Japan has a significant number of long-standing enterprises, with its Tokyo Stock Exchange having 589 companies over 100 years old by 2022, the highest globally. Family businesses constituted 51% of listed firms.
Established in 1586, Matsui Kensetsu, a family-owned construction enterprise in Tokyo, is the oldest listed corporation in the nation. The top five oldest listed businesses on the Tokyo Stock Exchange are based in Tokyo and have all been in business for at least 200 years longer than the exchange. Businesses that are at least a century old in Japan are referred to as “shinise,” or “old shops,” and the great majority of them are family-run enterprises.
Japan has a large number of enduring business organizations, which has been partially attributed to its entrepreneurial spirit and custom of transferring ownership of businesses to future generations rather than just focusing on making money. Cultural preferences might also be to blame for the enormous success that many of the biggest family companies in Japan have amassed.
Here are the top 10 family-owned companies in Tokyo, rank ordered by revenue:
Annual Revenue: $66 Billion
Founded: 1911
Owning/Controlling Family: Idemitsu
Despite the fact that coal was Japan’s primary energy source at the time, the company’s visionary creator, Sazo Idemitsu, decided to focus on trading oil as his primary commodity. Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. was one of the ten main oil distributors allowed to function through Pacific Coast oil refineries in 1949, following World War II. Idemitsu Kosan expanded its oil, petroleum, and petrochemicals business globally in the ensuing decades, opening its first office in the Middle East in 1974 and a US branch in 1955.
Current business activities of Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd. are carried out through its five divisions: power, renewable energy, functional materials, basic chemicals, and petroleum. Operating 6,100 automobile service centers throughout Japan, the firm maintains a daily processing capacity of 945,000 barrels of crude oil. Every year, the lubrication division of Idemitsu Kosan sells 1.2 million kiloliters of lubricant.
One of the company’s directors and a significant shareholder is Masakazu Idemitsu’s grandson, who founded Idemitsu.
Annual Revenue: $20.2 Billion
Founded: 1899
Owning/Controlling Family: Saji
Leading producer and distributor of consumer packaged goods worldwide, Suntory Holdings Ltd. offers a wide range of premium spirits, beer, wine, and health products under around 55 brands. Shinjiro Torii, the company’s founder, started as a winemaker and distributor. He finally brought a variety of Western-style liquors to the Japanese market, notably Suntory Whisky Kakubin, which Shinjiro Torii invented in 1937 and is the company’s flagship product.
Nobutada Saji, the grandson of Shinjiro Torii, is the chairman of Suntory, and Shingo Torii, the other grandson, is the third generation of master blenders in the family. Shingo Torii is primarily responsible for bringing Suntory’s domestic whisky products to a worldwide audience. With 270 businesses spread throughout Europe, Japan, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, the group is the third-largest distiller in the world.
Annual Revenue: $12.5 Billion
Founded: 1941
Owning/Controlling Family: Yazaki
Yazaki Corporation was founded in the early years as a manufacturer of automobile wire harnesses and is now a top provider of vehicle power and data solutions to the automotive sector. The company manufactures automotive parts, agricultural equipment, air conditioning and solar-heat equipment, gas equipment, and electric wiring for instrumentation equipment. With more than 235,000 employees, Yazaki’s group of 141 firms operates in 45 countries and areas worldwide. As president and representative director of Yazaki Corporation, Riku Yazaki is in charge of the business that his grandpa, Sadami Yazaki, established.
Annual Revenue: $7.6 Billion
Founded: 1948
Owning/Controlling Family: Iijima
Nobuhiro Iijima, a third-generation family member, is currently in charge of Yamazaki Baking Co. Ltd., the largest baker in Japan and the top firm in the world for bread baking. Tojuro Iijima created the company.
Yamazaki creates more than 1,000 new bread products every year in addition to its vast array of foods that are offered both domestically and abroad. The company’s first overseas venture was its fresh bakery in Hong Kong, which opened in 1981. Yamazaki opened a facility in Thailand in 1984, and a second location in Taiwan in 1987. To expand its product lineup to include bread, sweet buns, Japanese-style confectionery, and Western-style confectionery, Yamazaki purchased US bagel manufacturer and distributor Bakewise Brands in 2016.
Yamazaki has more than 109,000 stores worldwide. Nobuhiro Iijima is the president of the corporation, while his two siblings, Sachihiko and Mikio, are vice presidents on the board.
5 . Open House Group
Annual Revenue: $6.9 Billion
Founded: 1997
Owning/Controlling Family: Arai
Masaaki Arai established the Open House Group in 1997 as a real estate company that specialized in finding clients’ properties in sought-after parts of Tokyo. In 2001, the group transformed into a fully integrated real estate developer, complete with internal systems for sales and construction. 2010 saw the opening of Open House’s first site in the US, and in 2013 the business went public.
Every year, the organization assists about 7,000 clients in buying homes, and in the Tokyo metropolitan region alone, it has sold over 60,000 properties. The company’s primary concentration in the United States is in the real estate markets of Texas, Georgia, and Los Angeles. Masaaki Arai is still the CEO and president of the business.
Annual Revenue: $6.6 Billion
Founded: 1961
Owning/Controlling Family: Otsuka
Otsuka Corp., the biggest information technology management company in Japan, sells computers, copiers, communication equipment, software, and system integration products and services. Through its network of subsidiaries, Otsuka Corp. also provides maintenance, instructional support, and supplies. From its operation hubs in Tokyo, Sendai, Sapporo, Kanagawa, and Utsunomiya, the corporation provides a range of business fields to a diversified corporate customer base. President and CEO Yuji Otsuka is the head of the business that his father, Minoru Otsuka, started.
Annual Revenue: $5.6 Billion
Founded: 1978
Owning/Controlling Family: Arai
Initially focusing on selling inexpensive cameras, Ryuji Arai, the company’s founder, founded Bic Camera Inc., one of the biggest electronics and appliance stores in Japan. The name “Bic” was chosen because, in Balinese vernacular, it means “big.”
In addition to a wide range of appliances and home furnishings, Bic Camera now sells toys, bicycles, bedding, recreational goods, and personal computers. The company runs 60 locations around Japan, which include the premium reseller outlets for Apple products under the Bic Style brand. Nippon BS Broadcasting Corporation, an independent satellite broadcaster, is also owned by Bic.
Annual Revenue: $5.2 Billion
Founded: 1957
Owning/Controlling Family: Tada
In Japan, Sundrug Co. Ltd. runs 560 subsidiary discount stores and 783 drug stores. The company’s medicine store business focuses on pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, while its discount store sector largely sells meals and household goods. The Sundrug shop network runs in the following locations: Tokyo, Hyogo, Kyoto, Ishikawa, Aomori, Osaka, Nagano, and so on. Founder of Sundrug Yukimasa Tada passed away in 2001, leaving the company in the hands of his sons, Takashi and Naoki Tada, who are board members. The brothers also run Forest, a chain of retail centers close to Tokyo.
Annual Revenue: $4.5 Billion
Founded: 1988
Owning/Controlling Family: Shigeta
Hikari Tsushin, Inc. was founded by Yasumitsu Shigeta and initially made money from the sale of cell phones and carrier subscriptions that were offered through its network of Hit Shop locations. To manage its group of about 13 firms, which include those engaged in telecommunications, office automation equipment, corporate insurance, subscription agency communication services, and mobile communication services, the company shifted to a holding company structure after the dot-com bubble burst in 2000. Yasumitsu Shigeta is the chairman of the business he founded in 1988.
Annual Revenue: $2.6 Billion
Founded: 1976
Owning/Controlling Family: Nambu
Yasuyuki Nambu opened his first location of the staffing company, Temporary Center Inc., and later franchised it throughout other regions of Japan. In 1993, the business rebranded itself as Pasona Inc. and expanded through staffing services industry acquisitions. With more than 23,000 workers, Pasona has offices throughout the world in the US, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, India, and Vietnam. Yasuyuki Nambu, the originator of the company, is the group chairman and CEO.
One of the biggest staffing organizations in Japan is Pasona Group, a recruiting and HR services provider. Through its nine affiliates and sixty-six subsidiaries, the company conducts business globally.
