I reported at the Osaka small & medium enterprise meeting in 1999.
Mr.Araki (designer) proposed that if the triangular pick does not become familiar in Japan, how about cutting the tip of the round pick like a triangle by drawing a design?
I got a proposal. Although such an interesting idea, I replied that it cannot be done technically. After that, when I was in the headquarters' regular meeting committee, since the meeting was important, I gathered the members of the members of the Osaka branch, and when I got a story about the plan "This is an ordinary meeting" like a sample of a regular meeting, There was a request to my talk. I had to underwrite it.Mr. Araki who had also appeared at the meeting again made a previous proposal to cut the tip of the round pick into a triangle with the same design again. But I did not keep it that it is a dreamlike story. However, I barely burned to my mind with two proposals.
Two months later at the OMM building in Osaka, there was an exhibition of wholesalers of medical supplies, and we exhibited as one of 150 manufacturers. One executive of major trading household goods came. He saw a lot of items.
Your triangle pick was the most interesting among various things. Later when I visit the company, I will be asked about the price difference with general toothpicks.
I answered 10 times. He said I 10 times is out of question, but if I can do it in 3 times, I will buy everything you can. I answered it is a nice story. But definitely impossible I answered. When thinking that it is a good story of a good turn in the train on the way back, I thought deeply that the tip of round designer Araki said to be a triangle. The round pick going to the place where production efficiency arrives in the long history. It is not a dream if it can be utilized. If it is round, it will become familiar to the Japanese. I thought that it would be worth studying how to scrape off the tip of this round picks into a triangle one.
In the same year, 10 companies from Osaka small & medium enterprise association were asked to rent a room of REC laboratory, which is an industry-academia collaboration department of Ryukoku University, and we became familiar with professors involved.
When one of them, Mr. K. Kobayashi, came to the "Toothpicks gallery", I consulted.
The triangular pick have spread in Europe, Japanese people have solid idea that toothpick are round. So I asked there is a teacher who wants to try to solve the problem that cut the tip of round pick into triangle so that it is familiar to the Japanese.
He said that there are teachers with various abilities in the university so I will try to find it.
About a month later, I heard that there was a phone call from my teacher and I found it.
Mr.K.Hasegawa was introduced. A long sentence fax came from him, it was difficult to calculate and it was finally possible 500,000 picks a day.
This teacher was later found out as a global authority on the winding device of nylon yarn.
