The is a Japanese multinational '' keiretsu'' ( conglomerate)

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

headquartered in

Shibuya Shibuya (wikt:渋谷, 渋谷wikt:区, 区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. Its main operation is , a wholly owned subsidiary operating railways in the

Greater Tokyo Area The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan (including Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Tochigi) as well as the ...

History

The oldest predecessor of company was the , opened in 1908; the railway's operations were converted into a company in 1910. Keita Gotō, now known as a notable Japanese industrialist, was appointed as the CEO of the Musashi Electric Railway in 1920 and later he began a mass expansion program. The most important predecessor was first registered on September 2, 1922, as the and is related to the construction of

Den-en-chōfu is a residential neighborhood located in western Ōta in southern Tokyo, Japan. It is known as one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Tokyo. History Den-en-chōfu was built based on the " Garden City" idea originally developed by the Brit ...

(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 , 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; the new company took the Toyoko name. In 1938, Toyoko established Toyoko Eiga , possibly for competition with Ichizo Kobayashi's Toho Company. It became the

Toei Company () (also styled TOEI) is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution and video game developer and publishing company. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan (all but two of them operated by ...

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

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In 1944 it also acquired the Keio Teito Electric Railway (which has merged with Odawara Express before in 1940). In 1948, Tokyu divested the forced-acquired companies, and the divested companies are now known as

Odakyu Electric Railway , commonly known as Odakyū, is a major railway company based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for its '' Romancecar'' series of limited express trains from Tokyo to Odawara, Enoshima, Tama New Town, and Hakone. The Odakyu Electric Railway Compa ...

, Keikyu Corporation, and

Keio Corporation () is a private railway operator in Tokyo, Japan, and the central firm of the that is involved in transport, retail, real estate and other industries. The name is derived from taking one character each from the places through which the railw ...

respectively. The 1943–1948 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 The is a third-sector railway company funded by the city of Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Tokyu Corporation. The company oversees the Minatomirai Line The Minatomirai 21 Line (みなとみらい21線 ''Minato-mirai-21-sen''), commonly ...

Related businesses

The Tokyu Group also owns two smaller railroad companies ( Ueda Kōtsū, Izukyū Corporation), several bus companies and a major upscale department store chain called Tokyu operating in Japan and in the

MBK Center MBK Center, also known as Mahboonkrong ( th, มาบุญครอง; , ), is a large shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand. At eight storeys, the center contains around 2,000 shops, restaurants and service outlets. In 2009, MBK Center manage ...

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

, Thailand. Other retail operations include

Tokyu Hands Hands Inc., known as , is a Japanese department store. Hands is part of the (itself a member of the ); its first store opened in Shibuya, Tokyo in 1976. Tokyu Hands got its start as a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) store, hence the logo with two hands, a ...

stores (except for the two locations in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

, which are owned by Sanco Creative Life Co. (indirectly controlled by

Kintetsu Group Holdings , referred to as , is a Japanese railway holding company which primarily owns the Kintetsu Railway as well as Kintetsu World Express, Kintetsu Department Store, and its other 141 corporations, which are collectively known as Kintetsu Group. ...

), 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 The Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts (泛太平洋酒店及度假村) is a hospitality company headquartered in Singapore and founded in 1975. It is a subsidiary of developer UOL Group and operates more than 20 luxury hotels, resorts and serviced s ...

abroad, which it sold to UOL Limited of Singapore. Formerly the owner of

Japan Air System was the smallest of the big three Japanese airlines. In contrast to the other two, JAL and ANA, JAS' international route network was very small, but its domestic network incorporated many smaller airports that were not served by the two large ...

(JAS, now merged with the flag carrier JAL Japan), Tokyu used to be the largest shareholder of

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as w ...

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 was a chain of department stores and other retail establishments founded in Japan and later located in Honolulu under the ownership of Shirokiya Holdings, LLC, a United States-based corporation. The company's last location closed in 2020. Compan ...

department store company. It was the owner of

Mago Island Mago Island (pronounced ) is a volcanic island that lies in the northwest sector of Fiji's northern Lau Group of islands. One of the largest private islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the pristine island consists of of land. The island ...

until 2005, when

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apoca ...

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 isn't part of the group.

Rolling stock

Tokyu 8500 series The is a commuter electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by the private railway operator Tokyu Corporation on the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line and Tokyu Oimachi Line in the Tokyo area of Japan since 1975 and the Jabodetabek area of Indones ...

(since 1975) * Tokyu 8090 series (since 1980) *

Tokyu 7600 series The was a commuter electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by the private railway operator Tokyu Corporation in Japan from 1 May 1986 until 10 February 2015. They were all rebuilt from 7200 series trains dating from 1967 to 1972. Des ...

(since 1986) * Tokyu 9000 series (since 1986) *

Tokyu 7700 series The was an electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by the private railway operator Tokyu Corporation on the Tokyu Ikegami and Tokyu Tamagawa lines in Japan from 1987 to 2018. Design The 7700 series trains were formed between 1987 an ...

(since 1987) * 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 The is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by the private railway operator Tokyu Corporation since 2002 on many of its commuter lines in the Tokyo area of Japan. Design First introduced in 2002, the design is based on the JR Ea ...

(since 2002) * Tokyu 6000 series (since 2007) *

Tokyu 7000 series The is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by the private railway operator Tokyu Corporation on the Ikegami and Tamagawa lines in Japan since December 2007. Design Based on the 5000 series design, cars are 18 metres long and ...

(since 2007) * Tokyu 2020 series (since spring 2018) * Tokyu 6020 series (since spring 2018) *

Tokyu 3020 series The is an electric multiple unit (EMU) commuter train type built by J-TREC and used by the Japanese private railway operator Tokyu Corporation in the Tokyo area since March 2018. The 2020 series is used primarily on the Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line ...

(since autumn 2019) New Tokyu 2020 series ten-car EMUs and Tokyu 6020 series seven-car EMUs have entered service since spring 2018. File:Tokyu-EC300-3.jpg, Tokyu 300 series File:Tokyu1000 8cars.jpg, Tokyu 1000 series File:東急電鉄2000系電車.jpg, Tokyu 2000 series File:東急電鉄3000系.jpg, Tokyu 3000 series File:Tokyu6000(2).jpg, Tokyu 6000 series File:Tokyu-7700-2.jpg, Tokyu 7700 series File:東急8590系.jpg, Tokyu 8090 series File:Tokyu8500series 8606F.jpg, Tokyu 8500 series File:Tokyu-9000-for-Oimachi-line.jpg, Tokyu 9000 series File:東急田園都市線2020系.jpg, Tokyu 2020 series File:東急6020系.jpg, Tokyu 6020 series File:Tokyu-Series3020-3821.jpg, Tokyu 3020 series

References

External links