Kawasaki's origins go back to 1878, when Shozo Kawasaki established KawasakiTsukiji Shipyard in Tokyo. Eighteen years later, in 1896, it was incorporatedas Kawasaki Dockyard Co., Ltd.Born in Kagoshima to a kimono merchant, Shozo Kawasaki became a tradesmanat the age of 17 in Nagasaki, the only place in Japan then open to theWest. He started a shipping business in Osaka at 27, which failed whenhis cargo ship sank during a storm. In 1869, he joined a company handlingsugar from Ryukyu (currently Okinawa Prefecture), established by a Kagoshimasamurai, and in 1893, researched Ryukyu sugar and sea routes to Ryukyuat the request of the Ministry of Finance. In 1894, he was appointed executivevice president of Japan Mail Steam-Powered Shipping Company, and succeededin opening a sea route to Ryukyu and transporting sugar to mainland Japan.Having experienced many sea accidents in his life, Kawasaki deepened his trust in Western ships because they were more spacious, stable and fasterthan typical Japanese ships. At the same time, he became very interestedin the modern shipbuilding industry. In April 1878, supported by MasayoshiMatsukata, the Vice Minister of Finance, who was from the same provinceas Kawasaki, he established Kawasaki Tsukiji Shipyard on borrowed landfrom the government alongside the Sumidagawa River, Tsukiji Minami-Iizaka-cho(currently Tsukiji 7-chome, Chuo-ku), Tokyo, a major step forward as a shipbuilder.