was a Japanese businessman who built the Tokyu Group

Tokyu Group

The of companies centers on the Tokyu Corporation railway company, which links Tokyo and its suburbs. Many companies in the group are designed to enhance the value of the Tokyu rail network. In addition to the railroad system, the group includes other companies in transportation, real-estate,...

 into one of the leading corporate groups in Japan.

Education and civil service career

Gotō was born in 1883 as Keita Kobayashi in the village of Aoki in Nagano Prefecture

Nagano Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano...

. After graduating from high school in the nearby city of Matsumoto

Matsumoto, Nagano

is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Matsumoto is designated as a Special City.-Outline:The new city of Matsumoto is the city comprising the mergers of the old city of Matsumoto and four villages. Matsumoto officially absorbed those villages without creating a new municipal...

, he returned to his native village as a grade school teacher. In 1902 he entered what is now the University of Tsukuba

University of Tsukuba

is located in the city of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture in the Kantō region of Japan. The University has 28 college clusters and schools with a total of around 15,000 students...

, and in 1907 entered the law department of Tokyo Imperial University. After graduating, he entered the Agriculture Ministry at the relatively late age of 29, and three years later transferred to the Ministry of Transport, where he was involved in supervising the national railway system

Japanese Government Railways

The Japanese Government Railways was the national railway system directly operated by the central government of Japan until 1949. It is a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the Japan Railways Group.- Name :...

.

In 1912, while still working in the Agriculture Ministry, he married the daughter of an engineer and subsequently assumed her family name, Gotō.

Business career

In 1920, Gotō was offered the post of Director of the Musashi Railway, a struggling company in need of capital to finance its expansion. He accepted and by 1924 had acquired a controlling interest in the company, using the profits from other railway ventures in the Tokyo area. This was the first of many acquisitions in which Gotō bought weak companies and transformed them into profitable members of a growing railway and real estate group.
It was also around this time that he persuaded the Tokyo Institute of Technology

Tokyo Institute of Technology

The Tokyo Institute of Technology is a public research university located in Greater Tokyo Area, Japan. Tokyo Tech is the largest institution for higher education in Japan dedicated to science and technology. Tokyo Tech enrolled 4,850 undergaraduates and 5006 graduate students for 2009-2010...

 to relocate along his railway from its former campus, which had been damaged in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake

1923 Great Kanto earthquake

The struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58:44 am JST on September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes...

. Over the next 10 years, this was followed by relocation assistance to several other schools and universities, including the Nippon Medical School

Nippon Medical School

is a private university in Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. In 1876, Tai Hasegawa established a medical school in Tokyo. At that time, the Japanese government and the ministry of education had never permitted any medical schools except The University of Tokyo School of Medicine...

 and the high school of Tokyo Gakugei University

Tokyo Gakugei University

Tokyo Gakugei University or Gakudai , for short, is a national university in Koganei, Tokyo. While its history may be traced to 1873, it was formally chartered as a university in 1949 through the merging of four teacher-training institutions....

. Together with numerous new residential developments along the railways, this strategy brought steady passengers and increased the value of the company's real estate holdings.

By the time of his death in 1959, his strategy of aggressive acquisitions had built the Tokyu Group into one of Japan's largest corporate empires, with businesses ranging from railways and department stores to hospitals, schools, and leisure and entertainment companies.

Art collection

In his later years, Gotō was a noted collector of Japanese and Asian art. His collection included several National Treasures

National treasures of Japan

National Treasures are the most precious of Japan's Tangible Cultural Properties, as determined and designated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs...

, including calligraphy, ceramics, and one of the four surviving 13th-century Tale of Genji illustrated handscrolls. The collection is now preserved in the Gotoh Museum

Gotoh Museum

The is a private museum in the Kaminoge district of Setagaya on the southwest periphery of Tokyo. It was opened in 1960, displaying the private collection of Keita Gotō, chairman of the Tokyu Group...

in Tokyo.