Kawai, Japan’s second largest piano manufacturer (next to Yamaha), was established in 1927 by Koichi Kawai and his partners in Hamamatsu, Japan. Koichi Kawai was always mechanically minded, inventing early on in life.
He started in the piano business as a teenager, worked at Yamaha, and became the first in Japan to completely build a piano action (the piano’s moving inner parts). Koichi passed away in 1955, and his son Shigeru Kawai became president of the company.
Shigeru’s innovative management skills and interest in combining technology and craftsmanship helped to propel the company. Kawai began exporting pianos to the United States in the 1960s, and produced its first pianos in the USA in 1988. Hirotaka Kawai, grandson of the founder, then took over the reins as president of the firm in 1989. Shigeru remained on as chairman until he retired in 2002, and in 2006 he passed away. In 2003, Kawai opened a factory in Indonesia. By 2005, all U.S. manufacturing moved to Japan and Indonesia.
Please refer to below posts for Kawai latest development:
Kawai 公司重組 Readout
Kawai 鋼琴的最新動向
Kawai Official Website: http://www.kawai.co.jp/
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