KOKUYO Rebrands to Mark 120th Anniversary. Establishes "Curiosity is Life" as First Corporate Message and Updates Logo

KOKUYO was founded in October 1905 as Kuroda Hyoshi-Ten, manufacturing covers for Japanese-style bookkeeping ledgers. The company subsequently expanded its business into stationery, office furniture, and mail-order sales.

Since formulating its long-term vision CCC2030 in February 2021, KOKUYO has redefined its role in society as a "WORK & LIFE STYLE Company" and has been expanding its business fields beyond stationery and furniture. In the fourth medium-term plan, Unite for Growth 2027, which starts in 2025, the company aims to update its Forest-Like Management Model and realize enhanced business and corporate value by providing experience value and expanding its business and regional fields.

Celebrating the 120th anniversary of its founding, KOKUYO will undergo a major rebranding with a view towards contributing the value it provides not only in Japan but globally as well. In addition to renewing its corporate identity, including the logo, the company has established its first corporate message, "Curiosity is Life," which aims to realize a self-directed, collaborative society.

As a symbol of this rebranding, KOKUYO is launching "CURIOCITY Concept" as a new project aiming to create spaces that connect people through curiosity. The project aims to foster the desire to learn, work, and live, connecting individual curiosities and collaborating to improve society.

Additionally, three short films themed around curiosity, "The Curiosity Films," have been produced and will be released on KOKUYO's official YouTube channel starting Thursday, October 2, 2025. The production of the films was commissioned to internationally acclaimed directors from Japan, China, and the U.S. Director Shunji Iwai created "World Map," director Derek Tsang created "As Written," and director Shuchi Talati created "Hidden Sun," each expressing curiosity through their unique perspectives.

In conjunction with the rebranding, the corporate website will also be completely renewed from October 2.

1. Details of rebranding

(1) KOKUYO's first corporate message: "Curiosity is Life"

KOKUYO has established "Curiosity is Life" as its first corporate message. The company believes that curiosity is the beginning of everything, and that having curiosity creates the joy of learning, the discovery in work, and the delight in living. KOKUYO will deliver curiosity to people around the world by creating new products and experiences, aiming to enrich the lives of each individual it encounters by sparking their creativity.
"Curiosity is Life" statement movie: https://youtu.be/Te3LFqUuy2A

New logo and corporate message statement

(2) New corporate identity

Since formulating its long-term vision CCC2030, establishing its Purpose, and opening and renovating THE CAMPUS office in Shinagawa, Tokyo, KOKUYO has undergone significant changes in how it is perceived by stakeholders. In addition, KOKUYO itself has more clearly articulated its own aspirations, declared its commitment to growth, and is now moving toward concrete actions. Therefore, the company has determined that its corporate identity, including the logo and visual identity that represent the face of the company, should be updated to reflect its current state, resulting in this redefinition.
The new logo design embodies KOKUYO's vision and aspirations for a future brimming with curiosity. The letters K, K, and Y are aligned with evenly spaced diagonal lines. These diagonal lines connect KOKUYO's history and future, extending infinitely and stretching endlessly. Furthermore, this logo can be extended into various patterns through different alignments and combinations. It expresses the expansive nature of KOKUYO's business, uniquely connected to the world in multifaceted ways, and its strong yet flexible potential.

Visual identity

2. New "CURIOCITY Concept" project

KOKUYO is launching "CURIOCITY Concept" as a new project aiming to create spaces that connect people through curiosity. The project aims to foster the desire to learn, work, and live, connecting individual curiosities and collaborating to improve society.

The company has already begun initiatives such as the Campus brand and Tsunagaru-pa!, which focus on helping people want to learn; THE CAMPUS and office design, which create places where people want to work; and THE CAMPUS FLATS TOGOSHI, which creates places where people want to live. Going forward, CURIOCITY Concept will be expanded not only in Japan but also worldwide.

3. "The Curiosity Films" short films
Production background

As part of this rebranding, "The Curiosity Films" were produced as short films aiming to express "Curiosity is Life" in a way that is unique to KOKUYO. Set in Japan, China, and the U.S., production of the films was commissioned to internationally acclaimed directors from each country to express curiosity through their unique perspectives. For this production, director Shunji Iwai filmed in China, director Derek Tsang in the U.S., and director Shuchi Talati in Japan. Each director collaborated with local cast and crew, completing their works with diverse international teams.

(1) Introduction of the film "World Map"

Synopsis
One day, Lan Xia goes to her classmate Hai Feng's house to stay overnight. They start to feel awkward around each other without really knowing why, but slowly get closer through insignificant words exchanged while doing a jigsaw puzzle of the world map. The next morning, Hai Feng realizes that Lan Xia has left without saying anything and sets out to follow her. A memory of a summer in which the world belonged to the two of them alone, if only for a moment.

Director profile

Shunji Iwai
Shunji Iwai made his feature directorial debut in 1995 with Love Letter, and is well known for films such as Swallowtail Butterfly, All About Lily Chou-Chou, The Case of Hana & Alice, Last Letter, and Kyrie. He also wrote the lyrics for the song "Hana wa Saku", which was released in 2012 to support the recovery effort after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. A 4K remaster of Love Letter was released in April 2025 in celebration of the film's 30th anniversary. He continues to work borderlessly across various genres both in Japan and abroad.

Director comments
This year marks the 30th year of my career as a film director. I began this film with the desire to go back to the start by exploring the theme of "Curiosity". While I was digging through things I'd written in my 20s to see if I could turn any of them into a film, this story popped into my head. I reworked a kind of prequel I'd written to Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom? and set it in China so the protagonists are Chinese children. Just as I was rediscovering my own sense of curiosity while making the film, I hope that it will also ignite a spark of curiosity in the hearts of those watching.

Cast: Wang Peixi, Ma Yirui, Li Meng

(2) Introduction of the film "As Written"

Synopsis
For acclaimed novelist Brian Johnson, the stage of his final book reading becomes an unexpected tribunal.
The "visitors," who confront him, are hauntingly familiar.
Their question to Johnson: "Have you truly been facing us all along?"
It unlocks a flood of buried memories and regret, as Johnson finally recognizes them as characters from his own novels.
This unsettling encounter awakens a part of himself he had nearly forgotten, compelling him to seek answers to the questions that define an author's soul: What is creation? To whom does a story belong? And what does it truly mean to write?

Director profile

Derek Tsang
Derek Tsang Kwok Cheung is a film director, screenwriter, and actor originating from Hong Kong. BETTER DAYS (2019), his sophomore film, was nominated for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, after winning eight awards at the 39th Hong Kong Film Awards; including Best Film and Best Director. Tsang's solo directorial debut, SOULMATE (2016) was critically acclaimed, earning him the Best Director Award at the 2017 Hong Kong Film Director's Guild and Best Actress for both leading Actress at the 53rd Golden Horse Awards. His latest directorial works include the first two episodes of Netflix's latest big hit, the sci-fi epic 3 BODY PROBLEM.

Director comments
The film is about a novelist who reevaluates his past self and the way he feels about his work through confronting the characters he created. As a writer and a film director, looking back at your work from your younger days is an opportunity to feel that sense of doubt and inexperience all over again. But at the same time, it should also make you confront why it was that you chose this path to begin with. The most important thing in any creative project is curiosity. Maintaining an interest in other people, the world, and yourself too. That's the driving force that allows you to continue as a creative. I want people to rediscover that through watching this film.

Producer: Jojo Hui

(3) Introduction of the film "Hidden Sun"

Synopsis
While visiting Japan, philosopher Sushila and her astrophysicist husband Kenji attend the final performance of the dancer Mako before she retires.
Subtly but surely, the performance shakes up the silence and tension that has been mounting between them.

Once the performance is over, Kenji reunites with Mako and spends a few precious moments with her that reawaken old feelings he can't put into words.
Meanwhile, Sushila too reckons with the emotions deep within herself through her interactions with Mako.

Through their bodies, the pain that awakened deep in their hearts is gradually released.

Screenwriter and director profile

Talati
Talati is an Indian-born film director and screenwriter. She earned her MFA in Film Directing from the American Film Institute (AFI) and was awarded the Women In Film Scholarship. Her short film Mae and Ash, which depicts the tensions within an open relationship, received several awards and was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick. Her short A Period Piece, which explores intimacy during menstruation, was screened at SXSW and attracted wide attention.
Her debut feature film, Girls Will Be Girls is a coming-of-age story set in a conservative, all-girls boarding school in India exploring adolescence and sexual awakening. The film premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award, and went on to receive the John Cassavetes Award at the 2025 Independent Spirit Awards.

Director comments
When I thought about what "curiosity" really meant, the closest thing that came to mind was "life force." Wanting to know something, or to try something. The urge to feel alive. It's these things that drive us. The film is about the nature of curiosity as seen from three perspectives: those of a husband and wife who've lost interest in each other after many years of marriage, and that of a dancer reaching a turning point in her life. Through releasing the pain and emotions that can't be put into words through the movement and expression of the body, we may discover an essential freedom and means of expression that the "world of knowledge" tends to overlook. Please accept this film with an open and curious heart.

Cast: Kazuki Kitamura, Samiya Mumtaz, Mieko Harada

Overview of "The Curiosity Films" short films

Release date: October 2, 2025
Special page: https://www.kokuyo.com/en/shortfilm12_0/

[Feature films]
"World Map" by director Shunji Iwai: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdZf-olmjKw
"As Written" by director Derek Tsang: https://youtu.be/yOF3yRA5vPE
"Hidden Sun" by screenwriter and director Shuchi Talati:https://youtu.be/d9FQW7sNukM

[Commercials]
"Three Films Presented by KOKUYO" 30-second: https://youtu.be/E6umwnk7rsc
"World Map" by director Shunji Iwai 15-second:https://youtu.be/2aeWYqdoTkc
"As Written" by director Derek Tsang 15-second:https://youtu.be/YmetHBEBSQw
"Hidden Sun" by screenwriter and director Shuchi Talati 15-second:https://youtu.be/GRQR6ug6PI0