Bandai Co., Ltd. Kabushiki-gaisha Bandai) is a Japanese toy maker and a producer of a large number of plastic model kits as well as a former video game company. It was the world's third-largest producer of toys in 2008 after Mattel and Hasbro. Some ex-Bandai group companies produce anime and tokusatsu programs. Its headquarters is located in Taitō, Tokyo. In 1947, Naoharu Yamashina was working for the company of his step-brother, a textile wholesaler. As that segment of the market was going weak at the time, he realized about the potential of the toy industry. He successfully convinced his step-brother to dedicate a portion of the company's activities in that industry and to be in charge of it. Step by step, Yamashina developed a toy distribution empire within the company of his wife's brother. On July 1950, Yamashina took full control of the toy distribution business, renamed it and founded the company Bandai-ya whose name was eventually shortened to Bandai in 1961.