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The story
A ranking of each prefecture’s “dominant company” — the biggest by revenue or market cap — became a hot topic on 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyo G board. Reactions poured in over results that defied expectations, like Saitama and Ibaraki having nothing but regional banks at the top, Hyogo’s pick being ASICS, and Yamaguchi’s being Uniqlo (Fast Retailing). At the same time, plenty of people questioned the methodology itself, pointing out that Saitama Resona Bank doesn’t show up on its own since it’s a subsidiary of Resona Holdings, and that companies headquartered in Tokyo get counted as “Tokyo” no matter where their actual factories are located.
What people said
Saitama Resona Bank is probably actually bigger, but it doesn't show up since it's under Resona Holdings.
It's a confectionery company.
Compared to Yamaguchi, Kagoshima's pick is way too weak.
They're an embarrassment to the greater Tokyo area.
Though ones like Shizuoka Bank, Fukuoka Bank, and Chiba Bank are solid.
but it's a massive company
what is that?
it's really not making much money at all —
is it gonna be okay?
Even though Kioxia has a factory in Mie, its HQ is in Tokyo.
There's just no momentum anywhere.
Honda's HQ is already in Tokyo now, so it probably counts as Tokyo.
Ishikawa acts like the face of the Hokuriku region, but its pick is total garbage.
If that's allowed, count Toyota's whole group too then.
They're a company that's skillfully pivoted its core business with the times.
They pay well, but they're also great at raising thoroughly "trained" corporate drones who treat overwork as normal.
I recall seeing a version without banks somewhere.
I think Gunma's was either Beisia or Cainz.
Miyagi's was Iris Ohyama.
Yamaha: 500 billion yen
Shizuoka Bank: 2 trillion yen
Hamamatsu Photonics: 700 billion yen
Suzuyo (privately held), revenue: 600 billion yen
These would all be starting-lineup-level players anywhere else.
Shizuoka Financial Group is actually over 2 trillion yen.
Never heard of it before.
When things get desperate, it's tradition at my company to call up a KEYENCE sales rep, borrow a demo unit, grab the data we need, and just return it 🥺
We're always buying their microscopes and sensors anyway, so it's win-win I guess.
There's this running joke that Ikebukuro is basically Saitama.
If the HQ's in Tokyo, this ranking counts it as Tokyo no matter how deeply rooted the company actually is in that prefecture.
I thought the same and looked it up — turns out it's even lower than Hirogin (Hiroshima Bank).
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Rankings like this typically pick each prefecture’s “representative company” mechanically, based on standalone revenue or market cap, which often creates a disconnect from how companies actually operate as corporate groups. As commenters in the thread pointed out, Saitama Resona Bank doesn’t rank highly on its own because it’s a subsidiary of Resona Holdings, while companies like Honda and Kioxia get counted as “Tokyo” companies because their registered headquarters are in Tokyo, even though their factories are located elsewhere. Inconsistency over whether to measure by the whole corporate group (as with Toyota) or by the standalone entity is also part of why the rankings vary so much. One point readers can easily misread is that this kind of list isn’t official economic statistics — it’s simply a tally compiled from public information using its own particular criteria. Opinion in the thread was split on how to interpret the fact that so many prefectures are represented only by regional banks: some saw it as a sign of weak local industry, while others argued it just means a strong company got overlooked by the tallying method.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Announcing Your Prefecture’s Dominant Company.”
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