Canon

Canon was born in an area of Tokyo, Japan called Roppongi. As a small laboratory was dedicated to creating high quality cameras, the first steps in building this multi-billion dollar company of our time began. The business men at Canon noticed how most high quality cameras were being produced by Germany and other European countries and thought that they could do better. In 1935 the “Hanza Canon” was the first camera that released from this company and the first product that was adorned with the name that would become synonymous with high quality optics “Canon”.

By 1950 the company had grown and would name its first president Takeshi Mitarai. Takeshi was well educated and was a business man with drive. Traveling to the United States to attend international trade fairs and seeing modern factories and their processes, decided to build a fireproof factory re-enforced with strong concrete covered steel trusses. This would become the home for all future productions and gave the company a stable outlet for distribution. Takeshi had a strong business sense but also understood people. Reportedly he always supported the “three selfs” as a guiding principle for all employees and their work.

Canon is now a worldwide leader in photography and photo printing technologies. With headquarters in every continent it is hard to find an area anywhere that has not been changed in some way by the technological leaps that Canon has brought to the consumer world. The official headquarters to Canon are still located in Japan and this is where much of their research and development takes place. However, once they became a global leader in photography and digital technologies they now have headquarters or outposts all over the world.