Business View Magazine | December 2018

118 119 was wondering how he could contribute to the improvement of their condition. At the same time, he met Dr. Eugene Schnell, a German immigrant and supervisor of Japanese pharmaceutical regu- lations for the United States Occupation Army. He believed that the Japanese people would benefit from nutritional supplements to recover in the post-war surroundings.” Wakunaga and Schnell decided that garlic could be a key to their dilemma, and came up with the idea of aging garlic and turning it into extract. After perfecting their process in his lab- oratory, Wakunaga began distributing product throughout Japan in the early 1960s. Then, in 1972, he established the United States subsidi- ary in Honolulu, Hawaii; opened up a sales office in Los Angeles, California in 1975; relocated the company’s American headquarters there in 1979; moved to Torrance, CA in 1981; and finally estab- lished the permanent U.S. headquarters and plant in Mission Viejo, CA in 1986. In 1992, the compa- ny opened a new plant in Mira Loma, CA; began garlic cultivation in Central, CA in 1993; and built another new plant in Mira Loma in 2011. Today, the company grows all its own garlic, and exports to over 40 countries. Nomura details its four major product lines: “The main one is Aged Garlic Extract; the brand name is Kyolic. In Japa- AT A GLANCE WAKUNAGA OF AMERICA WHAT: A leader in the research, devel- opment, manufacture, and marketing of medicinal herbs and supplements WHERE: Mission Viejo, California WEBSITE: www.kyolic.com WAKUNAGA OF AMERICA nese, ‘kyo’ means strong and ‘lic’ is from garlic. So Kyolic means strong garlic. There is no product like this in the world.We don’t have any patent, but, fortunately, there is no company that can ex- actly copy this product because it is very unique. We grow our own garlic and it takes about 20 months to properly age. From sowing the seeds to the final product, it takes about four years.” “The second line is probiotics, which we started more than 30 years ago when only a few compa- nies were selling probiotics,” he continues. “The brand name is Kyo-Dophilus; Dophilus is used in many probiotics products. The third line is Kyo- Green, which some call Superfoods.We combine many grains, vegetables, and fruits and make a blend of those things. The last one is Moducare, which came from South Africa. It’s made from African Maritime Pine. It was already used by the local people and we found out that if we combine sterols and sterolins, it produces the best combi- nation and makes the immune systemwork best. Moducare is a very unique product.We are trying to be the only company in the industry, in that sense.” The corporate philosophy of Wakunaga cen-