is a Japanese company which focuses on correspondence education and publishing. Based in

Okayama is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1889. , the city has an estimated population of 720,841 and a population density of 910 persons per km2. The total area is . The city is ...

-City, it is the parent company of

Berlitz Language Schools Berlitz Corporation is a language education and leadership training company which is based in Princeton, New Jersey. The company was founded in 1878 by Maximilian Berlitz in Providence, Rhode Island in the United States. Berlitz Corporation is ow ...

, which in turn is the parent company of ELS Language Centers. Benesse is listed on the

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. It is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies, and the largest in Asia. It had 2,292 listed co ...

(listing code 9783).

Origin of the company name

The company name is derived from the Latin words "bene" (well) and "esse" (being).

Company history

The company was founded in 1955 as by Tetsuhiko Fukutake, as a publisher of educational materials. In 1986, Soichiro Fukutake succeeded his father as President on the latter's death. In 1994, the company completed the construction of the Fukutake Shoten Tokyo Building (now Benesse Corporation Tokyo Building) in Tama-City, Tokyo. In April 1995, the company was renamed Benesse Corporation. A major breakthrough in the company's history was the acquisition of a majority stake in

, which had gone public in 1989. In 2001, Benesse completed the take-over by acquiring 100% ownership of Berlitz and making it a private company once again.

Benesse Foundation

The Benesse House is a 10-room hotel located inside a contemporary art museum on the island of

Naoshima is an island in Japan's Seto Inland Sea, part of Kagawa Prefecture. The island is best known for its many contemporary art installations and museums. The administers Naoshima and 26 smaller islands nearby. As of 2020, the town has an estimated ...

in the Seto Inland Sea. Built in 1992, it is the only hotel on the island and was designed in partnership with architect

Tadao Ando is a Japanese autodidact architect whose approach to architecture and landscape was categorized by architectural historian Francesco Dal Co as "critical regionalism". He is the winner of the 1995 Pritzker Prize. Early life Ando was born a few m ...

. It was built by the Benesse Foundation which is funded by the Benesse Corporation.

Franchises

Benesse is the originator of the ''

Kodomo Challenge ''Kodomo'' is the Japanese word for child. Kodomo may also refer to: * Kodomo (musician), the moniker for electronic musician Chris Child * Children's anime and manga or kodomo, manga with a target demographic of children * Kodomo, a toothpaste ...

'' educational program, which debuted in April 1988 and introduced three young-animal mascot characters: Shimajiro the tiger, Torippi/Flappy the parrot,Names to the left of the slashes are the original Japanese; those to the right, the English ones used in

WildBrain Spark Wild Brain Family International Limited, operating as WildBrain Spark (formerly WildBrain), is a British multi-channel network owned by the Canadian media company WildBrain (formerly DHX Media). It distributes and produces children's video cont ...

's dub. and Ramurin the lamb. These characters, along with later 1991 addition Mimirin/Mimi-Lynne the rabbit, would appear in a long-running series of ''Shimajiro'' anime starting in 1993.

Notes

References

External links

Benesse Corporation

ELS official site
Education companies established in 1955 Book publishing companies of Japan Companies based in Okayama Prefecture Publishing companies established in 1955 Mass media in Okayama Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Holding companies of Japan Japanese companies established in 1955 Holding companies established in 1955 {{japan-company-stub