On this Day: Fujifilm was founded

Fujifilm is a name synonymous with film photography. Though now they have diversified and offer a wide range of products and services including medical systems, graphic arts, and electronic materials, the company was initially just a film and photography brand. It was founded by Kahunichi Nakajima, and its headquarter is in Tokyo, Japan. Now the company is loved by people across the globe and is more fondly referred to as simply “Fuji”. Many of you would be surprised to know that Fujifilm was actually started as a subsidiary brand for a chemical company called Daicel Corporation.

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The company’s name has an intended purposeful meaning. It is a combination of two things that are basically representative of the brand itself. “Fuji” refers to Mount Fuji in Japan. It is considered a sacred mountain and is a symbol of Japan as well. The founder of the company wanted to convey a sense of tradition and stability with it. The other word in the name, “film” is merely a homage at this point to the company’s primary product when it was founded back in 1934.

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It was during the 1940s when Fujifilm first entered into other product categories by dabbling into optical glasses, lenses, and equipment markets. It was after World War II, Fujifilm started manufacturing medical equipment starting with X-ray diagnosis and later branching out into other domains over subsequent decades.

Fujifilm has remained relevant and was able to ride the tide of severe changes from the analog to the digital era. The company still makes films, which are some of the best in the market. From its humble beginnings as a mere manufacturer of photographic film, Fujifilm has come a long way to make its presence felt in several other product categories.