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 1609, and is currently led by the 17th generation of the family.
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) (since 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.
1610 (Keicho 15 years) – Takenaka Tobei Masataka, a former vassal of Oda Nobunaga, established a carpentry team in Nagoya. His work mainly involved erecting shrines and temples.[5]
1899 (Meiji 1957) – Takenaka Tozaemon XIV moved 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 Tozaemon.
1945 – Tozaemon Takenaka appointed as Chairman of the Board and Renichi Takenaka appointed as President.
2013 – Masahiro Miyashita becomes president, the first 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.[6][7][8]
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.[9][10]
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.[11]
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.[12]
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.[13]
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.[14]
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.[15]
