Fuso Chemical Co Ltd
A maker of specialty chemicals, Fuso Chemical produces fruit acids like malic and citric acid for food and drink, plus ultra-high-purity colloidal silica (sold as Quartron®) used to polish semiconductor wafers. Founded in Osaka in 1957 by Shozo Akazawa, a former medical researcher, the company grew from chlorine chemistry into Japan's only maker of malic acid. Its name "Fuso" is an old poetic word for Japan, drawn from a Chinese legend about a sacred tree where the sun rises.