TOKYO: A number of Japanese firms have incorporated English letters, or katakana, when changing their names, with an eye to developing and expanding overseas operations by making them easier to recognise overseas.
Around one-quarter of Japanese companies that changed their names in 2025 adopted names containing only English letters or an increased proportion of English letters in their names.
“We’ve chosen a name that is easy for overseas customers to understand,” said Masafumi Senzaki, president of Hitachi Construction Machinery Co, explaining the company’s name change. “We want to achieve even greater brand recognition than the Hitachi brand.”
The name of the major construction machinery maker will become Landcros Corp in April 2027. The name is made up of the word “land” and “CROS”, an acronym of English words that represent things important to the company, such as “customer” and “reliable”.
With more than 80% of its sales coming from overseas, the company has been strengthening its operations in North, Central and South America in recent years.
To promote its new company name, it has tapped Shohei Ohtani, the baseball star who plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers, to serve as the “face” of the company.
The name change comes after the company ceased to be a consolidated subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd in 2022 as part of Hitachi’s business restructuring.
Seafood firm Maruha Nichiro changed its name to Umios Corp in March with an eye to improving recognition overseas. The company has focused on sales of processed seafood products in North America and Europe, with overseas sales accounting for more than 50% of its operating profit.
The new name combines the Japanese word “umi”, meaning sea, with the first letters of “one”, which symbolises unity with society and the Earth, and “solutions”, which symbolises the resolution of social issues.
According to a survey by Teikoku Databank Ltd, of 21,547 companies that changed their names in 2025, 5,781 (27%), adopted Latin script names or incorporated a greater proportion of English letters into their names. — The Japan News/ANN
