A 460-year-old company takes on its “second founding”: using AI to move routine work to agents and give people more time to create new value.
Jurin AI sat down with Nishikawa for a conversation on how the 460-year-old company is using AI to create more time for people to focus on higher-value, creative work, featured in Forbes JAPAN BrandVoice.
Founded in 1566, Nishikawa has continued to evolve for 460 years: from mosquito nets to bedding and, more recently, sleep solutions. Now, the company is taking its next step: expanding the use of AI agents across the organization.
The goal goes beyond efficiency. By entrusting routine work to AI, Nishikawa aims to give people more time to focus on creating new value.
As a first step, Nishikawa introduced AI into its customer inquiry operations. Today, its chatbot alone can handle approximately 900–1,000 inquiries per month, significantly increasing the company’s response capacity. Looking ahead, Nishikawa also plans to use AI to structure customer feedback that has historically been stored separately, creating a foundation for those insights to inform product development.
The conversation explores not just isolated AI adoption, but company-wide transformation connecting sales, customer service, and internal operations. It also looks ahead to Nishikawa’s next 500 years, extending beyond bedding into healthcare, global markets, and even sleep in space.
Read the article:
https://forbesjapan.com/articles/detail/101751
Publication: Forbes JAPAN BrandVoice
Published: August 25, 2026
Title: "From Mosquito Nets to Space: How 460-Year-Old nishikawa Is Using AI to Shape Its Next Future"
Featured participants
Masahiko Takeuchi | President & COO, Nishikawa Co., Ltd.
Shinichi Ijima | Head of Systems Planning, Nishikawa Co., Ltd.
Yukihiro Osawa | Executive Chairman, Jurin AI
Rise Ooi | Founder & CEO, Jurin AI
Jurin AI is building the AI Agent for high-performing enterprises. Our technology automates business communications (email, phone, messaging) and the workflows behind them for a better way to do business.Jurin AI is building the AI agent for high-performing enterprises. Our technology automates business communications (email, phone, messaging) and the workflows behind them for a better way to do business.
Within just one year of founding, we have become one of the fastest growing startups globally. Jurin AI is a multinational corporation with presence in Japan, Korea, Singapore, United States of America, United Kingdom, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and more. Trusted by large Japanese enterprises every Tokyo resident relies on and respects, Jurin AI integrates seamlessly into existing tools and systems to execute tasks across 100+ languages, enabling teams to tackle labor shortage, focus on strategic, high-value activities, and finally unlock scale to grow the business by another 10x.
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