In 1938, one year after the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the company was required to transfer its electric-power transmission and distribution facilities to the national government under the National Mobilization Act. This ended the company's involvement in the electric-power supply business, which it had been involved in since its founding, and put the firm on the path toward a new business field: electrochemicals.

After World War II, the national government identified iron, coal, and fertilizer as key industries, providing a significant boost to our newly funded business in related fields, including carbide, fertilizers, and ferroalloy.

In the late 1950s Japan entered a period of high economic growth, and carbide began to be used in a new application as a raw material for plastics, including PVC. In 1949 the company began research into chemical synthesis designed to derive melamine from nitrolime, marking our entry into the highly promising field of organic synthesis. In 1960 we began production of decorative melamine-coated sheet, supplied by our own melamine production, providing a major boost to our entry into the architectural materials sector.

The carbon light sources we produced before WWII for use in searchlights were applied to movie light sources after the war, commanding a 40% share of the national market in the 1950s, and growing to become the leader in the industry. This technology was carried on in our gouging carbon and carbon graphite business lines, and later into our ceramics business.