nissho company was founded in kobe in 1902 as suzuki & company under the leadership of iwajiro suzuki and naokichi kaneko. suzuki was originally a sugar trading firm but later diversified into flour, steel, tobacco, beer, insurance, shipping and shipbuilding; it became the second japanese member of the baltic exchange in london. iwai & company was founded as a steel trading firm in 1901 and established a number of prominent group enterprises including daicel, nisshin steel, tokuyama soda, kansai paint and fuji photo film. it changed its name to iwai sangyo company in 1943.