History
The first kabushiki gaisha was the First National Bank of Japan, incorporated in 1873.
Rules regarding kabushiki gaisha were set out in the Commercial Code of Japan. During the American occupation following World War II, the occupation authorities introduced revisions to the Commercial Code based on the Illinois Business Corporation Act of 1933, giving kabushiki gaisha many traits of American corporations.
Over time, Japanese and U.S. corporate law diverged, and K.K. assumed many characteristics not found in U.S. corporations. For instance, a K.K. could not buy back its own stock (a restriction which still stands), issue stock for a price of less than ¥50,000 per share (effective 1982), or operate with paid-in capital of less than ¥10 million (effective 1991-2005).
On June 29, 2005, the Diet of Japan passed a new Companies Act (会社法, kaisha-hō?), which took effect on May 1, 2006. The new law greatly affected the formation and function of K.K.'s and other Japanese business organizations, bringing them closer to their contemporary counterparts in the U.S.
A complete translation into English of the new Companies Act and summary analysis is available at Japanese Law Translation
Read more about this topic: Kabushiki Gaisha
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause, as, for instance, the black man’s right to his body, or woman’s right to her soul.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“One classic American landscape haunts all of American literature. It is a picture of Eden, perceived at the instant of history when corruption has just begun to set in. The serpent has shown his scaly head in the undergrowth. The apple gleams on the tree. The old drama of the Fall is ready to start all over again.”
—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)
“I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)