Kazuo Kashio, co-founder of Casio of G-Shock fame, dies

Kazuo Kashio, one of four brothers who founded Casio Computer Co., the Japanese company behind G-Shock watches, has died at age 89.

Kashio, who was chairman and served previously as president, died at a Tokyo hospital on Monday of aspiration pneumonia, which is set off by breathing in food or liquids, the company announced yesterday.

Kashio is credited with making the calculator an everyday product through Casio Mini. He also helped popularize G-Shock, which has grown into an internationally recognized brand since its 1983 debut.

Kazuo Kashio succeeded his older brother Tadao, who served as Casio’s second president. The first president was the brothers’ father.

G-Shock still commands a following, 35 years later, despite the advent of smartphones and other devices that tell time and are making watches less of a must-have item.

It is still favored by people who praise its durability and accuracy.

Kazuo Kashio’s favorite motto was that a company must keep reinventing itself to survive, pursuing “continual change.”

“By breaking free from preconceptions and conventional notions, we have conceived products that are truly needed and used our digital technologies to make them a reality,” he said in one of his messages as chairman. “Products based on new ideas create new markets.”

Kashio also worked on popularizing the digital camera QV-10, which went on sale in 1995. It introduced a screen on the back for previewing photographic images, now a standard feature in digital cameras.

A machine shop set up in 1946 by Tadao Kashio later evolved into Casio. But Casio had big ambitions, eying foreign markets from its early years. It started to export calculators in 1966, and overseas reception was positive. AP