Corporate Profile
The Tuttle-Mori Agency is the oldest established, and biggest
literary agency in Japan -- accounting for approximately 60% of
the market.
Since its inception in 1948 as the literary agency department of
the Charles E. Tuttle & Company, the agency has opened up the
Japanese market for best-selling fiction and non-fiction
authors such as Frederick Forsyth, John Grisham, Patricia
Cornwell, Dan Brown, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Rachel Carson and
Peter Drucker, as well as the more literary Saul Bellow, Gabriel
Garcia Marquez, and Norman Mailer, and many children's writers
and illustrators including Beatrix Potter, Tove Jansson, Roald
Dahl, and Eric Hill.
In 1978 the literary agency department became the Tuttle-Mori
Agency -- taking the names of its two founders Charles E.
Tuttle and Tom Mori. In subsequent years, the agency has
continued to new areas of business for foreign rights owners,
providing a strong presence in the market for foreign television
distributors such as the UK's Channel 4 International and
National Geographic Television International. The company is
also active in the licensing of Japanese works abroad, in areas
such as the licensing of Japanese manga translation rights to
over 20 countries around the world, as well as in the licensing
of movie adaptation rights to both Japanese and western works.
Timeline of the Agency's history
| 1948 | Tokyo branch of Charles E. Tuttle and Company established in Bukyo-ku, Tokyo. |
| 1954 | Office moved to Suido area of Bunkyo-ku. Copyrights section established |
| 1962 | Charles E. Tutttle and Company Japan Branch becomes Charles E. Tuttle and Company, a Japanese corporate entity. |
| 1969 | London office opened |
| 1976 | Computerized royalty accounting system starts operation. |
| 1978 | Tuttle-Mori Agency set up in June, and moves offices at end of year to its present location in Jimbocho. |
| 1979 | Signed cooperation agreement with S.J. Greenburger Associates, New York City. |
| 1985 | Subsidiary T.M. International established to handle audiovisual and merchandising business. |
| 1988 | Party held at the Tokyo American Club to celebrate Tuttle-Mori Agency's 10th year and Charles E. Tuttle & Company's 40th. |
| 1989 | Merchandising program started for Tove Jansson's Moomin. |
| 1990 | Invests in Taiwan and Chinese agency 大蘋果股份有限公司, and renames the company Big Apple Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc. |
| 1992 | Manga licensing business started.
|
| Thai subsidiary company established in Bangkok. |
| 1995 | Signed cooperation agreement with Eric Yang Agency of Korea, and Gutmann + Gutmann GmbH of Germany. |
| 1996 | Signed cooperation agreement with Frédérique Porretta Agence Littéraire. |
| 1997 | Signed cooperation agreement with International Publishing Studio of Italy. |
| 2002 | Further to the closure of the F. Porretta Agence, signed scouting agreement with M.P. Robert formerly of Porretta. |
| 2003 | Party held at the Hotel Grand Palace to celebrate Tuttle-Mori Agency's 25th year and Charles E. Tuttle and Company's 55th. |
Charles and Reiko Tuttle with Tom Mori circa 1980 in front of Tuttle Antiquarian Books in Rutland Vermont. The sign reads "Chas E Tuttle Co Inc Old and Rare Books E. 1832".