JTB Corporation
travel agency in Japan

JTB Corporation (株式会社ジェイティービー, Kabushiki Gaisha Jeitībī) is the largest travel agency in Japan and one of the largest travel agencies in the world. It specializes in tourism. There are branches all over the world to help Japanese and non-Japanese guests in both private leisure and corporate / business fields. It was formerly owned by the Japanese government. It is headquartered in the JTB Building in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Due to COVID-19, JTB planned to reduce its group headcount by 7,200 and close 115 domestic outlets by September 2021.
History
The company was established as "Japan Tourist Bureau (ジャパンツーリストビューロー, Japan Tsūrisuto Byūrō)" in 1912, primarily serving foreign visitors to Japan. In 1941, the company was renamed as East Asian Travel Agent (東亜旅行社, Tōa Ryokōsha), and in the following year changed its status from corporation to foundation, while still retaining its travel agency functions. After World War II, the company was renamed as "Japan Travel Bureau (日本交通公社, Nihon Kōtsū Kōsha)". In 1963, Japan Travel Bureau was divided into two separate entities, with the travel agency arm becoming an independent corporation while the foundation remained a non-profit organization.
“JTB Corporation” enters the record as travel agency in Japan. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Corporation, travel and agency can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6109053. VIAF identifies the subject as 255212661. 1 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2021, 1912, 1941 and 1963.
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This entry incorporates text from “JTB Corporation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.