Yoshimoto Kogyo, one of the biggest talent agencies in Japan, recently announced that it plans to build a new 1,000-seat comedy theater in Shinjuku. The company already operates a 458-seat theater in the Shinjuku Lumine building, and like that one the new venue will present only Yoshimoto acts. The company's comedians have always been popular, but recently their popularity has gone through the roof.

Yoshimoto's revenues were 34.3 billion yen last year. The company employs 250 people and represents about 700 comedians (as well as singers, athletes and "cultural" figures). On a corporate scale it's not big, but in Osaka it is more than a business. The city's cultural identity is inextricably linked to Yoshimoto, which is more than 90 years old. In the minds of most Japanese, comedy has always been associated with Osaka -- a disproportionate number of the country's most popular comics come from the Kansai area and most of them are represented by Yoshimoto.

But over the past two decades the company's entertainment business has gravitated to Tokyo. Yoshimoto now divides its business activities along East-West lines. According to a series that ran in the Asahi Shimbun last week, Osaka's main income is derived from its theater and real-estate businesses, while in Tokyo, it's television. About 70 percent of Yoshimoto's overall revenues come from Tokyo, and 60 percent of those revenues consist of fees for talent.