Kimura Associates Group Japan

This article is about the Japanese software company, For the American division of Kimura Associates, see Kimura Associates USA, Inc. For the international division of Kimura Associates, see Kimura Associates International, Inc.

Kimura Associates Group Japan Holdings KK (Japanese: 株式会社キムラ アソシエーツ グループ ジャパン ホールディングス, Hepburn: Kabushikigaisha Kimura Asoshiētsu Gurūpu Japan Hōrudingusu, commonly known in English as Kimura Associates Group Japan or simply the KAG, IPA: /ˈkæːg/), formerly known as Kimura Associates Ltd. (木村同僚株式會社「キムラ・アソシヱーツ」) and Kimura Associates KK (キムラ・アソシエーツ株式会社), is a Japanese multinational software and video game manufacturer headquartered nationally in Machida, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan and globally in Miami, Florida, United States. It is a parent of Random House-Kimura-Brøderbund Software Organization, LLC. The company was founded on April 14, 1896 by Akihito Kimura (February 10, 1876 - September 30, 1969), and incorporated on May 10, 1896. Akihito Kimura's father, Katsutomo Fujimaki (November 20, 1842 - May 7, 1927) created a spinoff from the future project of the now widely-recognized Kimura Foods brand (now a company of Usagi Mochi). The company was rarely focused on traditional Asian gaming, like mahjong or sudoku. His relative, Toshihiro Kimura (July 10, 1904 - August 28, 1998) became interested in inventing hanafuda cards.

Mid-1890's through late 1910's
Kimura Associates Group Japan Holdings KK was founded on April 14, 1896 as Kimura Associates Ltd. The founder of Kimura Associates Ltd., Akihito Kimura, invented the first mahjong puzzle game, eventually taking role in traditional Asian gaming. By August 16, 1903, Akihito Kimura instituted the first corporate logo. The logo consisted of a flower silhouette with the circle, signalizing the Kimura clan. It contained Japanese writing both in Kanji and in Katakana, and they were both written in reverse. On May 14, 1907, the company was sold to the retail store Mitsukoshi. Akihito Kimura acquired the rights to Mitsukoshi and the company regained success prior to its acquisition from Toyota.

Early 1920's through mid-1940's
On December 28, 1924, Akihito Kimura set up a global headquarters near northwest 7th Street in Miami, Florida, as a part of their expansion to the United States. This marked the first global headquarters to be introduced to the southeastern United States during the Roaring Twenties. From March 10, 1929, publishing books and supercomputers were sold under the name Kimurabund (キムラバンド). The first supercomputer sold under the name was Kimurabund 2000 (キムラバンド 2000, キムラバンド にせん), also included the Great Kimurabund 2500. When Kimura Associates Ltd. entered the American market as Kimura Associates USA, Inc. on October 7, 1932, the name was not given due to complications regarding Brøderbund Software (not incorporating until 1980).

On August 16, 1945, Kimura Associates Ltd. made a joint venture with Walt Disney Pictures (formerly Walt Disney Productions until 1983) as a film publishing company, but split half-in-half in order to maintain company rights.

Late 1950's through mid-1970's
From August 20, 1957, Kimura Associates Ltd. created a distributing company known as Kimura-Toyota Advanced Studies, Ltd. during their joint venture with Kimura Associates Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corporation. At the same time, Akihito Kimura founded Kimura-Toyota Automobiles Co., Ltd. and Kimura-Toyota Car Services Ltd. as a car manufacturing company. On November 2, 1961, Toshihiro Kimura was interested in inventing hanafuda cards, so the company began selling each of their hanafuda cards to other retailers. On September 30, 1969, Akihito Kimura died of lung cancer and kidney failure, and thus, Kimura-Toyota Automobiles Co., Ltd. was being renamed to Mitsubishi-Toyota Automobiles Co., Ltd. and Kimura-Toyota Car Services Ltd. being renamed to Mitsubishi-Toyota Car Services Ltd., both sold to the Japanese car manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors. On May 14, 1972, Kimura Associates Ltd. ended their Kimurabund products, which was sold out to Toshihiro Kimura, who later founded The Makoto Kimura Charitable Trust Foundation in Delray Beach, Florida on August 28, 1972. From May 20, 1974, Kimura Associates Ltd. made a joint venture with House Foods Corporation, beginning its business as Kimura-House Foods Holdings KK (キムラ ハウス フーズ ホールディングス株式会社).

Early 1980's through late 2000's
On June 4, 1980, Toshihiro Kimura started incorporating an organization team company called Random House-Kimura-Brøderbund Software Organization, LLC, seeking joint ventures with Random House and Brøderbund Software. He also founded Broderbund Software International, an international subsidiary of Brøderbund Software. Starting on October 10, 1982, Kimura Associates Ltd. was getting a name change. Kimura Associates Ltd. was renamed to Kimura Associates KK (キムラ・アソシエーツ株式会社). On January 15, 1983, Kimura Associates KK started instituting a new corporate logo. The new logo consisted of a serif font reading "Kimura Associates", with Japanese text at the bottom, showing their new company name. In the United States and other countries, the Japanese text is omitted to not show confusion to Kimura Associates KK.

In some English-speaking countries, their old name (Kimura Associates Ltd.) got shortened to just Kimura Associates.

On September 12, 1986, Kimura Associates KK advanced to software and video game manufacturing. Their first video game was sold under their new nickname Ground Ball (グラウンド・ボール). Some other software and video game products were given by their new nickname. By mid-February 1991, Kimura Associates KK released their first PC software game pack, titled Sega Collection Mark III (セガ コレクション マーク スリー), which is a software game pack consisting of every video game made by Sega in the mid-1980's. On May 1, 1995, former chairman Satoru Kimura (born May 5, 1954) resigned from working at Kimura Associates KK and immediately hired his nephew, Shunji Kimura (born April 10, 1962) to take Satoru's place as chairman. On August 28, 1998, Toshihiro Kimura died of pneumonia at a nearby hospital in Ota City, Tokyo, Japan. Toshihiro's grandson, Yoshihisa Kimura (born July 6, 1974), enrolled as an engineer at Kimura Associates KK. On February 15, 2004, Kimura Associates KK released their own version of Disney Interactive's Winnie the Pooh: Preschool software game.

Late 2000's to the present
From September 25, 2008, Yoshihisa Kimura made a joint venture with Nintendo, doing business as Kimuratendo (キムラテンドー), a portmanteau of Kimura Associates KK and Nintendo. But unfortunately, the joint venture ended on May 17, 2009, and Kimuratendo was folded into Kimura Associates KK. Some products may have retained the Kimuratendo name, but Kimura Associates KK revamped their joint venture, forcing products to be renamed as the Kimura Boy (キムラ・ボーイ), a portmanteau of Kimura Associates KK and Nintendo's Game Boy consoles. On June 24, 2011, former president and CEO Toshikatsu Kimura (born March 29, 1971) quit his job as president and CEO, and provided Michitaka Oyama (born April 20, 1967) to take Toshikatsu's role as new president and CEO. Around the same time, the former vice president and COO Takashi Kimura (born December 6, 1963) left office on May 10, 2012, and provided Akihito Kimura's son, William Dean Kimura Jr. (born June 20, 1974) to take Takashi's role as new vice president and COO. By mid-November 2014, Yoshihisa Kimura made a joint venture with Capcom, eventually founding Kipcom Foundry Corporation (キプコン ファウンドリー コーポレーション), a portmanteau of Kimura Associates KK and Capcom. Yoshihisa Kimura also founded Brøderbund-Kimura Software, Inc. as a subsidiary of Kimura Associates KK. The company greatly cooperated with Disney Interactive on April 10, 2017. On May 26, 2018, Kimura Associates KK was getting a permanent name change. Kimura Associates KK was renamed to Kimura Associates Group Japan Holdings KK (株式会社キムラ アソシエーツ グループ ジャパン ホールディングス), or commonly known as Kimura Associates Group Japan (キムラ アソシエーツ グループ ジャパン), Kimura Associates Group (キムラ アソシエーツ グループ), or simply the KAG (prononced "cag", IPA: /ˈkæːg/). The company instituted a new corporate logo starting on June 20, 2018. The new logo consists of the Latin letter K shaped like a bunny rabbit with ears, with a blue apostrophe indicating the company's establishment, thus gaining an infamy as the Kimura Foods "K" logo (きむら食品の「K」ロゴマーク). On the bottom reads "Kimura Associates Group Japan" in Japanese text and in a gothic font. This was the first manufacturing company to influence the Kimura Foods company, rarely producing its latest "Usagi Mochi" rice cakes. Later, on June 24, 2018, the company started using their corporate logo for international divisions. The Kimura Foods "K" logo is shown, but it reads "Kimura Associates" in serif font. The text shown on the bottom of the new logo is seen as an homage to the formerly named Kimura Associates KK. Around the same time on November 25, 2019, Kimura Associates Group Japan acquired Living Books, a series of animated interactive read-along storybook adventures developed by Brøderbund Software and Random House, part of Random House-Kimura-Brøderbund Software Organization, LLC. Yoshihisa Kimura commissioned a new logo for the Living Books series during the acquisition of Living Books from Kimura Associates Group Japan.

Kimura Associates USA, Inc.
Main article: Kimura Associates USA, Inc. 

Kimura Associates USA, Inc. (also commonly known as Kimura Associates) is an American software and video game division of the Japanese software and video game manufacturer Kimura Associates Group Japan Holdings KK. It was founded on October 7, 1932 in Miami, Florida by Toshihiro Kimura and Akihito Kimura. This company focuses mainly on original software games made by Kimura Associates USA, Inc. Kimura Associates USA classifies this company as a parent of Random House-Kimura-Brøderbund Software Organization, LLC and Kimura Associates Group Japan Holdings KK. Its headquarters are in Orlando, Florida.

Kimura Associates International, Inc.
Main article: Kimura Associates International, Inc. 

Kimura Associates International, Inc. (also known as Kimura Associates) is the international software and video game division of the Japanese software and video game manufacturer Kimura Associates Group Japan Holdings KK. It was founded on May 10, 1950 in Hahira, Georgia by Toshihiro Kimura. A subsidiary of Broderbund Software International, this company focuses on English-oriented software and video games organized by Broderbund Software International. Its headquarters are in Savannah, Georgia.

Kimura Associates Norge AS
Main article: Kimura Associates Norge AS 

Kimura Associates Norge AS (doing business as  Kimura Associates Norge Aksjeselskap ) is a Norwegian software and video game division of the Japanese software and video game manufacturer Kimura Associates Group Japan Holdings KK. It was founded on December 16, 1984 in Jessheim, Norway by Toshihiro Kimura. It is a subsidiary of Brøderbund-Kimura Software, Inc. and a parent company of Kimura Associates International, Inc., which sells games in PAL format. Kimura Associates Norge AS joined hands with Living Books as an acquirement from Kimura Associates USA. Its headquarters are in Oslo, Norway.

Kimura Associates Sverige AB
Main article: Kimura Associates Sverige AB 

Kimura Associates Sverige AB (doing business as  Kimura Associates Sverige Aktiebolag ) is a Swedish software and video game division of the Japanese software and video game manufacturer Kimura Associates Group Japan Holdings KK. It was founded on June 30, 2004 in Växjö, Sweden by Holvaster Bergkvist and Toshihiro Kimura. It is a subsidiary of Broderbund Software International. This company focuss entirely on games based on the Winnie the Pooh game series from Disney Interactive and Broderbund Software International. its headquarters are in Växjö, Sweden.

Broderbund Software International
Main article: Broderbund Software International 

Broderbund Software International (commonly abbreviated as BSI) is a software and video game division of Kimura Associates Group Japan Holdings KK, with its headquarters in Waycross, Georgia, United States. It is a company of Random House-Kimura-Brøderbund Software Organization, LLC. It was founded on April 20, 1976 in Tifton, Georgia by Raymond Sheldon Kim and Toshihiro Kimura. It is a subsidiary of Kimura Associates USA, Inc. The company focuses mostly on games and software published by Kimura Associates USA, albeit played in PAL format (some games are played in NTSC format).

Japan

 * ゲームの最初 (The first in gaming; April 7, 1910 - May 26, 1960)
 * 我々の名前です (It's our name; May 30, 1960 - October 10, 1982)
 * ベストサービス、力が強く (Stronger powers for best service; October 11, 1982 - April 4, 2018)
 * リアルタイムゲーミングの未来へ (To the future of real-time gaming; April 5, 2018 - present)

United States

 * Fun at its finest (November 20, 1947 - September 20, 1975)
 * No one does it better like Kimura (May 20, 1976 - March 26, 1982)
 * Gaming to the next level (March 28, 1982 - December 4, 1997)
 * The next generation of software (December 6, 1997 - June 25, 2020)
 * Sharing pieces of nostalgic memories together (June 26, 2020 - present)