Friday 1st February 1889

Born on this day, Shōjirō Ishibashi, Japanese businessman who founded the Bridgestone Corporation, the world’s largest maker of tires, in 1930 in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. Bridgestone was named after its founder: In the Japanese language ishi means “stone” and bashi(/hashi) means “bridge” hence the origin of the company’s name in English.