Takenaka Corporation

Takenaka Corporation (株式会社竹中工務店, Kabushiki-gaisha Takenaka Kōmuten) is one of five major general contractors in Japan. Takenaka provides architectural, engineering, and construction services and has its headquarters located in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture.[1] Takenaka has eight domestic offices in Japan with overseas offices in Asia, Europe, and the United States. It has remained under family control since the founding of Takenaka Corporation in 1909, and is currently led by the 17th generation of the family.

Takenaka Corporation
株式会社竹中工務店
TypePrivate (K.K)
IndustryConstruction, Architecture, Engineering
Founded1610 (Nagoya, Japan)
1909 (Takenaka Corporation)
HeadquartersChūō-ku, Osaka,
Japan
Key people
Toichi Takenaka, Chairman and CEO, Masahiro Miyashita, President and COO
ServicesArchitectural Design, Construction, Renewal, Engineering, Technology, Research and development
Revenue¥ 1,284 billion (consolidated, fiscal 2015)
Total assets¥ 50 billion (as of March 31, 2015)
Number of employees
7,473
2,506 (Licensed Architects)
2,315 (Licensed Construction Managers)
166 (Licensed Engineers)
111 (Ph.D's)
Websitetakenaka.co.jp

The Takenaka corporation designed and built the Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum.

About Takenaka

In 1610 Tobei Masataka Takenaka (竹中 藤兵衛正高), a shrine and temple carpenter, started a business in Nagoya. The business continued as a family business and built some of the first Western-style buildings in Japan during the last half of 19th century, most of them in Nagoya. In 1899 Toemon Takenaka (竹中 藤右衛門), a 14th generation descendant of the original founder established a branch office in Kobe and founded Takenaka Corporation as an official company.

The company grew during the 20th century; its capital in 1909 was about ¥100.000. This rose to ¥6 million in 1938, ¥1.5 billion in 1959 and ¥50 billion in 1979. Today, Takenaka Corporation is a multinational company with offices in 18 different countries. The current president is Toichi Takenaka (竹中 統一) (June 2004).

The Takenaka Corporation claims to be the oldest operating firms of its type in the world. In 2006 Takenaka acquired competing family architect-carpentry business (Miyadaiku) Kongō Gumi which had been in operation for 1,427 years.[2][3]

The company is now regarded in Japan as one of the "Big Five" contractors ranked alongside Kajima, Obayashi, Shimizu and Taisei. The firm has built some of the most important buildings in Japan, including the Tokyo Tower, the Tokyo Dome (the first large-scale stadium with an air-supported membrane roof in Japan), the Fukuoka Dome (Japan's first large-scale stadium with a retractable roof), and the Kobe Meriken Park Oriental Hotel among others.

Among its current proposals is the Sky City 1000 project.

Takenaka reconstructed the Suzakumon in Nara.[4]

History timeline
  • 1610 (Keicho 15 years) – Nobunaga Oda, former vassal, founded Takenaka Hyoe Fuji Masataka in Nagoya. His work mainly involved erecting shrines and temples.
  • 1899 (Meiji 1957) – 14 Daitake Nakatoh MigiEmon, advanced to Kobe, and founded the official company. They built Mitsui Bank Kobe Onohama warehouse.
  • 1923 (Taisho 12 years) – the head office in Osaka is moved to Kobe.
  • 1935 – Kobe mosque construction.
  • 1937 (Showa 12 years) – Established Takenaka Corporation. ¥1.5 million in capital. President Takenaka FujimigiEmon.
  • 1945 – Touemon Takenaka appointed as Chairman of the Board and Renichi Takenaka appointed as President.
  • 1958 – Tokyo Tower construction.
  • 1980 – Takenaka Renichi appointed as Chairman of the Board and Takenaka Toichi appointed as President.
  • 1984 – Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum opened.
  • 1988 – Tokyo Dome completed.
  • 1993 (Heisei 5 years) – Fukuoka Dome completed, Japan's first roof-retractable multi-purpose stadium
  • 1997 – Osaka Dome, Nagoya Dome, International Stadium Yokohama completed.
  • 2004 – The Tokyo Main Office moves to new building in Koto-ward in Tokyo.
  • 2006 – Midland Square (Nagoya) completed.
  • 2007 – Tokyo Midtown, Shin-Marunouchi Building completed.
  • 2010 – 400th anniversary of the company.
  • 2013 – Masahiro Miyashita becomes president, the frist from outside the founding family.

Issues

Insufficient reinforcement
  • On November 19, 2007, during the construction of a 27-story (94 meter high) highrise condominium in Minato, Tokyo, the whole 8th and 9th floors of the building had to be dismantled and rebuilt because the reinforcing steel used was of insufficient strength.[5][6][7]

Industrial accident cover-ups
  • According to a report of December 28, 2007, a 52-year-old foreman of a Takenaka condominium construction site in Fukushima ward, Osaka, reported an industrial accident in which a falling concrete hose seriously injured a worker of sub-contractor, Airtech Co., Ltd. The accident was reported as having happened at a different demolition site that the foreman was also in charge of. Takenaka and Airtech were issued a summary indictment by the Osaka prosecutor's office for violating the Industrial Safety and Health Act.[8][9]
  • Takenaka also announced on December 19, 2007, that it had failed to report an industrial accident at a Toyota factory it was building in Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture, and that it was under investigation for violation of the Industrial Safety and Health Act.[10]

Tax evasion (non-reporting of income)
  • In March 2013, it was discovered that the Osaka National Tax Office had reprimanded the company for failing to declare about ¥30 million of income (¥9 million of it intentionally) between 2008 and 2011.[11]
  • In April 2015, the same office reprimanded the company again for underreporting its income for the four years between 2010 and 2013 by about ¥150 million.[12]

Leaky subway
  • On September 25, 2014, train services at Nagoya Station on the Higashiyama Subway Line were suspended for nine hours due to water leaking into the station as a result of construction work the company was carrying out on the JR Tower Nagoya building.[13]

Falling window
  • On February 17, 2015, a window frame weighing approximately 100 kg fell from the 4th floor of the Kofu City Hall building, which had been built by the company and two other companies. A subsequent investigation by Kofu City found 87 defects in the building. Executives of Takenaka and the other two companies involved, Nihon Sekkei and Sankyo Tateyama, visited the mayor of Kofu on March 20, 2015, to apologize.[14]

Firing employees
  • In early 2021, Takenaka International division cut employees in its overseas subsidiaries; especially in Vietnam, Thailand, and India; stating the COVID-19 Pandemic. India was the worst hit with two-thirds of the employees asked to leave. There was a widespread protest again Takenaka India Private Limited and its Management. The employees claimed that the primary reason for the company's losses were Japanese expatriates and their luxurious expenses. Employees claimed that Japanese expats were getting ten times more than their Indian counterparts. An Executive of Takenaka, Mr. Yasuhisa Ihara, appointed to restructure the company in India, did not discuss the matter with employees for compensation arrangements. Currently, Indian employees have escalated the matter to JICA India, the Ministry of Human Resources, and the Japanese Ambassador to India, awaiting their response. Legal options are being explored with the lawyer appointed by India staff.

Selected projects

Public facilities
Nifrel Aquarium at Expocity by Takenaka

Commercial facilities

Historic buildings and religious architecture

Schools

Sports stadiums

Office buildings

Museums and theme parks

Dwellings

Plants and research laboratories
  • Suntory World Research Center
  • Zeria Pharmaceutical Tsukuba Plant
  • Toyota Industries Corporation Information Technology Institute
  • Nichia headquarters third research building
  • Tateyama brewing headquarters factory
  • Sanyo Denki Technology Center
  • Yanmar Diesel Co., Ltd. Biwa Plant
  • Stanley Electric Hatano new Building 2

Hotels

Hospitals

See also

References
  1. "Corporate Profile." Takenaka Corporation. Retrieved on October 20, 2009.
  2. History of Takenaka | Company Overview | TAKENAKA CORPORATION
  3. Family Business – The World's Oldest Family Companies
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2013-11-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Takenaka Partial demolition of high rise condominium due to reinforcing steel of insufficient strength Archived 2009-02-20 at the Wayback Machine、Sankei Shimbun news]
  6. Takenaka uses inferior reinforcing steel in high-rise condominium Japan Buyer's Agent Association
  7. Takenaka contrite about reinforcing error "Insufficient reinforcing" The Final Report
  8. Nomination stop measures regarding Takenaka Construction, Kinki Regional Board, December 12, 2007PDF file]
  9. Takenaka conceals industrial accident, site manager blames sub-contractor 07/12/19 | Yahoo Blog
  10. Takenaka Construction's work accident cover-up at Toyota factory construction site- 07/12/19 | Archive.fo
  11. Takenaka Corp: non-reporting of 150 million yen over 4 years: reprimand by Osaka National Tax Office" jiji.com April 20, 2015
  12. Takenaka Corp: non-reporting of 150 million yen over 4 years: reprimand by Osaka National Tax Office" jiji.com April 20, 2015
  13. "Water leakage into Nagoya Subway from adjacent JP Tower: Takenaka Apologizes" Speednews Blog September 26, 2014
  14. "Falling window from Kofu City Hall – 3 companies take responsibility, executives apologize" Asahi Shimbun March 20, 2015
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