View source for Michael Kogan

{{short description|Ukrainian entrepreneur}}
{{Infobox Biography
|name=Michael Kogan
|native_name=Михайло Коган{{cn|date=January 2024}}
|native_name_lang=ua
|image=
|birth_name=Michael Kogan
|birth_date=January 1, 1920
|birth_place=[[Odesa]], [[Ukrainian People's Republic]]
|death_date={{death date and age|1984|2|5|1920|1|1}}
|death_place=[[Los Angeles]], [[California]], [[United States]]
|occupation=Entrepreneur
|known_for=Founder of [[Taito]]
|years_active=1944–1984
|spouse=Asya Kachanovsky
|children=2
}}

'''Michael "Misha" Kogan''' (January 1, 1920 – February 5, 1984) was a [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] entrepreneur who founded the Japanese video game company [[Taito]].

==Early life==
Kogan was born in [[Odesa]] on January 1, 1920 to Riva and Kalman Kogan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewsofchina.org/JOC/userdata/SendFile.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&GID=97#page=8|title=To the Misha Kogan Scholarship Fund|website=jewsofchina.org|date=November–December 2011|accessdate=2021-03-13}}</ref> His family moved to [[Harbin]], [[Manchuria]] to escape the [[Russian Revolution]], where he later met Colonel [[Norihiro Yasue]], a member of the Japanese Army's intelligence services and one of the architects of the [[Fugu Plan]], a plan to settle European Jewish refugees in Japanese-occupied Manchuria.
He moved to Tokyo in 1939, where he spent most of the duration of the war studying at [[Waseda University|Waseda]] School of Economics. He moved to [[Tianjin]] in 1944 before returning to Japan in 1950, settling in [[Setagaya, Tokyo]].

==Career==
Michael Kogan founded his first business in 1944 in [[Shanghai]], called Taitung, its business dealings included natural hair wigs, floor coverings, and hog bristles.<ref name="Smith">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Alexander |title=They Create Worlds |date=November 19, 2019 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=9780429752612}}</ref> Kogan closed Taitung in 1950 after the Communist takeover of China and started his second business in Japan shortly after, a company on clothing distribution, named Taito Yoko.<ref name="Smith"/> The constant loss of products and negligent employees caused Taito Yoko to struggle financially,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Akagi |first1=Masumi |title=それは「ポン」から始まった-アーケードTVゲームの成り立ち |trans-title=It Started From Pong|date=September 21, 2005 |publisher=Amusement News Agency |isbn=978-4990251208 |language=ja}}</ref> and it was eventually abolished.

Kogan established the Taito Trading Company on August 24, 1953, and it eventually became Taito Corporation. The company started out importing and distributing vending machines and then jukeboxes before evolving to manufacture their own.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.taito.co.jp/en/corporate/about/history|title=History|publisher=Taito |accessdate=2021-03-13}}</ref>

Kogan died during a business trip in [[Los Angeles]] in February 1984. After his death, his son, Abraham "Abba" Kogan, became Taito's chairman and Akio Nakanishi became its president.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840401p.pdf#page=15|title=Nakanishi Appointed As New President Of Taito Corp.|magazine=Game Machine|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=1984-04-01|accessdate=2021-03-12}}</ref>

==Family and legacy==
Kogan married Asya Kachanovsky (b. July 6, 1924 – December 21, 2013<ref name="pass2">{{cite web|url=http://www.jewsofchina.org/JOC/userdata/SendFile.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&GID=109#page=77|title=In Memory of Asya Kogan|website=jewsofchina.org|date=April 2014|accessdate=2021-03-12}}</ref>) and had two children with her, a son named Abraham ("Abba") (b. January 1947<ref name="mcobit">{{cite web|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840401p.pdf#page=21|title=Father of "Space Invaders": In Memory of Mr. Michael Kogan|magazine=Game Machine|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=1984-04-01|accessdate=2021-03-16}}</ref>) and a daughter named Rita (b. June 1949<ref name="mcobit"/>). The two stayed married until Michael's death. Asya lived in Tokyo, Abba lives in [[Monaco]], and Rita lived in [[Southern California]] and was married to [[Richard Edlund]], founder of [[Boss Film Studios]] and an Academy Award-winning Visual Effects Supervisor until her death in 2019.

Abba had a 7.16% holding of Taito stock as late as September 30, 1999,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.taito.co.jp/ir/ir_library/business_report/pdf/business_report_199912.pdf#page=8 |title=第48期 中間事業報告書 |publisher=[[Taito]] |date=December 1999 |accessdate=2021-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040619034841fw_/http://www.taito.co.jp/ir/ir_library/business_report/pdf/business_report_199912.pdf#page=8 |archive-date=19 June 2004 |url-status=dead}}</ref> while Rita had an 8.50% holding and Asya had a 2.13% holding as late as March 31, 2005.<ref>"NOTICE ON RESULTS OF SQUARE ENIX’S TENDER OFFER AND CHANGE IN CONSOLIDATED SUBSIDIARY" ("公開買付けの結果及び子会社の異動に関するお知らせ") ([https://www.jp.square-enix.com/company/ja/news/2005/download/release_050922_taito.pdf#page=3 Japanese])([http://www.square-enix.com/jp/company/e/news/2005/download/release_050926en.pdf#page=3 English])</ref> After Asya died on December 21, 2013,<ref name="pass2"/> it was discovered that about 10 billion yen in inheritance taxes for overseas property was not paid.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLZO83788170X20C15A2CR8000/|title=タイトー創業者妻の海外遺産、相続税100億円未納|magazine=[[The Nikkei]]|publisher=[[Nikkei, Inc.]]|date=2015-02-28|accessdate=2021-03-12}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kogan, Michael}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:1984 deaths]]
[[Category:Odesa Jews]]
[[Category:Taito people]]
[[Category:Russian emigrants to China]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Tokyo]]
[[Category:Russian emigrants to Japan]]
[[Category:20th-century Japanese businesspeople]]


{{Taito-videogame-stub}}
{{Ukraine-business-bio-stub}}