NITTOH KOGAKU K.K.

In the late 19th to the early 20th centuries, the Suwa area of Shinshu (Nagano Prefecture) was a major center of filature or silk spinning that supported Japan's silk industry. The predecessor of Nittoh Kogaku was one of the companies engaging in that filature. However, the year 1943 marked a dramatic turning point that dictated a switchover to the virtually unknown field of manufacturing camera lenses. Since then, in response to the newly arising demands of the times, the company diversified from not only lens production but to all fields that require optical equipment and expertise. This undaunted challenger-like spirit has become nothing less than Nittoh Kogaku's long-term tradition - one might say the corporate DNA inherited by successive generations.

The Suwa region of Nagano Prefecture is the greatest industrial area in Japan for the manufacture of precision, general, electrical and other machinery. From before until after World War II, many factories relocated to the Suwa region, which was Japan's largest silk spinning area, to make a new start and develop this area into a large industrial region for the machinery industry. The value of Suwa is even now being enhanced as an industrial area famous for precision machinery and electronic components.
This progress is truly thanks to the unique characteristics of the Suwa region, where there is an abundance of ideas for local manufacture of the necessities, and where there is a high level of technology enabled by the fine handwork cultivated through the silk spinning industry.