KIMOTO Co., Ltd.
Japanese functional-film and high-performance materials manufacturer founded in 1949, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and headquartered in Inabe, Mie.
Last updated September 26, 2026
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Overview
KIMOTO Co., Ltd. (株式会社きもと) is a Japanese specialty materials and functional-film manufacturer. The company was founded in April 1949 by Nihito Kimoto, who started a film-development service for aerial photographic surveying to support the rebuilding of Japan's national map infrastructure. It was incorporated as a limited company, Kimoto Shokai, in July 1952, reorganized as a joint-stock company in February 1961, and renamed KIMOTO Co., Ltd. in July 1967. Its early products, such as AK Kent paper and AK scribe base, were used as original drawing media for government-designated maps. From the 1960s onward KIMOTO shifted from paper-based media to PET film and built a business around two core technologies: image processing and surface coating. Its functional films have been used in printed circuit boards, liquid-crystal displays, touch panels and other electronics applications, and the company describes its high-performance materials business as supporting the "IoE" (Internet of Everything) era by adding diverse functions to films only a few micrometers thick. More recently it has also promoted a digital-twin data business. KIMOTO operates manufacturing sites in Mie and Ibaraki prefectures and a technology development center in Saitama, and it has overseas group companies including KIMOTO TECH, INC. and KIMOTO AG, plus Shenyang Kimoto Industrial Co., Ltd. in China. The company has been listed in Japan since registering its shares with the Japan Securities Dealers Association in 1994 (securities code 7908), moved to the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2005 and to the First Section in 2006, and is now listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Standard Market. In July 2024 it relocated its head office and registered domicile to Inabe, Mie Prefecture. Beyond industrial materials, KIMOTO runs an agricultural business in Inabe, opening its employee-tended "KIMOTO Dahlia Garden" to the public.
History
KIMOTO was founded in April 1949 by Nihito Kimoto as a film-development service for aerial photographic surveying, at a time when postwar Japan needed new maps for national reconstruction. The company developed its own tough, dimensionally stable paper, AK Kent paper, which was adopted as an original drawing medium for government-designated maps, and it began its corporate life as a manufacturer in the field of precision mapping. In July 1952 the business was incorporated as a limited company, Kimoto Shokai (有限会社きもと商会). It released AK Kent paper in 1955, AK scribe base in 1957 and AK strip coat in 1958. In February 1961 it was reorganized as a joint-stock company, Kimoto Shokai Co., Ltd., and in 1962 it built the Saitama Plant in Yono City (now Saitama City), Saitama Prefecture, beginning the manufacture of functional films. The Osaka sales office opened in 1966, and in July 1967 the company changed its name to KIMOTO Co., Ltd. A coating plant was added in Yono in 1968, and the Ibaraki Plant was built in Sowa Town (now Koga City), Ibaraki Prefecture, in 1969. Products from this period include Microtrace (1962), Diamat (1965) and Unipa (1969). During the 1970s KIMOTO moved into the information industry, developing products for printed circuit boards and liquid-crystal displays. It established KIMOTO USA INC. in the United States in 1973 and KIMOTO AG in Switzerland in 1974, registered as a surveying company under the Survey Act in 1977, and built the Mie Plant in Hokusei Town (now Inabe City), Mie Prefecture, in 1979. Product launches included Diazo Unipa (1971), AK Papool (1973), Pylitic (1974) and KDP (Kimoto Dry Peel, 1976). In the 1980s the company expanded globally, opening its Central Research Laboratory in Yono in 1981 (now the head office and Technology Development Center), establishing the manufacturing plant KIMOTO TECH, INC. in the United States in 1985, adding a second plant at Mie in 1986, and receiving the Science and Technology Agency Director-General's Award in 1987 for KDP. It founded Shenyang Kimoto Data Co., Ltd. (now Shenyang Kimoto Industrial Co., Ltd.) in China in 1991, and its founding president Nihito Kimoto received the Medal with Yellow Ribbon that year. A third Mie plant was added in 1992, and in 1993 the company won the International Business of the Year award in Georgia, USA. In 1994 it registered its shares with the Japan Securities Dealers Association (securities code 7908), and in 1995 KIMOTO TECH, INC. and KIMOTO USA INC. merged; the Mie and Ibaraki plants and KIMOTO TECH, INC. obtained ISO 9002:1994 certification. From the 1990s into the 2000s KIMOTO supplied hard-coat films and light-diffusion films used in products emblematic of the era, moving from liquid-crystal displays toward touch panels, and it diversified into photocatalysts, printing systems and projection screens. It listed on the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in March 2005 and delisted from JASDAQ in April 2005, then moved to the First Section in March 2006. It established KIMOTO POLAND Sp. z o.o. in Poland in 2006 (until 2013) and a sales company in Shanghai, China, in 2007 (until 2018). In 2009 it expanded the Mie No. 4 (Maruyama) Plant. In later years the company consolidated its domestic footprint: it moved its head office to Shinjuku, Tokyo, in 1996, to Shibuya, Tokyo, in May 2013, and moved its registered head office to Chuo Ward, Saitama City, in July 2013 while renaming the Tokyo office the Shinjuku Main Office; that office was closed in December 2020. In July 2024 the head office and registered domicile were relocated to Inabe City, Mie Prefecture. Today KIMOTO describes its high-performance materials business as supporting the IoE era through functional films only a few micrometers thick, and it also pursues a digital-twin data business; it continues to aim at becoming a 100-year company.
- 2020
Closed Shinjuku Main Office.
- 2013
Moved head office to Shibuya, Tokyo; moved registered head office to Saitama City.
- 2009
Expanded Mie No. 4 (Maruyama) Plant.
- 2007
Established a sales company in Shanghai, China.
- 2006
Moved to the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange; established KIMOTO POLAND Sp. z o.o.
- 2005
Listed on the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange; delisted from JASDAQ.
- 1995
KIMOTO TECH, INC. and KIMOTO USA INC. merged; ISO 9002 certification obtained.
- 1994
Registered shares with the Japan Securities Dealers Association (code 7908).
- 1991
Founded Shenyang Kimoto Data Co., Ltd. in China; founder Nihito Kimoto received the Medal with Yellow Ribbon.
- 1987
Received the 7th Science and Technology Agency Director-General's Award for KDP.
Products and positioning
Specialty materials manufacturer leveraging image-processing and surface-coating technologies to supply high-performance films for electronics and information industries, with a long-term ambition of becoming a 100-year company.
1955
AK Kent paper
1957
AK scribe base
1958
AK strip coat
1962
Microtrace
1965
Diamat
1969
Unipa
1971
Diazo Unipa
1973
AK Papool
1974
Pylitic
1976
KDP (Kimoto Dry Peel)
1980
KB film
1980
Kimolec
1984
Kimoris
1984
Kimograph EPF
1987
Kimotect
1989
Carbon Feather
1990
GEINS
1992
Light Up
1994
Kimoplate
1995
MyJeff
1995
Rafes
1997
KEY-WORKS
1998
Super Kimoart
2000
KimoSetter 340
Sources6 sources
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