaler.)
I don't know how it happened, but Kiroku ended up in Kushiro, Hokkaido, and probably shortly after the post-war chaos he came to Nakashibetsu, working as a supplies clerk at Nakashibetsu Airport or something like that.
After that, he started selling clothes to make a living, and then, after being introduced to a friend, he started doing dry cleaning.
There probably wasn't any conviction or clear vision for the future.
I imagine that they were alone, far from their hometown, with no assets, and just desperately trying to support their five children as a couple during the chaotic period after the war.
My grandfather passed away in 1968 at the age of 67, so I never met him.
"He was a quiet man." "He liked tea."
The fragmentary memories of my grandfather that I have heard bit by bit from my father and other relatives are becoming vague, and I don't know much.
I would like to talk to my grandfather.
Now that I have been handed the baton to the third generation, I am wanting to know more and more.
Why did you come to Nakashibetsu? Why did you start cleaning? What hardships did you face? What kind of future did you envision?
In any case, Tomioka Cleaning exists today because my grandfather started the cleaning business, and I feel that since we've come so far, it is my job as the third generation owner to make the company last for 100 years and pass the baton to the next generation.
We're only 3/4ths away from 100 years.
As we approach our 100th anniversary, what does the next 25 years hold?
I have both hopes and fears, but I will do my best to create a bright future no matter what the times, and to make Tomioka Cleaning an even more exciting store.
Thank you very much for your cooperation.
