Microsoft Japan | |
Native name | 日本マイクロソフト株式会社 |
Romanized name | Kabushiki-gaisha Nihon Maikurosofuto (K.K. Microsoft Japan Company) |
Formerly | Microsoft Company, Ltd. (1986–2011) |
Type | Subsidiary |
Industry | |
Predecessors | ASCII Microsoft |
Founded | February 1986 [lower-alpha 1] in Yoyogi, Shibuya |
Founder |
|
Headquarters | , Japan |
Key people | Susumu Furukawa, President (1986 - 1992) [2]
|
Number of employees | 2,225 (2013) [5] |
Parent | Microsoft |
Website | www.microsoft.com/ja-jp/ |
Native name | マイクロソフト ディベロップメント |
---|---|
Founded | November 16, 2005 |
Founder | Bill Gates |
Headquarters | Chōfu, Tokyo , Japan |
Key people | Shunichi Kajisa, [6] President and Representative Director |
Number of employees | 371 (2006) [7] |
Website | www.microsoft.com/ja-jp/ |
Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd. [lower-alpha 2] (also known as MSKK) is a Japanese subsidiary of Microsoft headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. It develops both hardware and software technologies for consumers and business partners. [8]
Microsoft Japan was founded in February 1986 as Microsoft Company, Ltd. [lower-alpha 3] by Susumu Furukawa and Bill Gates after partnership between ASCII Corporation and Microsoft ended, with the remaining ASCII Microsoft operations being merged into ASCII.
In 1978, Kazuhiko Nishi, co-founder of ASCII Publisher, partnered with Bill Gates and founded ASCII Microsoft (株式会社アスキー・マイクロソフト, Kabushiki Kaisha Asukī Maikurosofuto) as the sole dealer of Microsoft's products in Japan. [9] In 1980, ASCII made 1.2 billion yen of sales from licensing Microsoft BASIC. It was 40 percent of Microsoft's sales, and Nishi became Microsoft's Vice President of Sales for Far East. [10] In 1983, ASCII and Microsoft announced MSX. In 1984, ASCII Microsoft was merged to ASCII.
However, Microsoft founded its own Japan subsidiary, Microsoft Company, Limited (マイクロソフト株式会社, Maikurosofuto Kabushiki Kaisha) often shortened to MSKK, and dissolved partnership with ASCII in 1986. It was because Gates wanted Microsoft to go public in the New York Stock Exchange, and also he opposed Nishi and ASCII's diversification. Susumu Furukawa (古川 享), who was also a member of ASCII, officially became the first president of Microsoft Kabushiki Kaisha. ASCII kept rights of MSX. [11]
In October 1986, Microsoft Japan announced the AX project that was a Japanese computing initiative to allow IBM PCs to handle Japanese text. [10] The AX couldn't break into the Japanese PC market due to its cost and lack of available software.
In October 1990, IBM Japan announced the DOS/V. Furukawa made an appointment with IBM Japan to share the source code of DOS/V. [12] Microsoft Japan supplied the OEM adaptation kit (OAK) of DOS/V for PC manufacturers.
For the Japanese adaptation of Windows 3.1, Microsoft Japan and Ricoh co-developed two Japanese TrueType fonts, MS Gothic and MS Mincho. It took two years, and delayed the release of Japanese Windows 3.1. [13] However, it became the first successful version of Windows in Japan. [14]
In 1998, the Japan Fair Trade Commission informed Microsoft of an unfair trade that Microsoft forced personal computer manufacturers to bundle with Excel and Word against the request of a bundle with Excel and Ichitaro. [15] The company faced another JFTC scrutiny (in midst of European Union actions against Microsoft) when the company was accused of having clauses that hurt the ability of Japanese computer manufacturers to obtain an OEM Windows license in 2004.
In 2011, the company changed its name to Microsoft Japan Company, Limited (日本マイクロソフト株式会社, Nihon Maikurosofuto Kabushiki Kaisha). [16]
Microsoft Japan conducted a trial 4-day work week in summer 2019, granting workers paid leave on Fridays. At the same time it cut the length of most meetings from a full hour to half an hour, and capped attendance at five employees. For the duration of the trial, the company reported a 40% increase in productivity and 23% reduction in electricity costs. [17]
Microsoft Hagaki Studio (マイクロソフト はがきスタジオ, Microsoft Postcard Studio) is a discontinued postcard software for printing nengajo (New Year's Day postcard). The software was released only in Japan from 1997 to 2006. It provided the upgrade path from other competitors such as Fudemame (筆まめ) and Fudeoh (筆王), [18] but Microsoft Hagaki Studio 2007 was the last version of the software. [19]
From 2004 to 2009 the company sponsored the Microsoft Cup, a knockout rugby football tournament contested by the best Japanese teams from the Top League.
Turbolinux is a discontinued Japanese Linux distribution targeting Asian users.
ASCII (アスキー) was a monthly released microcomputer magazine in Japan, published by ASCII Corporation from 1977. It targeted business users who used a personal computer in their home and office, but it sometimes introduced computer games and computer music. It was also known as the Monthly ASCII (月刊アスキー) written along with the title from Vol. 2 No. 4, and distinguish with the Weekly ASCII founded in 1997. The ASCII was rebranded as the Business ASCII (ビジネスアスキー) in 2008, and ceased in 2010. Its news website and the Weekly ASCII are continuing as in 2016.
Ichitaro is a Japanese word processor produced by JustSystems, a Japanese software company. Ichitaro occupies the second share in Japanese word-processing software, behind Microsoft Word. It is one of the main products of the company. Its proprietary file extension is ".JTD". ATOK, an IME developed by JustSystems, is bundled with Ichitaro.
The PC-8800 series, commonly shortened to PC-88, are a brand of Zilog Z80-based 8-bit home computers released by Nippon Electric Company (NEC) in 1981 and primarily sold in Japan.
DOS/V is a Japanese computing initiative starting in 1990 to allow DOS on IBM PC compatibles with VGA cards to handle double-byte (DBCS) Japanese text via software alone. It was initially developed from PC DOS by IBM for its PS/55 machines, but IBM gave the driver source code to Microsoft, who then licensed a DOS/V-compatible version of MS-DOS to other companies. Kanji fonts and other locale information are stored on the hard disk rather than on special chips as in the preceding AX architecture. As with AX, its great value for the Japanese computing industry is in allowing compatibility with foreign software. This had not been possible under NEC's proprietary PC-98 system, which was the market leader before DOS/V emerged. DOS/V stands for "Disk Operating System/VGA". In Japan, IBM compatible PCs became popular along with DOS/V, so they are often referred to as "DOS/V machine" or "DOS/V pasocom" even though DOS/V operating systems are no longer common.
ASCII Corporation, Ltd. was a Japanese publishing company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It became a subsidiary of Kadokawa Group Holdings in 2004, and merged with another Kadokawa subsidiary MediaWorks on April 1, 2008, becoming ASCII Media Works. The company published Monthly ASCII as the main publication. ASCII is best known for creating the Derby Stallion video game series, the MSX computer, and the RPG Maker line of programming software.
The NEC PC-100 was a Japanese home computer available on October 13, 1983. It operated on 8086 CPU 7 MHz, 128KB RAM, 128KB VRAM, a Japanese language capable keyboard and a two button mouse. It had three models and its color monitor, PC-KD651, which could be used vertically or horizontally, had the price tag of 198,000 yen. Its biggest advantage over other computers of that time was its high graphical capability of 720 by 512 with a selection of 16 color out of 512 color available on its high end model30. Its OS was MS-DOS and was also equipped with a spreadsheet program Maruchipuran (Multiplan) and a text editor JS-WORD as well as the game Lode Runner.
Marukawa Confectionery Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer of confectioneries. Its head office is in Nishi-ku, Nagoya.
The PC-9800 series, commonly shortened to PC-98 or 98, is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2000. The platform established NEC's dominance in the Japanese personal computer market, and, by 1999, more than 18 million units had been sold. While NEC did not market these specific machines in the West, it sold the NEC APC series, which had similar hardware to early PC-98 models.
Nikkei Business Publications, Inc., commonly known as Nikkei BP, is a book and magazine publisher based in Tokyo, Japan. The company was established as "Nikkei McGraw-Hill, Inc." (日経マグロウヒル株式会社), a joint venture of Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) and McGraw-Hill in 1969, and it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Nikkei in 1988.
AX was a Japanese computing initiative starting in around 1986 to allow PCs to handle double-byte (DBCS) Japanese text via special hardware chips, whilst allowing compatibility with software written for foreign IBM PCs.
Albis is a retail and wholesale company headquartered in Imizu, Toyama Prefecture, Japan. It is listed on the second tier of the Nagoya Stock Exchange. The name stands for "Active Leader with Best Information and Strategy".
The IBM JX was a personal computer released in 1984 into the Japanese, Australian and New Zealand markets. Designed in Japan, it was based on the technology of the IBM PCjr and was designated the IBM 5511. It was targeted in the Australasian market towards the public education sector rather than at consumers, and was sold in three levels: JX (64 KiB), JX2 (128 KiB) and JX3 (256 KiB). Upgrades were available to both 384 KiB and 512 KiB. The JX was the first IBM PC to use 3.5" floppy drives.
The PC-8000 series is a line of personal computers developed for the Japanese market by NEC. The PC-8001 model was also sold in the United States and Canada as the PC-8001A.
The West Nippon Expressway Company Limited, abbreviated as NEXCO West, is one of the main operators of expressways and toll roads in Japan. It is headquartered on the 19th floor of Dojima Avanza in Kita-ku, Osaka. The company was established on October 1, 2005, as a result of the privatization of Japan Highway Public Corporation. The company manages roadways mainly in the Kansai and Chūgoku regions as well as on Kyūshū, Shikoku, and Okinawa Island. Roadways in other regions of Japan are managed by East Nippon Expressway Company and Central Nippon Expressway Company.
Furukawa Group formerly Furukawa zaibatsu (古河財閥) is one of Japan's 15 largest industrial groups. Its origins date back to 1875, founder Furukawa Ichibei. This group specialized in mining, electronics, and chemicals industry before World War II.
PFU Limited is a Japanese information technology company jointly owned by Ricoh and Fujitsu. The company was formed by the merger of Panafacom and USAC Electronic Industrial in 1987.
Nippon BS Broadcasting Corporation is a private satellite broadcasting station in Kanda, Tokyo, Japan. It is an independent television station and is a subsidiary of Bic Camera. Its channel name is BS11 and was BS11 Digital until March 31, 2011. It was founded as Nippon BS Broadcasting Project on August 23, 1999, changed its name to Nippon BS Broadcasting on February 28, 2007, and high-definition television broadcasts commenced on December 1, 2007.
The TK-80 was an 8080-based single-board computer kit developed by Nippon Electric Company (NEC) in 1976. It was originally developed for engineers who considered using the μCOM-80 family in their product. It was successful among hobbyists in late 1970s in Japan, due to its reasonable price and an expensive computer terminal not being required.
CyberAgent Inc. is a Japanese digital advertising company, which was founded in 1998 by Susumu Fujita and headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is owned by Susumu Fujita with 20.50% interest; Fujita is the representative director, while Yusuke Hidaka is the executive vice president.