Takara
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Takara Co., Ltd. (株式会社タカラ, Kabushiki gaisha Takara) was a Japanese toy company founded in 1955. In March 2006, the company merged with Tomy Company, Ltd. to form Takara Tomy. The Takara motto was「遊びは文化」("playing is culture").
Products
Toys
In 1967, Takara produced the first generation of the Licca-chan doll, which was 21 centimeters tall and had the last name of Kayama, inspired by the musician Yuzo Kayama and actress Yoshiko Kayama.[1]
In 1975, Takara produced the
Takara also invented Battle Beasts, the E-kara karaoke microphone, B-Daman and Beyblade. These toys were sold or distributed internationally by Hasbro.
In 1978, Takara developed the Choro-Q, mini pullback cars. Internationally, they have been sold as "Penny Racers".
Software
Takara developed and published
In 2003, Takara contributed to the production of the game, Seek-and-Destroy. Takara published the
In 2006, after the merger with Tomy, the controlling stake in Atlus was sold to Index Holdings, Takara Tomy's major shareholder. Takara-branded product licenses such as Licca-chan, Jinsei Game, The Game of Life and Choro-Q were returned to Takara Tomy's consumer software division. The merged company also produced the Zoids and the Naruto series.
Life entertainment products
Takara has manufactured several unusual
Robots
In 2005, Takara produced Walkie bits, a colorful, multi-function miniature robotic turtle. it was named Time magazine's best invention in a robot category.[3]
Company mascot
In the 1980s, the company was criticized for using a mascot that was a golliwog-like character. The mascot was named "Dakko-Chan" (ダッコちゃん).[4] Takara replaced the mascot with "21st Century Colorful Dakko-Chan", which had enough features to connote the original mascot but divested the traits which brought criticism. For example, the new mascot was not always coloured black.
Merger
On 13 May 2005, Takara and Tomy announced their merger. It became effective on 1 March 2006. In English, the official name of the merged company is "TOMY Co. Ltd." while in Japan the legal company name is "K. K. Takara-Tomy" (株式会社タカラトミー; TYO: 7867).
In deciding upon the merged company's new name, "Takara" was used for its international
While Japanese commercial law allows wide latitude in translating Japanese corporate names into official English names, the merged company took the unusual step of adopting "TOMY Company, Ltd." as its official English, while using "K.K. Takara-Tomy" in Japan.
Both Takara and Tomy held licenses to localise and distribute Hasbro products in Japan. The products include The Game of Life, Blythe dolls, Magic: The Gathering, Duel Masters trading card games by Takara and Monopoly, Furby, Super Soaker and Play-Doh by Tomy.
References
- ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 2019-09-11.
- ^ "Best Inventions of 2002". TIME. Archived from the original on November 12, 2002. Retrieved 2015-08-22.
- ^ Department (2005-11-13). "Best Inventions 2005: Bot Crazy - TIME". Content.time.com. Retrieved 2015-08-22.
- ^ "Japan: Dakkochan Delirium". TIME. 1960-08-29. Archived from the original on October 15, 2009. Retrieved 2015-08-22.