The New Six - Shinroku Maruyama — Captain Father John

At an Italian restaurant in Yokohama, it was my honor to present a commemorative plaque to Shinroku Maruyama for 48 years of loyal service selling Rust-Oleum products from 1966 – 2014. At the age of 82 he is going into semi-retirement. I have been traveling to Japan since 1989 and have had the pleasure of working with him over these many years. Maruyama-san is known among his work associates as Mr. 9100 for selling the majority of the Rust-Oleum 9100 System epoxy product to electric power plants, incinerators and truck terminals to mention a few.

I know just enough of the Japanese language to be socially glib. Certainly not enough to discuss business but I do know that shin means new and roku is the number six. The Japanese tradition is to refer to others by there last name followed by the word san which means honorable. I have only known Maruyama-san by his last name since I met him in 1989. I requested his first name when I had to order his plaque. At the celebration dinner I commented that Shinroku “new six” was an interesting name and asked if it was a common name in Japan. None of the other Japanese staff had ever heard that name before. Maruyama-san explained that he was born in 1932 when his father Uichi was 66 years old and it was his father that made up the name Shinroku to commemorate his achievement. His mother Sae was 43 years old at the time and was his fathers third wife. Uichi Maruyama was born in 1866 and traveled to San Francisco in 1894 and opened a shoe repair business. After 13 years he returned to Japan in 1907. He ran his shoe repair business in Tokyo until he went out of business just after end of WW II. Shinroku was 9 years old when Lt. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle and his squadron of 16 B25’s spent 30 seconds over Tokyo. He remembers hearing those first bombs dropped by allied forces. He also remembers meeting General McArthur near his headquarters and McArthur commented that he was a handsome boy. I added some details about the Tokyo raid at the end of this blog.

At the age of 82 Maruyama-san has overcome two bouts with mouth cancer and had his face reconstructed. He is still active and full of energy and plans to hold the title Mr. 9100 for many years to come.

The plaque that started it all.

The Rust-Oleum Japan staff commentates Maruyama-sans great accomplishment.
Kame-san, Itoh-San, Maruyama-san, Simons-san, Yamanaka-san and Haijima-san

Crew No. 1 in front of B-25 #40-2344 on the deck of USS Hornet, 18 April 1942. From left to right: (front row) Lt. Col. Doolittle, pilot; Lt. Richard E. Cole, copilot; (back row) Lt. Henry A. Potter, navigator; SSgt. Fred A. Braemer, bombardier; SSgt. Paul J. Leonard, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)