--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: The Backbone of Buildings image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc07e9190ac672477/6a4b5269a234198d99d469e8/8BE5D724FFE24FEE9ED00C69B836B4D9.png?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # The Backbone of Buildings  Positioned on the volatile Pacific Ring of Fire and no stranger to nature’s wild side, Japan’s construction industry has had to evolve quickly, building resilience into its very foundation under some of the world’s strictest quality standards. Reinforcing steel bars (rebar) have provided strength and flexibility in Japan’s construction since the early 1900s, with the Hinooka Bridge near Lake Biwako as an early example. In the 1980s, around 80% of these steel bars were cut and processed on-site. Today, that figure has flipped, with 95% now handled in efficient off-site facilities. Driving this shift is one key player, holding over 90% of the domestic market share—Toyo Kensetsu Kohki. The firm’s machinery enables further labor specialization and better use of limited land. President Yasuo Tanaka explained that “this allows construction teams to concentrate on certain kinds of production, meaning that workers do not have to wait for the rebar fabrication to be finished on-site.” Off-site rebar processing also reduces material waste, from a project average of 10% to “even 1%, which at ton scales can add up significantly,” according to Tanaka. Toyo is now actively exporting this efficient model to other high-growth construction markets, driven by the hope that “everyone can live in buildings and use infrastructure that is safe.” The company is already active in neighboring Taiwan, South Korea and Southeast Asian countries, and is now focusing on further expansion into more distant markets such as India. “We are expecting a similar shift from on-site rebar processing, following a similar trajectory to Japan. As labor costs and safety expectations rise, there will be a rapid increase in demand for higher-quality machines such as ours. In preparation for this, we are making several proactive investments,” Tanaka said. The Backbone of Buildings ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/global-kigyo/the-backbone-of-buildings/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/global-kigyo/the-backbone-of-buildings/"},"headline":"The Backbone of Buildings","datePublished":"2026-06-18T14:28:32.381Z","dateModified":"2026-06-09T07:27:59.707Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/branded-content/global-kigyo/the-backbone-of-buildings/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/global-kigyo/the-backbone-of-buildings/","name":"The Backbone of Buildings"}}]}] ```