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Curated playlist

Mass media companies based in Tokyo

  • Nippon TelevisionJapan's first TV commercial aired upside-down by mistake. It was for a Seikosha clock on Nippon Television in 1953.
  • Mainichi ShimbunMainichi Shimbun is the only Japanese newspaper company to win a Pulitzer Prize.
  • The Asahi ShimbunIn 1989, the Asahi Shimbun's own photographer scratched coral to fake a story. The paper's president resigned.
  • TV AsahiTV Asahi began as a channel required by law to be half educational. It later became home to Kamen Rider.
  • King Records (Japan)King Records, a Japanese label, took its name from a magazine. Kingu magazine ran from 1924 to 1957.
  • ShogakukanJapanese publishing company
  • TV TokyoTV Tokyo lost 1.38 billion yen in its first year on the air. It began in 1964 as Tokyo Channel 12.
  • Kadokawa ShotenKadokawa Shoten, the publisher behind Cowboy Bebop manga, lost its company status in 2013.
  • Square EnixIn 2022, Square Enix sold Tomb Raider and Deus Ex to Embracer Group for $300 million.
  • CoamixCan a comic tell a story with no words? Since 2012, Coamix has run a Silent Manga Audition to test that.
  • TMS EntertainmentLittle Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland took nearly a decade to make and never recouped its cost.
  • NHKNHK broadcast both Tokyo Rose and Emperor Hirohito's 1945 surrender speech. It is Japan's public broadcaster.
  • Pony CanyonThe Asian financial crisis of 1997 closed four of Pony Canyon's five overseas branches.
  • NTT PublishingNTT Publishing, a telecom subsidiary, released some of the best-loved video game music albums.
  • NBCUniversal Entertainment JapanNBCUniversal Entertainment Japan does not distribute Universal Pictures films in Japanese theaters.
  • SoftBank GroupIn 2000, Masayoshi Son wired $20 million to a young Chinese startup called Alibaba.
  • Production I.GQuentin Tarantino traveled to Production I.G's offices in person to ask for help with Kill Bill Vol. 1.
  • VAP, Inc.When the band Omega Tribe broke up in 1985, VAP signed its singer as a solo act. Sugiyama Kiyotaka stayed until 1990.
  • WowowOne American cult series brought Wowow nearly 30% of its new subscriptions. The show was Twin Peaks, by July 1992.

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