Iris Ohyama, whose goods are ubiquitous in Japanese homes, has relied on its usual offbeat methods during the COVID-19 pandemic and U.S.-China trade tensions to ride the teleworking wave and bring production back from China.
Family-run, unlisted and based in the provincial city of Sendai, the quick-iterating manufacturer of everything from rice to rice cookers has become the most high-profile firm to sign up for government incentives to bring production back home.
With newly labelled ¡°made in Japan¡± face masks flying off shelves alongside its other diverse products, such as office furniture and air conditioners, Iris Ohyama predicts annual revenues of ?700 billion ($6.7 billion), compared with ?500 billion a year earlier.
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