Overview
Kadokawa (カドカワ, Kadokawa) is a Japanese media conglomerate.
The company was founded on 10 November 1945 as the Kadokawa Shoten (角川書店), a private business founded by Genyoshi Kadokawa (角川源義), a scholar of Japanese literature.
The company's management philosophy is 'Fueki Ryūkō' (Continuity and Change, 不易流行), which means 'to remember the unchanging essence of things, while at the same time incorporating new and changing things'.
The company is known for its leading publishing label, Kadokawa Bunko (角川文庫).
Publications
It publishes many literary works, modern Japanese literature and classic works from the East and West, while at the same time providing a large variety of entertainment works for the masses, including many science fiction and mystery novels.
In the 1970s, the company entered the film business, known as Kadokawa Eiga (角川映画). By producing films based on its own novels and promoting them extensively, Kadokawa succeeded in selling both the films and the books they were based on. This was a pioneering example of the 'media mix' business method in Japan.
From the end of the 1980s, Kadokawa launched Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko and Fujimi Fantasia Bunko (from Fujimi Shobo, a subsidiary company at the time) as labels for publishing juvenile novels for boys and girls, and these have been central to the rise of 'light novel' culture since the 1990s.
As in the case of mass entertainment novels, Kadokawa adopted a media mix approach to light novels, actively developing manga, film and anime adaptations based on its own novels. As a result, Kadokawa is now one of the major players in manga and anime culture.
The company also has publications in the field of dictionaries and educational books.
Brands
The KADOKAWA Group has many group subsidiaries and has also merged with other companies engaged in publishing and entertainment businesses. The following are some of the more prominent ones, although they are now simply in-house brands and are used less frequently.
- Kadokawa Shoten (Kadokawa Shoten Publishing, 角川書店) ...formerly the main body of Kadokawa as a corporate entity.
- Ascii Media Works (アスキー・メディアワークス)
- Enterbrain (エンターブレイン)
- Media Factory (メディアファクトリー)
- Fujimi Shobo (富士見書房)
- Chukei Publishing (中経出版)
- Kadokawa Gakugei Shuppan Publishing (角川学芸出版)
- Kadokawa Magazines (角川マガジンズ)
Current Subsidiaries
- KADOKAWA Future Publishing
An intermediate holding company that unites the production and distribution subsidiaries of the publication.
- BookWalker
A digital strategy subsidiary of the group that handles operations related to e-books.
Became a subsidiary on 28 April 2014. Major works include "Armored Core".
Subsidiary engaged in the operation of digital content distribution services such as niconico. It also operates N High School, a school with a wide-area correspondence course.
- KADOKAWA Connected
A subsidiary that handles the Group's IT infrastructure operations.
- Movie Walker
A film-related company that operates the digital film ticket service "mvtk.jp" (ムビチケ) and the film information website "Movie Walker".
- KADOKAWA ASCII Research Laboratories (角川アスキー総合研究所)
A media research institute of the group with the 'ASCII' brand.
- KADOKAWA Game Linkage
A video game information company known for its Famitsu and Dengeki Online brands.
- Kadokawa Games
- GotchaGotchaGames
- Kadokawa Daiei Studio (角川大映スタジオ)
A film studio that handles film and TV drama production, commercial filming and editing services.
- Glovision
A subsidiary that provides Japanese dubbing and subtitling production and non-linear editing services.
- Chobunsha Publishing (汐文社)
A publishing company known as the publisher of Barefoot Gen and many other children's books.
The company became a subsidiary in December 2013, but unlike other subsidiaries, it became part of the kadokawa Group after the current structure was formed, so it maintains its independence. Incidentally, the company itself was founded in November 1976.
- Kadokawa Media House (角川メディアハウス)
A subsidiary that provides advertising agency services and animation program planning, production and broadcast support services.
An animation production company.
International
Guangzhou Tianwen Kadokawa Animation & Comics (Mainland China)
Kadokawa Gempak Starz (Malaysia)
Kadokawa Amarin (Thailand)
Yen Press (North America)
Non-affiliated Company
- Kadokawa Haruki Corporation
A publishing company and film production company founded by Haruki Kadokawa, former president of Kadokawa Shoten. The current third-generation Kadokawa Haruki Corporation was established after he had completely retired from the management of Kadokawa Shoten (at the time) and has no capital ties with KADOKAWA.
Scandals
KADOKAWA has often been involved in scandals, including a family feud between the founding family in the 1980s, which has often led readers to cast a critical eye on the company with a mixture of fondness and hate, even though it is a publisher that has delivered many fascinating works to the masses.
2020 Tokyo Olympics sponsorship bribery case
KADOKAWA was named as a sponsor of the publishing division of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games held in 2021. However, it was discovered that executives had bribed the event's directors, leading to the arrest of the chairman of the board, Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, by the Tokyo Prosecutors.
Eventually, Tsuguhiko resigned as chairman and was replaced by President and Representative Director Takeshi Natsuno.
References: Top Kadokawa execs arrested in widening Tokyo Olympics bribery scandal. The Japan Times. (6 September 2022).
Related Articles
Kadokawa Bunko Kadokawa Eiga Monthly Shōnen Ace Nico Nico Douga
External Link
Kadokawa Group Global Portal Site
History of the Kadokawa Group (English) (pdf)
