Company Name ZOJIRUSHI CORPORATION President Norio Ichikawa Date of Incorporation May 10, 1918 Date of Establishment December 29, 1948 Paid-in Capital 4,022,950,000 yen Business Activities Manufacturing and Marketing of innovative household products, and Supplier of related commercial and industrial appliances Zojirushi Data Book Year Ended November 20, 2007 (148kb)     Board of Directors   Principal Group Companies   Consolidated Balance Sheet   Consolidated Statement of Operations   Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows   Selected Financial Data *View our Zojirushi Data Book by downloading the PDF file using Adobe Acrobat® ReaderTM

	1918 Ichikawa Brothers Trading Company is established in Osaka. 1948 Corporate name is changed to Kyowa Manufacturing Co., Ltd.; vacuum bottle manufacturing and sales begins. 1953 Corporate name is changed to Kyowa Vacuum Bottle Co., Inc. 1961 Name is changed to Zojirushi Corporation and the elephant is adopted as the corporate logo; ZO means elephant, in Japanese, which symbolizes strength, intelligence and familiarity. 1964 Japan's first automated vacuum bottle production equipment is developed; mass production of glass vacuum bottle liners begins. 1968 Osaka factory is opened. 1970 Construction is completed for Osaka Head Office building and Shiga Manufacturing Plant; new electric rice warmer is introduced. 1973 Air Pot is launched, Zojirushi receives high acclaim for this push-type beverage dispenser. 1980 Sale of electric air pots commenced. 1981 Stainless steel double wall vacuum bottles are launched; Stainless steel vacuum bottle manufacturing process is patented and the TUFFBOY line is introduced. 1983 Micro computerized, Micom electric rice cooker/warmer is introduced. 1985 Tokyo Main Office is completed. 1986 Zojirushi lists shares on the Second Section of the Osaka Securities Exchange; corporate identity is introduced; Union Zojirushi Co., Ltd., in Thailand is established. 1987 Zojirushi America Corporation is established in California, U.S.A. 1988 The Home Bakery, bread machine is introduced. 1993 Minuet Computer Integrated Manufacturing system is launched. 1995 Zojirushi Hong Kong Co., Ltd. and Zojirushi-Simatelex Co., Ltd. are established. 1996 Korea Liaison Office is incorporated in Seoul. 1998 Zojirushi celebrates 80th Anniversary; Shiga Factory is certified with ISO9002. 1999 Osaka and Shiga Factory are certified with ISO14001. 2000 Europe Liaison Office is incorporated in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Osaka Factory is certified with ISO9001. 2001 New President Mr. Norio Ichikawa is appointed; Taiwan Representative Office is incorporated in Taipei, Taiwan;"Mimamori Hotline" project is commenced to help monitor the elderly through their use of an electric "I-Pot*". *For more details of "I-Pot", visit http://www.mimamori.net (currently available in Japanese only)