Tokyu Corporation

The Tokyu Corporation (東急株式会社), a contraction of and formerly Tōkyō Kyūkō Dentetsu kabushiki gaisha (東京急行電鉄株式会社) until 2 September 2019, is a Japanese keiretsu or conglomerate headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. While a multinational corporation, its main operation is the Tokyu Railways Company, Ltd. (ja:東急電鉄株式会社), a wholly-owned subsidiary operating railways in the Greater Tokyo Area.

History


The oldest predecessor of company was the Musashi Electric Railway (武蔵電気鉄道), opened in 1908. The railway's operations were converted into a kabushiki gaisha (company) in 1910. Keita Gotō, now a notable Japanese industrialist, was appointed as the CEO in 1920 and he began a major expansion program.

The most important predecessor was first registered on September 2, 1922, as the Meguro-Kamata Electric Railway (目黒蒲田電鉄) and is related to the construction of Den-en-chōfu. It was originally founded by the developers of Den-en-chōfu). It was acquired by the Musashi Electric Railway in 1924, shortly before Musashi was renamed into the Tokyo-Yokohama Electric Railway (東京横浜電鉄), also known as the Toyoko, in the same year.

After Musashi/Toyoko's acquisition, the Meguro-Kamata Electric Railway initially operated as a subsidiary of Toyoko. It was not until 16 October 1939 that both Toyoko and Meguro-Kamata Electric railways were formally merged and the new company took the Toyoko name.

In 1938, Toyoko established Toyoko Eiga [ja], possibly for competition with Ichizo Kobayashi's Toho Company. It became the Toei Company in 1951.

Toyoko took its current name on 1 May 1942, after the Japanese government forced the company to acquire the Odawara Express Railway and the Keihin Electric Railway in 1943 to support Japan's efforts in Pacific War of World War II. In 1944 it also acquired the Keio Teito Electric Railway (which had merged with Odawara Express before in 1940).

In 1948, after the war, Tokyu divested the forced-acquired companies, and the divested companies are now known as Odakyu Electric Railway, Keikyu Corporation, and Keio Corporation respectively. The 1943–48 era of Tokyu was colloquially known as Dai-Tokyu (lit. Great Tokyu).

Tokyu lines
Tokyu also operates the Kodomonokuni Line (Nagatsuta Station – Kodomonokuni Station, 3.4 km) under contract with and on behalf of Yokohama Minatomirai Railway Company.

Related businesses
The Tokyu Group also owns two smaller railroad companies, Ueda Kōtsū and Izukyū Corporation; several bus companies; and a major upscale department store chain, the Tokyu Department Store operating in Japan and the MBK Center in Bangkok, Thailand. Other retail operations include Tokyu Hands stores (except for the two locations in Nagoya, which are owned by Sanco Creative Life Co., indirectly controlled by Kintetsu Group Holdings, and operated under license). It also runs a number of hotels under the names Tokyu/Pan Pacific in Japan and formerly owned the Pan Pacific Hotels abroad, which it sold to UOL Limited of Singapore.

Formerly the owner of Japan Air System (JAS), Tokyu used to be the largest shareholder of Japan Airlines Holdings (JAL) following JAS's merger with JAL. The Tokyu Group also owns and operates the upscale Tokyu Hotels and budget Tokyu Inns.

From 1958 until 2001, Tokyu also owned the Japanese (now American) Shirokiya department store company. It was the owner of Mago Island until 2005, when Mel Gibson purchased it for US$15 million.

Tokyu Corporation is also the largest single shareholder in the Shizuoka Railway Company, but its holdings in the railway are not part of the group.

Rolling stock

 * Tokyu 9000 series (since 1986)
 * Tokyu 1000 series (since 1988)
 * Tokyu 2000 series (since 1992)
 * Tokyu 300 series (Setagaya Line, since 1999)
 * Tokyu 3000 series (since 1999)
 * Tokyu 5000 series (since 2002)
 * Tokyu 6000 series (since 2007)
 * Tokyu 7000 series (since 2007)
 * Tokyu 2020 series (since early 2018)
 * Tokyu 6020 series (since early 2018)
 * Tokyu 3020 series (since mid-2019)

New Tokyu 2020 series ten-car EMUs and Tokyu 6020 series seven-car EMUs have entered service since early 2018.