The president, Kunio Takeda, is the seventh generation of the Takeda family to run the company since it went public in 1925.

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"Since it was labelled as 'miscellaneous goods', I casually opened the box, " Kunio Suno, president of the Ishinomaki Fish Market Co Ltd, told the AFP news agency.

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It was designed and built in 1974 by Kunio Maekawa, a pupil of Le Corbusier best known for his public buildings in Tokyo, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.

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