Akasaka Group

Akasaka Group (赤坂財閥) is a Yamataian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Chuo, Niihama. It is one of the "Tier One" conglomerates in the Yamataian economy, and its various subsidiaries provide a diverse array of products and services ranging from banking to manufacturing to security services. Akasaka is one of the largest family-owned businesses in the world, and is the second-largest business in Yamatai owned by a single family, behind Shinomiya.

Founded in 1860 by Akasaka Satoru in Yamato City as Akasaka Electrical Manufacturing, the company was the first company in Yamatai to mass-produce telegraph equipment and soon diversified into infrastructure. Parts of the company were nationalised by the military government following the enactment of the Strategic Industries Consolidation Law in 1920, but the company survived largely intact due to ties the Akasaka family held with high-ranking military officials.

Following the Second Escar-Varunan War, Akasaka Shoichi carried out an aggressive re-acquisition of former assets and established the Kita Yamato Bank as a central pillar of the new conglomerate. The group expanded rapidly, driven by a combination of organic growth and by acquisitions, buying various heavy engineering and primary industry firms that emerged from the post-war government's campaign of privatisation. Akasaka maintained their focus on the electronics and emerging computing markets, becoming the largest electronics producer in Yamatai from 1958, before being overtaken by Mitsuhishi Electric in 1965. After a series of break-ins at Akasaka warehouses in the 1960s went unsolved, Akasaka Shoichi established Akasaka Security, Co., which is today the largest private security company in Yamatai and has also diversified into security technologies and surveillance systems.

Akasaka is a household name in Yamatai and has long been viewed as a symbol of the country's technological prowess and post-war resurgence. Akasaka is responsible for a number of Yamataian firsts, including radar (1926), transistor television, colour television, microwave ovens (1959), a Yashiman word processor (1978), MRI systems (1982), laptop computers (1986), and many others. An Akasaka subsidiary, Akasaka General Electronics, was the inventor of flash memory and remains in the global top 5 of the flash memory chip industry.

In 2015, Akasaka Computers was ranked as the largest personal computer manufacturer in the world, and in 2018 Akasaka subsidiary Matsushima Instruments, Co. was the biggest producer of medical imaging equipment in the world. In 2020, Akasaka bought over Takaoka Combined Industries in one of the highest-profile corporate mergers in Yamataian history, entering the defence industry through the acquisition of the third-largest defence contractor in Yamatai. In January 2022, Akasaka Bioengineering was founded, marking the conglomerate's first foray into the biotechnology market with a focus on developing genetically modified crops to withstand climate change.

1860-1920
Akasaka Electrical Manufacturing was founded in 1860 by Akasaka Satoru, an engineer and inventor who was also a pioneer of the Yamataian telegraph system. Akasaka Electrical Manufacturing was the first Yamataian company to manufacture telegraph equipment, and also manufactured switches, and miscellaneous electrical and communications equipment. In 1875, Akasaka Satoru further expanded the company to include infrastructure development, construction, and maintenance to support Yamatai's growing communication needs. The company was inherited by Akasaka Satoru's son, Akasaka Hiromichi, on his death in 1891.

Parts of the company were nationalised by the military government following the enactment of the Strategic Industries Consolidation Law in 1920, but the company survived largely intact due to ties the Akasaka family held with high-ranking military officials.

Subsidiaries and operations
As of 2012, Akasaka had 39 R&D facilities worldwide, which employed around 4,180 people.

Akasaka Security Co.
Akasaka Security Co., Ltd. (赤坂警備員株式会社) is a subsidiary of Akasaka Group and focuses on private security and security technology. Akasaka Security offers private services, including private property security, armed escort, outrider, personal protection, and other related services. The company has also diversified into security technology, including alarm systems, CCTV and other surveillance systems, other types of hardware, and security-related software.

The company was founded in 1967 by Akasaka Shoichi, CEO of the Akasaka Group, after a series of break-ins and thefts from Akasaka-owned warehouses went unsolved by the Satsuma Provincial Police. Akasaka Security started as a small firm that provided security for other Akasaka subsidiaries, and began offering its services to other firms and individuals in 1978. Since then, Akasaka Security has grown to be the largest security guard company in Yamatai, with subsidiaries of its own including Zatoichi Security Guards Co., Monomi Protection Services Co., and others.

In 1995, the home security electronics division of Akasaka General Electronics was transferred to Akasaka Security, enabling the security devices to be marketed with the trusted Akasaka Security brand.

Akasaka Security maintains several security guard academies across Yamatai to provide high-class training for all of its personnel. It has often been alleged that one of Akasaka Security's subsidiaries, Akasaka Special Contracting, may be a front for a secret and highly-trained private military company. Private military contracting is illegal under Yamataian law, and Akasaka Special Contracting is in fact a firearms maintenance and repair company that serves the other Akasaka Security subsidiaries.

Kissaki Corporation
Kissaki Corporation (株式会社キッサキ) is a multinational subsidiary of the Akasaka Group that specialises in optics and imaging products. Kissaki's products include cameras, camera lenses, binoculars, microscopes, ophthalmic lenses, measurement instruments, rifle scopes, spotting scopes, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which it is the world's second largest manufacturer.

In recent years, Kissaki has diversified into new areas like 3D printing and regenerative medicine to compensate for the shrinking digital camera market.

Takaoka Combined Industries
Main article: Takaoka Combined Industries