“Making Kawai the sound heard around the world was our vision, but making Kawai the sound preferred around the world is our ultimate goal.” Shigeru Kawai

Though Kawai's size and production grew steadily, Shigeru Kawai never wavered from his father's overriding concern for quality and ever-improving piano performance. It was this unceasing desire to perfect the art of the piano that inspired Shigeru's crowning achievement the Ryuyo Grand Piano Facility. Opening in 1980, the 300,000 square-foot plant was built at a cost of $50 million.

Ryuyo embodies the perfect "marriage" of hand-craftsmanship and advanced technology. It is equipped with the most sophisticated piano-building tools available and is staffed by the most knowledgeable and experienced piano personnel in the world. The world-renowned EX Concert Grand Pianos are hand-built here in the famed Shigeru Kawai Research and Development Laboratory by Kawai's finest Master Piano Artisans. Today, the Ryuyo facility is universally regarded as the most advanced and efficient piano factory in the world.

“At Kawai, the quest for perfection is not just an ideal… but a duty." Hirotaka Kawai

In 1989, the presidency of the company was passed to Shigeru's son, Hirotaka Kawai. Hirotaka began with a pledge to carry on the commitment to excellence established by his father and grandfather. Early in his tenure as president, Hirotaka invested tens of millions of dollars to incorporate advanced robotics in the production process. Then he took production outside Japan for the first time with the launch of Kawai America Manufacturing and the acquisition of the Lowrey Organ Company, followed by the founding of Kawai Asia Manufacturing in Malaysia in 1991 and the establishment of Kawai Finishing in the United States in 1995.

Later, he oversaw the development and introduction of Kawai's internationally-acclaimed RX Series Artist Grand Pianos. And, most recently, he continued to strengthen Kawai's worldwide manufacturing presence with the establishment of Karawan, Kawai's Japanese manufacturing facility in Indonesia, built with meticulous care to uphold and perpetuate the company's exacting standards of quality.