Originally posted by reh321 In the US, companies always seem to be adopting history, if not name, of companies they have purchased.
Indeed but Ricoh didn't purchase Asahi Optical Co., they purchased from Hoya a business formerly conducted by Asahi Optical Co. (renamed Pentax Co. in 2002). There is no such thing as Asahi Optical Co. / Pentax Co. any more: the corresponding company merged with and into Hoya effective on 31 March 2008 and therefore has disappeared.
In addition, the Pentax trademark still belongs to Hoya, not to Ricoh.
1919: 旭光学工業合資会社 = Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō Goshi-gaisha
1938: 旭光学工業株式会社 = Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha (same company name but different legal structure)
2002: ペンタックス株式会社 = Pentakkusu Kabushiki-gaisha
2008: merger with and into Hoya.
旭光学工業, phonetically Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō and translated as Asahi Optical, means Optical Industries from the Rising Sun.