Chapter 2: The Road to Becoming a Producer
Many supermarkets appeared as Japan’s economy took off in the 1960s, and wholesalers like Onizaki enjoyed a lively trade. For supermarkets, selling sesame by weight was not an option. It had to be sold in small packages or it wouldn't sell well. Sesame products such as the Washed Sesame and Roasted Sesame we see today suddenly increased in circulation.
The year was 1968. Her son, who had grown up watching how busy his mother had been, was now 18. He was reluctant to enter the business, but many orders came that his mother couldn't handle alone, and so he had no choice but to help. He washed sesame on sunny days, and during bad weather and at night he roasted and grinded. It was not unusual for mother and son to be working until midnight.
Then one day, the son saw a pamphlet advertising a mixer. Suddenly, the idea of mechanization came to mind. He phoned all the machinery manufacturers he could find in the phone book. He explained the content of his work to each manufacturer and asked them to make a machine that could perform this work. Since machines had never been used for processing sesame, he found it difficult to explain what he needed.
Finally, in 1971, one manufacturer said he might be able to help. It was pouring with rain outside, but the son was not prepared to delay, saying "I will be right there" and hanging up. He jumped into a car with the image of a yet unrealized "ground sesame processor" in mind. Three months later, the processing machine arrived. It was an awkwardly-shaped contraption that looked like a big kettle with a handle attached to it.
The mother and son were overjoyed that their work would be made easier, but the machine didn't work as expected. It didn't transmit heat evenly and the mixing process was uneven as well, rendering the machine useless. At that time, neighbors would come and help, but the mother and son still had to work until 1 or 2 a.m. every day. However, the son could not give up on the idea of mechanization and kept trying.
He thought, "Why don’t I try improving the machine myself?" He had originally wanted to become a mechanic and loved machinery. However, this task proved to be a long and difficult endeavor. NEXT >
