Gakken Co., Ltd. (株式会社学習研究社, Kabushiki-gaisha Gakushū Kenkyū Sha) (TYO: 9470) is a Japanese publishing company founded in 1947 by Hideto Furuoka, which also produces educational toys. Their annual sales is reported at ¥ 821 billion ($10 billion US).Gakken is perhaps originally known for producing Denshi blocks and packaging them within electronic toy kits such as the Gakken EX-System, as far back as the 1970s.