The oldest predecessor of company was the Musashi Electric Railway, opened in 1908; the railway's operations were converted into a company in 1910. Keita Gotō, now known as a notable Japanese industrialist, was appointed as the CEO of the Musashi Electric Railway in 1920 and later he began a mass expansion program. The most important predecessor was first registered on September 2, 1922, as the Meguro-Kamata Electric Railway and is related to the construction of Den-en-chōfu ; it was acquired by the Musashi Electric Railway in 1924, shortly before Musashi was renamed into the Tokyo-Yokohama Electric Railway, also known as the Toyoko, in the same year. After Musashi/Toyoko's acquisition, the Meguro-Kamata Electric Railway initially operated as a subsidiary of Toyoko. It was not until 16 October 1939 that both Toyoko and Meguro-Kamata Electric railways were formally merged; the new company took the Toyoko name. In 1938, Toyoko established Toyoko Eiga, possibly for competition with Ichizo Kobayashi's Toho Company. It became the Toei Company in 1951. Toyoko took its current name in 1 May 1942, after the Japanese government forced the company to acquire the Odawara Express Railway and the Keihin Electric Railway in 1943 to support Japan's efforts in World War II. In 1944 it also acquired the Keio Teito Electric Railway. In 1948, Tokyu divested the forced-acquired companies, and the divested companies are now known as Odakyu Electric Railway, Keikyu Corporation, and Keio Corporation respectively. The 1943–1948 era of Tokyu was colloquially known as Dai-Tokyu.
The Tokyu Group also owns two smaller railroad companies, several bus companies and a major upscale department store chain called Tokyu operating in Japan and in the MBK Center in Bangkok, Thailand. Other retail operations include Tokyu Hands stores. It also runs a number of hotels under the names Tokyu/Pan Pacific in Japan and formerly owned the Pan Pacific Hotels abroad, which it sold to UOL Limited of Singapore. Formerly the owner of Japan Air System, Tokyu used to be the largest shareholder of Japan Airlines Holdings following JAS's merger with JAL. The Tokyu Group also owns and operates the upscale Tokyu Hotels and budget Tokyu Inns. From 1958 until 2001, Tokyu also owned the Japanese Shirokiya department store company. It was the owner of Mago Island until 2005, when Mel Gibson purchased it for US$15 million.
