Tsunekazu Ishihara

is a Japanese company that is responsible for brand management, production, marketing and licensing of the Pokémon franchise, consisting of video game software, a trading card game, anime television series, films, manga, home entertainment products, merchandise, and other ventures. It was established through a joint investment by the three businesses holding the copyright on Pokémon: Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. It began operating in 1998 and adopted the moniker Pokémon Ltd. in October 2000. The company is headquartered in the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo. The company has separate divisions that handle operations in different areas of the world, with The Pokémon Company International supporting the territories outside Asia. In South Korea, the operations are handled by Pokémon Korea, Inc. In other Asian territories such as Thailand and Vietnam, the operations are handled by Pokémon Asia. The Pokémon Company also handles publishing of all Pokémon videogames since 2001 in Japan, while in other territories Nintendo acts as the publisher.