| 1900年 |
History of Toppan |
| 1908年 |
In 1908, Toppan Printing Limited Partnership doubled its capitalization to 400,000 yen, reorganized and restarted as Toppan Printing CO., LTD. What differed from the articles of incorporation of the original limited partnership company was the addition of “binding and sale of movable type casts” to prepress and printing by copper letterpress, copper steel engraving, lithograph, aluminum plate and applied photography plate. This reflects the fact that the company was targeting the field of letterpress printing in step with the increasing standard of living of the Japanese people, the advancement of culture, and the rapid advance of publishers. |
| 1917年 |
Refusing to give up, Inoue assembled others in the company who understood offset printing and established a limited partnership called Offset Printing in 1913 equipped with the cutting-edge offset printing press. The products made by that company had superior workmanship and the astounding speed of cutting-edge offset printing enhanced its reputation, contributing to the steady growth of the company. Before long, a great number of people at Toppan began leaning towards a merger with Offset Printing and, in 1917, an extraordinary meeting of shareholders resolved to acquire that company. |
| 1920年 |
During the 1920s in the U.S., a precise and efficient platemaking method called the HB process began to be widely used in the industry for multi-color printing based on photo-applied planography technology and the step-repeat printing down method. Koshiro Ichida of Ichida Offset Printing Co., Ltd. negotiated with the HB patent holder in the U.S. and established Japan H.B. Patent Platemaking Co., Ltd., leading to the first installation of HB process equipment at Ichida Offset Printing and then at Toppan. |
| 1926-04-08 |
On April 8, 1926, an extraordinary general meeting of Toppan shareholders approved the merger agreement with Tokyo Shiki Co., Ltd. As a result, all the facilities and personnel of Tokyo Shiki were taken over by Toppan and their Nishi-Edogawamachi Plant became the Koishikawa Paper Container Plant, marking Toppan’s first step towards building a paper container and packaging production system. |
| 1938年 |
The Itabashi Plant was completed and started operations in Shimura, Itabashi Ward, Tokyo. The plant was designed with a total area of roughly 66,000 square meters, including a 40,000 square meter building, and was a modern facility with a Western-style garden and exercise facilities. |
| 1945年10月 |
Toppan’s bid to the Ministry of Finance to print new designs for all Bank of Japan notes was accepted, including ¥1,000, ¥500, ¥100, ¥10, ¥5, and ¥1 bills. Postwar, Toppan was busy meeting demand from the government for printing Bank of Japan notes, postage stamps, and lottery tickets. In October 1945, Toppan’s designs for all six bills were selected by the Ministry of Finance. |
| 2000年04月 |
Toppan celebrated 100 years of business in 2000 and undertook activities to mark the occasion, including opening the Toppan Koishikawa Building and Toppan Hall, and opening the Printing Museum, Tokyo in October 2000. The year was positioned as a 'second beginning' for the company, focusing on consolidating achievements and creating a new vision for the future. |
| 2003年10月 |
Toppan and China’s Palace Museum launched a joint project on digital preservation and display of cultural heritage. The Palace Museum Digital Institute was opened inside the Palace Museum, and VR content such as The Palace VR―The Forbidden City: The Palace of Emperors Part 1 was produced. |
| 2005年04月 |
Toppan launched Toppan Photomasks after acquiring DuPont Photomasks, enabling global production locations. In May 2005, Toppan signed a joint development agreement with IBM for photomasks for the 45 nm process, supporting next-generation semiconductor manufacturing. |
| 2006年08月 |
Toppan entered into a 10-year agreement with the Greek government to supply a secure document issuance system, which began to be used for issuing Greek IC passports and e-ID cards in August 2006. The system was previously adopted by 12 countries and used for the Athens Olympics in 2004. |
| 2007年01月 |
Toppan was named one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, marking the first of three consecutive years of recognition (2007-2009). |
| 2009年09月 |
Noriaki Kikuchi, an employee of Toppan Group, won Japan’s first gold medal in the printing category at the WorldSkills competition held in Calgary, Canada, highlighting the company’s technical excellence. |
