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Kajima Corporation
Kajima is a Japanese construction and civil engineering giant that designs and builds buildings, power plants, and infrastructure around the world.
Kajima is one of Japan's oldest and biggest construction companies. It builds things that are large, expensive, and hard to move: office towers, hospitals, factories, dams, tunnels, bridges, power plants, and roads. Its customers are governments, real estate developers, utilities, and big companies who need something massive built and need it done on time and to spec. The company makes most of its money by signing construction contracts — it agrees on a price, does the work, and keeps the difference between what it charges and what the project costs to deliver. It also runs a real estate development arm that builds and sells properties, and it has a growing business in environmental and energy projects.
Construction is a low-margin, high-risk business. A single bad contract or a surprise jump in material costs can wipe out the profit on a whole year's work, so the winners are the firms with deep engineering skill, disciplined bidding, and the scale to buy steel and concrete cheaply. Kajima competes with other Japanese giants like Shimizu and Obayashi, plus global players such as Vinci and Skanska. Its edge is a long track record on complicated projects — nuclear power plants, high-speed rail, and seismic-resistant buildings — built over more than a century. It is headquartered in Tokyo, and it earns a large share of its revenue overseas, especially in Asia and the Middle East. The real estate side is worth knowing about. Kajima develops office buildings and apartments, often in Japan, and sometimes keeps them as rental properties. That gives it a steadier stream of income that doesn't depend on winning the next contract. Like many Japanese construction firms, it also invests in research — it has labs that study earthquake engineering, soil, and building materials, which feeds directly into winning bids for tough projects.
The company is listed in Tokyo and also trades on the Frankfurt exchange under the ticker you found. It pays a dividend and buys back shares from time to time, returning cash to investors, though construction profits are cyclical and can swing hard with the economy. Kajima's biggest risks are the classic ones for builders: project overruns, labor shortages in Japan as the workforce ages, and slowdowns in construction spending. When infrastructure budgets are flush and developers are building, Kajima does well; when they freeze, the order book thins out.
Saved answer · last researched 15 Nov 2026
BIG PICTURE
Kajima gets 70% of its sales from Japan, where regulators just halted work for 120 days
- 70% Japan
- 30% Rest of the world
Japan accounts for 70% of Kajima's net sales, which is why a 120-day suspension ordered by the Kanto Regional Development Bureau over antitrust violations bites. Building and civil engineering contracts bring in 86.4% of sales, and most of that work sits in its home market. The company has spread into the US, Southeast Asia and Europe, yet Japan still pays most of its bills. Source: MarketScreener España, data from 2025
Timeline
A Carpenter Starts a Building Business
In 1840, a skilled carpenter named Iwakichi Kajima opened a construction business in Edo, which is now Tokyo. As Japan opened up to the world, he moved to Yokohama and built the city's first foreign trading house. That building made his name, and Kajima became known as a pioneer of Western-style construction in Japan. It was a simple start: one craftsman with high standards, in the right place at the right time.
The Second Generation Bets on Railways
A generation later, Iwazo Kajima took over and set up Kajima Gumi. He saw that Japan was about to build railways everywhere, and he grabbed subcontracting work on the Tsuruga Line. From there the company built a strong reputation in rail and then pushed into building dams. The little carpentry shop was turning into a serious engineering firm.
The Company Takes Its Modern Name
The company renamed itself Kajima Corporation. A new name marked a new era for a business that was no longer just a family building outfit.
Kajima Opens Its Own Research Lab
Morinosuke Kajima founded the industry's first technical research institute. This was a bigger move than it might sound. Instead of just building what others designed, Kajima would now study how to build better, which set it on the path to becoming a technology-driven company.
Kajima Goes Public
Kajima listed its shares on the Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges. Going public gave the company access to outside money and a wider base of owners, a sign it had grown well beyond its family roots.
Japan's First Skyscraper
Kajima completed the Kasumigaseki Building, Japan's first skyscraper. That single project made its reputation as a leader in high-rise construction. Later, the company would also become a top player in technology that keeps buildings steady during earthquakes.
Building a Global Footprint
In the 1980s, Kajima set up companies in the United States, Europe and Asia, building businesses rooted in local communities at six regional bases. Operations in China, Taiwan and Australia followed later. The company was no longer just Japanese; it was becoming a global builder.
A Hard Year Turns Red
Kajima posted a net loss of about 41 billion yen for the year, hit by big one-time charges from selling securities and troubled development projects. The whole construction industry was also hurting as large public works projects dried up. It was a reminder that even a strong builder can get squeezed when the market turns.
A New Hub in Singapore
Kajima opened The GEAR in Singapore. It acts as the group's regional base for Asia, houses a technical research office, and gives startups a place to work with the company. It was a bet that the next wave of ideas would come from working closely with young companies, not just from its own labs.
A New President Takes Over
Masafumi Kiryu was promoted to President, with Chairman Yoshikazu Oshimi giving up the presidency. The change came as the company moved to a new board structure with an Audit & Supervisory Committee. Kiryu said he wants to expand the construction value chain and look at new acquisitions to strengthen the business. The old builder keeps reinventing how it grows.