Curated category
Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
- McDonald'sMcDonald's opened its first location at 1398 North E Street in San Bernardino, California, on the 15th of May 1940 - not as a global empire, but as a…
- FujifilmFujifilm began life in 1934 as a subsidiary of a Japanese chemical company called Daicel, making photographic film. Few corporate origin stories seem less…
- TV AsahiTV Asahi broadcasts from a sleek building in Roppongi, Tokyo, designed by architect Fumihiko Maki, a structure that would have seemed impossible to the…
- Koei TecmoKoei Tecmo is one of Japan's most storied video game holding companies, born from a merger that almost did not happen. In August 2008, a rival corporation…
- NintendoNintendo was founded on the 23rd of September 1889, not as a game company, but as a playing card business. Craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi set up shop in…
- Japan AirlinesJapan Airlines, known by its initials JAL, was born from the wreckage of World War II, its first planes leased from a Philippine carrier, its first crews…
- Nihon FalcomNihon Falcom takes its name from a science fiction film. The founders wanted to evoke the Millennium Falcon, but changed the final "n" to an "m" to match the…
- Square EnixSquare Enix was born from the union of two companies that had long watched each other across Japan's video game landscape.
- SonySony began in the rubble of postwar Tokyo with a capital of 190,000 yen and eight employees. Masaru Ibuka opened an electronics shop inside a department…
- MandarakeMandarake began as a seven-square meter storefront in a Tokyo shopping complex, selling used manga to a niche audience. Today it is the largest secondhand…
- DentsuIn 1906, the company known as Dentsu began its life under a different name. Telegraphic Service Co. transformed into Japan Advertising Ltd.
- KonamiKonami began life on the 21st of March 1969 as a jukebox rental and repair shop in Toyonaka, Osaka. Three men started it together, two of whom had met while…
- CapcomCapcom sits behind some of the most recognizable titles in video game history. Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Monster Hunter, Mega Man, Devil May Cry, and…
- SoftBank GroupSoftBank Group began not as a tech empire but as a software distributor founded in September 1981 by then-24-year-old Masayoshi Son.
- Kadokawa CorporationKadokawa Corporation began not as a media empire but as a small postwar publishing house with a mission: to revitalize Japanese culture through books.
- Toei AnimationOn the 23rd of January 1948, Kenzō Masaoka and Sanae Yamamoto established Japan Animated Films in Tokyo. This small group of animators began their work with…
- WowowWowow is a satellite broadcasting and premium television station based in Tokyo, and it holds a distinction most Japanese viewers take for granted today: it…