Hang Lung-Hakuyosha – a brand name familiar to most Hong Kong people – carries the long story of Hang Lung and Hakuyosha.
 
In the 1960s, when Mr. and Mrs. Chan Tseng-hsi visited Japan, they had an opportunity to meet Mr. Kenji Igarashi, founder of Hakuyosha. Both gentlemen hit it off right away. Mr. Igarashi later sent his eldest son Mr. Takeo Igarashi to Hong Kong to work with Mr. Chan on the partnership.
 
On a 50-50 shareholding basis by Hang Lung and Hakuyosha, Hang Lung-Hakuyosha was established in Hong Kong. The first Hang Lung-Hakuyosha opened in Boundary Street in Kowloon on June 4, 1965 and started to provide Hong Kong people with professional and quality laundry services. Since then, Hang Lung-Hakuyosha has been serving in Hong Kong for over 50 years, witnessing the many changes in Hong Kong through providing professional laundry services for its customers.
 
The quality service of Hang Lung-Hakuyosha includes not only cleaning techniques, but also its attitude to customers. Professionals from Hakuyosha in Japan come to do assessments and quality checking in Hong Kong every year. They also teach the staff in Hong Kong the latest skills and techniques. A variety of assessments are carried out in the plant, such as tests for ironing, stain removal, checking and classifying to ensure only qualified staff can handle the cleaning process for customers.
 
Hang Lung-Hakuyosha has 33 shops in Hong Kong now, providing diversified services for its customers. In addition to dry and wet cleaning, Hang Lung-Hakuyosha also provides various services such as storage, finishing, and stain removal. A few years ago, it launched Grand Fabric Care to provide services by veteran staff in order to satisfy customers with demanding standards.
 
With the ethos of providing quality services to its customers, Hang Lung-Hakuyosha has been growing with Hong Kong for more than 50 years.
 
A Brief History of Hakuyosha
In March 1906, Founder of Hakuyosha Mr. Kenji Igarashi opened the first laundry shop in Nihonbashi in Tokyo with JPY300 (HKD19.27). Mr. Kenji studied dry cleaning technology while building the business. In the following year, he opened the first dry cleaning plant in Oimachi in Tokyo. He was the originator of dry cleaning in Japan. Today, Hakuyosha has over 800 shops in Hokkaido, Miyagi, Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Gunma, Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie, Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara, Hiroshima and Fukuoka. It is the largest laundry chain in Japan and occupies the lead position in the market.
 
A Crystal Turtle Passing Friendship on to Future Generations
An exquisite crystal turtle holds two families from Hong Kong and Japan together and passes their friendship on to generation after generation. Mr. Kenji Igarashi retired in 1942. The second generation, in the person of Mr. Takeo Igarashi, succeeded his father as Chair. In the first meeting between Mr. Takeo Igarashi and Mr. Chan Tseng-hsi, Mr. Takeo gave Mr. Chan a crystal turtle as gift. Since then, the crystal turtle has become a token of friendship between the two families. In 1986, the third generation of Hakuyosha, Mr. Keiichi Igarashi, came to Hong Kong and visited Mr. Chan Tseng-hsi who was sick in bed. Mr. Chan passed the crystal turtle to Mr. Keiichi and passed on the cross-generational and cross-national friendship between the two families. After 16 years, in 2002, 74-year-old Mr. Keiichi brought along the crystal turtle to visit Mrs. Chan Tseng-hsi and the second Chair of Hang Lung, Mr. Ronnie C. Chan in Hong Kong. The crystal turtle has been a treasured possession of the Chan family until today.