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Morinaga & Company facts for kids

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Morinaga & Co., Ltd.
Native name
森永製菓株式会社
Public (K.K)
Traded as TYO: 2201
ISIN JP3926400007
Industry Food
Founded August 15, 1899; 124 years ago (1899-08-15) as Morinaga’s Western Confectionary Shop
Founder Taichiro Morinaga
Headquarters
Shiba, Minato, Tokyo, 108-8403
,
Japan
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Toru Arai
(President)
Products
Revenue Increase JPY 205 billion (FY 2017) (US$ 1.9 billion) (FY 2017)
Decrease JPY 10.2 billion (FY 2017) (US$ 97 million) (FY 2017)
Number of employees
3,170 (consolidated, as of March 31, 2018)
Subsidiaries Morinaga Milk Industry (10.34%)

Morinaga & Company, Ltd. (森永製菓株式会社, Morinaga Seika Kabushiki-gaisha) is a confectionery company in Tokyo, Japan, in operation since 1899. Their products include candy and other confectioneries. Morinaga has had Ayumi Hamasaki and Mao Asada appear in their commercials, and in the past has used stars such as the Carpenters to advertise their products.

In 1960, the company advertised that women should give chocolates to men on Valentine's Day. This action strongly influenced the present culture of Valentine's Day in Japan. Moreover, in 2009, the company made chocolates for men to give women, which are called Gyaku-choco. (Gyaku means reverse in Japanese.)

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