Nippon Polydor Chikuonki Co., Ltd.

Nippon Polydor Chikuonki Co., Ltd. (sometimes spelled Nippon Polydor Tikuonki K., K. / 日本ポリドール蓄音器株式會社, Japan Polydor Gramophone Co., Ltd.) was the first Japanese Polydor company, founded in May 30 1927. The company name at the beginning was 日本ポリドール蓄音器商會 (Nihon Polydor Chikuonki Shōkai). In 1934, the company name was changed to 日本ポリドール蓄音器株式會社 (Nippon Polydor Chikuonki Co., Ltd.). In 1942, the name of the company was changed to Daitōa Chikuonki Co., Ltd. (大東亞蓄音器株式會社, Great East Asia Gramophone Co., Ltd.) as a result of growing wartime resistance to foreign words. In 1950, the name was changed again to Polydor Chikuonki Co., Ltd. (Polydor Chikuonki K.K. / ポリドール蓄音器株式会社). In 1953, a new company with new capital, Japan Polydor Co., Ltd. (日本ポリドール株式会社) was founded; this is the company that would later become Nippon Grammophon Co., Ltd.. The company owned and operated a recording studio and a record factory in Tokyo. The studio caught fire on April 13th, 1945 during an air raid; only two days later the factory and main offices of the company did as well. The studio was destroyed, but the factory and offices suffered little damage. Later the same year, one more record factory (in Kōri town, Fukushima prefecture) began production. The company's studio became operational again in 1949. The Kōri factory was destroyed by a fire in 1950 and was restored in 1952.