One of the greatest semiconductor CEOs was Tsuyoshi Kawanishi, who was CEO of Toshiba when Toshiba had the finest CMOS process in the world, and who took his company into a process alliance with Siemens Semiconductors and, later, a four-way process and product development co-operation with IBM, Motorola and Siemens. Kawanishi, fortunately as it turned out, has a terrific sense of humour.
Visiting London, he was taken out to lunch at a rather louche establishment called ‘School Dinners’ where the waitresses were dressed up as St Trinian’s-type schoolgirls, and the maitre d’, a tall, stern looking cove, wore a mortar board, and long black gown, and carried a cane.
Walking into School Dinners, the maitre d’ accosted Kawanishi.
“Where are you from?” demanded the maitre d’.
“Japan”, replied Kawanishi
“Hold out your hand”, said the maitre d’.
Kawanishi held out his hand, and the maitre d’ administered a resounding thwack across the palm with his cane.
“What’s that for?” asked an astounded Kawanishi.
Pearl Harbour”, replied the maitre d’.
To his enormous credit, Kawanishi absolutely cracked with laughter.
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