“Just over two decades after the first Japanese insurer had been established, the domestic market was in a strong position in early 1900s, pushing foreign insurers to the margins and expanding overseas.
“However, the Japanese market was soon tested, first by the devastating Great Kanto earthquake, then by the financial crisis and war. However, the sector was able to recover from these disruptions with surprising speed, and went from strength to strength in the booming post war economy.
“As the economy grew and the structure of the market stabilised, the new century was overall a positive time for insurance. Insurers expanded their product range with new lines and made new multi-line offerings.
“Fidelity insurance was introduced in 1904 and Japan’s first boiler and engine insurer opened for business in 1908. Between 1911 and 1916, personal accident, burglary and motor insurance were underwritten as a sideline of a number of Japanese insurers.
“… The end of the Second World War left Japan in a devastated condition. It remained the largest insurance market in Asia, but the fire sector was in a shambles, the destruction of the marine fleet reduced marine insurance and high inflation was driving the life insurance market to the edge of collapse.”
– A History of Insurance in Japan, published by Swiss Re, 2013
Fukoku Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Ltd. advertising postcard, Tokyo, c. 1930, had its beginnings in 1897 as the Otaru Cargo Insurance Co. Expanding beyond its cargo insurance limitations, the company received approval in 1919 to solicit general commercial insurance coverage concerns. In 1922, Otaru Cargo Insurance Co. changed its name to Fukoku Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Ltd. Fukoku Fire & Marine was then merged in 1944 with Okura Fire & Marine Insurance and in 1946 with Chiyoda Fire & Marine Insurance.
See also:
“My family has two coats of armor”, Imperial Life Insurance Co. advertising postcard, c. 1930.
Daiichi Conscription Insurance Co., Ltd., Osaka, c. 1930.
Fukuju Life Insurance Co. New Year’s advertising postcard, Nagoya, 1930.
“In the mid-nineteenth century, foreign companies ran property insurance businesses at treaty ports. After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Tokyo Marine Insurance Co. was founded as Japan’s first modern insurance company in 1879. While Tokyo Marine Insurance Co. specialized in the marine insurance business, Meiji Life Insurance Co. was established in 1881 to offer subscribers life insurance. Then, in 1888, Tokyo Fire Insurance Co. was created to start the fire insurance industry in Japan.
“Following its introduction, other firms entered the fire insurance industry in the 1890s, with the number increasing to twenty by 1900.
“The institutional background behind the sharp increase is that there were no entry regulations for the insurance industry until the passing of the Insurance Business Law of 1900 introduced a licensing system and inspection by the government.
“After the enactment of the Insurance Business Law, the number of fire insurance companies stabilized, although the fire insurance business continued to grow, as indicated by the number and the value of fire insurance contracts in force.
“Expansion of the fire insurance industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reflected progress of industrialization in Japan in that modern industries and large companies considerably increased the demand for fire insurance.
“During World War I Japan enjoyed a large economic boom because production capacity of major Western countries was mobilized for the war, and this boom boosted the development of the fire insurance industry in Japan.”
– Large Fires and the Rise of Fire Insurance In Pre-war Japan, by Tetsuji Okazaki, 2023