Kosmic has been a pioneer in the global pre-owned medical imaging market since its founding in 1981, helping establish Japan’s role in the international trade of refurbished healthcare equipment.

In this interview with HCB News, founder Toru Homma reflects on the company’s origins, its expansion into markets around the world, and the unique branding that has made Kosmic a familiar presence at industry events. Joining him is his son, Kazuyuki Homma, a longtime medical imaging sales executive who recently entered the family business to help guide its next chapter of international growth.

HCB News: When did you start the company and why?

Toru Homma: Our company was established in 1981. After graduating from university, I spent about ten years working for a German pharmaceutical manufacturer, where I was responsible for explaining and promoting new drugs to hospital physicians.

I later moved to Hitachi, Ltd., where I worked together with Hitachi Leasing to sell information equipment. Hitachi Leasing had several divisions organized by industry, and one of them was the medical equipment division. At that time, the history of leasing companies in Japan was still relatively short, and even when they retrieved medical equipment at the end of the lease period, they did not know how to resell it. They asked me if I could sell those units, and that became the starting point of my involvement in the pre-owned medical equipment business.

Soon after, requests for CT and MRI systems from overseas began to reach the headquarters of Hitachi. In order to understand the global pre-owned medical equipment market, I visited RSNA for the first time in 1980. I found that several companies were already exhibiting pre-owned medical equipment there. Immediately after returning to Japan, I began full-scale procurement and sales of used medical equipment.

I believe that our company was the first in Japan to start a business specializing in the purchase and resale of pre-owned medical equipment.

HCB News: What equipment did you specialize in and how many countries have you sold to?
Toru Homma: In the early years of our business, our main market was China. However, several years later, the export of pre-owned medical equipment to China became completely prohibited. The reason was that many hospitals in China had purchased equipment from unreliable overseas dealers, and in numerous cases the equipment could not be installed or did not function properly. This tragically led to several serious incidents involving hospital directors, which prompted the Chinese government to impose a total ban on such imports.

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