Another legend calls it a day - Tamiya, the man who brought perfection to plastic race car models, dies at 90
SHIZUOKA (Japan): Chairman of the Japanese plastic model kit maker Tamiya Inc., Shunsaku Tamiya, known for its radio-controlled cars and Mini 4WD models, has died, the company has announced.
He was 90, Kyodo News reported.
Tamiya, who died of undisclosed causes, was credited with raising the global profile of the Shizuoka-based toy maker. While the funeral was held privately by close relatives, the company plans to hold a memorial event.
The Shizuoka native long served as the company's president, helping raise his hometown's standing in the plastic model industry through trade and hobby shows, according to the maker.
After graduating from Waseda University in Tokyo in 1958, he joined Tamiya Shoji & Co., which was then operated by his father, Yoshio.
Tamiya became president of the company in 1984 and was named chairman in 2008.
For the record, Tamiya led the company that bore his family's name for more than four decades, turning it into one of the world's largest makers of build-it-yourself plastic model kits of race cars and military vehicles.
Since producing its first such kit in 1960, of the Japanese World War II battleship Yamato, Tamiya Inc has become a globally known brand that also produces remote-controlled cars.
Under the leadership of Tamiya, who replaced his father as the company's president, Tamiya Inc won popularity worldwide for making kits that excelled in quality and historical detail.
In 1967, one of its miniature models so faithfully reproduced a Formula One racing car, down to the location of a starter battery beneath the driver's seat, that the maker of the original vehicle, Honda Motor, wondered if he had access to trade secrets but decided to let it pass.
His pursuit of accuracy also once took him to the embassy of the Soviet Union in Tokyo, where he sought details about Warsaw Pact tanks. This drew the attention of Japan's public security bureau, which placed him under surveillance for a time.
Tamiya was serving as the company's chair at the time of his death. According to the company, he still enjoyed standing at the entrance to an annual trade show near Tamiya's headquarters in Shizuoka, a city south of Tokyo, to watch the children come in.
Although the company continues to produce model kits in Shizuoka, it also opened a factory in the Philippines in 1994. -- Agencies
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