Ezaki Glico

Ezaki Glico

Ezaki Glico Co., Ltd. (江崎グリコ株式会社, Ezaki Guriko Kabushiki-gaisha?) is a Japanese confectionery company headquartered in Nishiyodogawa-ku, Osaka. The company manufactures the traditional Glico caramel candy, as well as Pocky (also known as Mikado in Europe) and many others. The company name, Glico, is derived from a shortening of the word glycogen. The first candy produced by the company was known as Glico-Caramel. The Glico 300 meter running man trademark is also derived from the original caramel candy: the candy is 15.4 kcal, which is enough energy to run exactly 300 meters. (Calculated from a formula stating that a person 165 centimeters in height and weighing 55 kilograms will burn 8.21 kcal running 160 metres in one minute. Over a period of 1.88 minutes, such a person would burn 15.4 kcal running 300 metres.)

The company's large neon sign located above Dotonbori in Osaka has been a landmark of the city since its initial construction in 1919. It bears the Glico running man on a blue race track, as well as some of Osaka's other landmarks in the background. The giant neon sign has been revised on several occasions in order to celebrate events such as the World Cup and to bolster team spirit for Osaka's baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers. As the sign is quite well known, it has long been a popular photo stop for tourists as well as locals.

The company was also the main sponsor of the anime series Tetsujin 28 (1963—1966, the original Japanese version of Gigantor).