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("playing is culture").

The company focused on traditional toys and board games. They created the Licca-chan dolls, which has been referred to as "Japan's Barbie" in Western press. Some of the globally known toys and franchises that Takara invented include Transformers and Beyblade. Takara also held the license to localise and distribute Hasbro products in Japan including The Game of Life, Blythe dolls, Magic: The Gathering, Duel Masters trading card games. Takara was also involved in software, publishing video games based on its toys like Transformers and Choro Q / Penny Racers, porting SNK Neo Geo games to consoles, and the Battle Arena Toshinden series.

History

thumb|left|150px|[[KLM Royal Dutch Airlines staff with inflatable Winky Dolls in 1960]]

Founded in 1955 by Yasuta Sato,

Despite the big success of Beyblade in 1999, Takara was struggling financially. In July 2000, Konami bought a 22.2% controlling stake in the company.

In 2003, Takara purchased Atlus and transferred all its video gaming properties to it. 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" (; ). In deciding upon the merged company's new name, "Takara" was used for its international brand recognition and "Tomy" was used because it was a trusted brand of infant and preschool products in Japan. 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.

Products

Toys

In 1960, Takara released the Dakko-Chan (ダッコちゃん) doll which would become a hit in Japan's during that era. The nickname was given because of how it "embraces" a person. Also referred to as Winky Dolls in English, in the 1980s the company was criticized overseas for using it as a mascot due to its golliwog-like character and racial undertones.

thumb|left|230px|Licca-chan dolls started production in 1967

In 1967, Takara produced the first generation of the Licca-chan doll, which would become very popular in Japan to this day, and which was 21 centimeters tall and had the last name of Kayama, inspired by the musician Yuzo Kayama and actress Yoshiko Kayama. They released the Jenny doll in the 1980s.

In 1975, Takara produced the Diaclone and Microman Micro Change toys. In 1984, the toy line was rebranded by Hasbro as "Transformers". Takara continued to sell Microman and used it as the basis for the Micronauts toy line. Micronauts were sold internationally by the Mego Corporation. Other transforming toys made by Takara include Brave, Dennō Bōkenki Webdiver, and Daigunder. Both Webdiver and Daigunder toys could interact with TV screens, which proved only but a fad in the early 2000s.

thumb|230px|Two Beyblades in a 'Beyblade tournament'

In 1978, Takara developed the Choro-Q, mini pullback cars. Internationally, they have been sold as "Penny Racers". Takara also invented the action figure line Battle Beasts, the E-kara karaoke microphone, B-Daman, and Beyblade, a product that has achieved high popularity globally. These toys were sold or distributed internationally by Hasbro.

The Dakko-Chan doll was revived in 2001 in a new colorful form.

DreamMix TV World Fighters was released in 2003 as a crossover between Takara, Hudson Soft and Konami. From 2003 Takara also owned the video game developer and publisher Atlus. See also Yumemi Kobo (dream generator).

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.

Miscellaneous

In the 1980s, Takara as an OEM also sold Sord M5 home computers.

In 2002, Takara developed and released a real-life, road legal small electric car based on its Choro-Q toys through its new motor subsidiary. However due to low sales these cars were soon axed.

References

  • TAKARATOMY, current company
  • TAKARA Toys (archived at the Wayback Machine, June 15 2005)