Since Tokyo Shoseki was founded in 1909, we have grown steadily by publishing mainly textbooks that serve as the bedrock of Japanese education. Education is the very foundation of the country. We are proud that textbook publishing has been the company's primary focus, and we have always striven to create and produce “better textbooks.” This pride has evolved into our corporate mission: “human development through education and culture.” It has been passed onto everyone at Tokyo Shoseki, and we thus consider one another to be the most valuable assets. As we are aware of our responsibilities as the leading company in the sector, we will continue to make every effort to nurture creative people with individuality to address challenges in the new era.
Primary Business Activities
Tokyo Shoseki offers a diverse range of publishing materials, mainly textbooks for students ranging from the elementary to the high school levels, as well as related services and technologies for teachers such as videos, DVDs, and PC software. Additionally, the company publishes many types of books including literary works, practical how-to books, educational books, and our popular guidebook series, to name a few.
Because it is generally recognized that students' scholastic abilities have suffered a decline in recent years, great importance has been placed on teachers' abilities to evaluate their students. Our assessment system business activities cover all aspects of evaluations carried out at schools. This includes academic ability surveys, occupational awareness surveys, surveys on attitude toward studying, physical fitness tests, and overall school evaluation.
Expansion into New Businesses
Expectations placed on education have risen and diversified in recent years. Because of expanding access to education and increasing familiarity with the idea of lifelong education in an era in which society is aging, additional educational needs have been identified. Tokyo Shoseki is already prepared to become actively involved in this educational market niche. We continue to strive to further improve our products and to move into new businesses, making use of our knowledge, experience, and network of partners that have been developed over the years.
As one of the examples of our new businesses, we started to support a Japanese language examination system, which helps to ensure that people learn how to use the Japanese language properly. This provides an opportunity to reexamine the Japanese language in an enjoyable way for people ranging from elementary pupils to the elderly. Examinations are held twice a year throughout Japan. This undertaking has become widely popular in schools, business, and among ordinary people. The number of examinees is on the increase year by year.
Opening the membership website “Tosho E-net” in 1999, which targets teachers, is another example of a new business venture. Tokyo Shoseki has been endeavoring to develop multimedia materials such as PC software and DVDs. “Tosho E-net” is one such product. The website boasts a membership that already exceeds 180,000. The members range from elementary school to college teachers both in Japan and overseas. Now that digitization and high-speed network creation are proceeding in schools at a rapid pace, we are striving to develop teaching materials in response to such advances in hardware and infrastructure.
The Tokyo Shoseki Network
Tokyo Shoseki's sales bases are located nationwide, providing appropriate support to teachers by listening to the voices of those actually engaged in the classrooms. We have affiliated companies as well that specialize in printing, distributing, and editing. We believe that the integrated strengths of the Tokyo Shoseki network stem from all group companies exerting their greatest efforts in their areas of specialization.
Activities Contributing to Society
We are engaged in an extensive array of activities that contribute to the betterment of society.
The Tosho Education Award recognizes outstanding educational activities, and helps to generate awareness of these activities in the education sector.
We have also created the first textbook library in Japan, Tosho Bunko. The library contains approximately 160,000 textbooks and materials arranged systematically dating from the mid-1800s to the present. Researchers, educators, and others involved in the teaching profession come to make use of these facilities and materials.
We also support the Children's Song Culture Award, which is designed to advance the creation and popularization of children's songs.
In order to further contribute to Japanese education and culture, Tokyo Shoseki is striving to make these activities more fruitful and numerous.
