In January 1948, the Law for the Termination of Zaibatsu Family Control was established. Because the Company was considered to be a Sumitomo zaibatsu affiliated company, president Nakamura was singled out for expulsion.
In response, management and labor union members joined hands and co-signed a petition to have Nakamura stay on as president, while John D. Biggers, president of Libbey-Owens- Ford (LOF), also lobbied the US and Japanese governments to cancel Nakamura’s designation. In September of that year, the government retracted Nakamura’s designation as a zaibatsu-related company director.