I first met Mr. Iwata right after the successful bid by DIC to buy most of the Polychrome share on the market and when members of Polychrome management visited DIC in Tokyo.
The president Shigekuni Kawamura was of course right in the center of bidding activity and was very visible to us. But once we were in Japan, we were impressed by Mr. Iwata's behind the scene hard work. I was very impressed to see him 7 am at the hotel with minutes of conference we had one day before with agenda for the day he prepared early in the morning. This is of course after the customary sake-drinking at the official reception and follow up night expedition hosted by Mr. Kawamura into very late at night to which Mr. Iwata was present. As the manager of oversea development department with the experience in financing he was the right hand man for Mr. Kawamura and supported him in expansion into overseas market. Just prior to Polychrome, DIC bought Kohl and Madden, an American ink manufacturer, and afterwards Sun Chemical and Reichold Chemical and Mr. Iwata was right in the middle of financial arrangement. He was made Vice President and director when he was 52, youngest ever at DIC and he quickly rose to Executive Vice President.
As Dr. Oe who built DIC's PS plant in Gunma and later became President of DIC often said, Mr. Iwata understood the need for speed in business and made a decision for his Gunma plant building needs without usual red tape ever present in large corporation like DIC.
After his retirement he was diagnosed to have cancer of intestine and prostate. Nursing his illness, he wrote his "letter from Hakone" in his Hakone retreat and sent out to his friends. I was one of many, I believe, to suggest to publish it and he completed his manuscript shortly his death in 2005.
In his book, "Two presidents and I", he described background stories during Polychrome purchase.
I will translate some of them to upload in future.
Mr. Hideshi Iwata
Two Presidents and I