is a Japanese multinational corporation operating a department store chain carrying a wide array of products, ranging from wedding dresses and other apparel to electronics and flatware. It has more than 12 branches strategically located in 2 regions, and 4 international branches around Asia. Takashimaya has been a member of the International Association of Department Stores from 1962 to 1997. Takashimaya was listed at #1197 on the Forbes Global 2000 list for 2006. Takashimaya is a member of the Sanwa Group keiretsu. History The first Takashimaya store was opened in Kyoto in 1831 as a sole proprietorship owned by Shinshichi Iida, a merchant from present-day Fukui Prefecture. The original store in Kyoto was only 3.6 square meters in area and specialized in selling gofuku (formal kimono). A second Kyoto store opened in 1893, followed by a Tokyo store in 1897 and an Osaka store in 1898. Takashimaya was incorporated as a gomei kaisha (unlimited liability company) in 1909 and converted to a kabushiki kaisha (stock company) in 1919. Takashimaya began an export business in 1876, following the Meiji Restoration, and established an in-house trading unit in 1887. By 1903 Takashimaya had offices in Paris and London and an export office in Yokohama. The trading unit was spun off as a new stock company, , in 1913. Takashimaya-Iida later merged with the trading company Marubeni. The chain saw a major expansion in the early 1930s. In 1931 it opened a "10, 20 and 50 sen store" in Osaka, a predecessor of today's 100 yen store. Its flagship store in Namba, Osaka opened in 1932, and a second flagship store in Nihonbashi, Tokyo opened in 1933. The Tokyo and Osaka stores were damaged by the firebombings of Tokyo and Osaka in 1945 but were not destroyed, and served as centers for logistics during the occupation of Japan. Due to postwar regulations on the size of new stores, many Takashimaya locations opened from the 1950s onward, including its Yokohama and Yonago stores, were set up as separate companies. In 1958, Takashimaya opened a store in New York City which eventually occupied 37,000 square feet of floor space at 693 Fifth Avenue. The New York store closed in 2010 as Takashimaya chose to refocus on East and Southeast Asian markets amid struggling sales. In 1969, Takashimaya opened Japan's first American-style suburban shopping center near Futako-Tamagawa Station, to the southwest of Tokyo. The Japanese department