Takenaka Corporation
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Takenaka Corporation (株式会社竹中工務店 Kabushiki Kaisha Takenaka Kōmuten) is the oldest Japanese architecture, engineering and construction firm.
In 1610 Tobei Matasaka Takenaka (竹中 藤兵衛正高) , a shrine and temple carpenter, started a business in Nagoya. The business went on like a family business and built some of the first Western-style buildings during the last half of 19th century, most of them in Nagoya. In 1899 Toemon Takenaka (竹中 藤右衛門) , 14th generation descendant of the original founder, established a branch office in Kobe and founded Takenaka Corporation as an official company.
The company grew more and more during the 20th century, its capital in 1909 was about ¥100.000, ¥6 million in 1938, ¥1.5 billion in 1959 and ¥50 billion in 1979; nowadays, Takenaka Corporation is a multinational company with offices in 18 different countries. Its president is Toichi Takenaka (竹中 錬一) (June 2004).
Takenaka Corporation has built some of the most important buildings in Japan, like the above-commented Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Dome (the first large-scale stadium with air-supported membrane roof in Japan) or Fukuoka Dome, (Japan's first large-scale stadium with retractable roof), among others.