is a Japanese billionaire businessman, the founder and president of

Fast Retailing is a public Japanese multinational retail holding company. In addition to its primary subsidiary Uniqlo, it owns several other brands, including J Brand, Comptoir des Cotonniers, GU, Princesse Tam-Tam, and Theory. History The company was ...

, the parent company of Uniqlo ("unique clothing"). As of October 2021, he was the richest person in Japan, with an estimated net worth of US$26.5 billion & 40th wealthiest person in the World according to ''

Bloomberg Billionaires Index The ''Bloomberg Billionaires Index'', launched in March 2012, is a daily ranking of the world's 500 richest people based on their net worth. It draws information from "action in the stock market, economic indicators and news reports", features a p ...

''.

Early life and education

Yanai was born in

Ube, Yamaguchi is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan on the Seto Inland Sea. As of October 2016, the city has an estimated population of 168,398 and a population density of 590 persons per km2. The total area is . History as a modern municipal ...

in February 1949. He attended Ube High School and later

Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...

, graduating in 1971 with a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

and

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

. His uncle was an activist for the minority group known as ''

Burakumin is a name for a low-status social group in Japan. It is a term for ethnic Japanese people with occupations considered as being associated with , such as executioners, undertakers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, or tanners. During Japan's ...

'', who have continued to suffer caste-based discrimination in employment and marriage in modern Japan.

Career

In 1971, Yanai started in business by selling kitchenware and men's clothing at a

JUSCO is the acronym for Japan United Stores Company, a chain of "general merchandise stores" (or hypermarket) and the largest of its type in Japan. The various JUSCO companies are subsidiaries of the ÆON supermarket chain. The JUSCO name was adopte ...

supermarket. After a year at JUSCO, he quit and joined his father’s roadside tailor shop. Yanai opened his first Uniqlo store in Hiroshima in 1984, and changed the name of his father’s company ''Ogori Shoji'' to

in 1991. He has stated: "I might look successful but I've made many mistakes. People take their failures too seriously. You have to be positive and believe you will find success next time." In 2019, Yanai stepped down from the board of

Softbank is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vi ...

after 18 years as an independent director at the Japanese technology conglomerate.Simon Duk
Uniqlo founder Tadashi Yanai quits Softbank board
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', 28 December 2019

Published works

*''One Win, Nine Losses'' (1991) *''Throw Away Your Success in a Day'' (2009)

Awards and honours

*Yanai won the International Retailer of Year award for 2010 from the National Retail Federation in the US. He was the fourth Japanese national to win it, and the first since 1998, when it was won by

Masatoshi Ito is a Japanese billionaire businessman. Career Ito is the owner, founder, and honorary chairman of $30 billion (sales) Ito-Yokado retailing group, the second largest retailing organization in the world, which includes more than 10,000 7-Eleven ...

, owner and honorary chairman of the

Ito-Yokado is a Japanese general merchandise and department store, originally founded in 1920. In 2005, it was reorganized, as part of a corporate restructuring, as a subsidiary of the Seven & I Holdings Co. As of March 2013, there are 178 Ito-Yokado ...

retailing group. He was also chosen as best company president in a survey of Japanese corporate executives by Sanno Institute of Management in 2008 and 2009. *In 2012 he was included in the 50 Most Influential list of

Bloomberg Markets ''Bloomberg Markets'' is a magazine published six times a year by Bloomberg L.P. as part of Bloomberg News. Aimed at global financial professionals, ''Bloomberg Markets'' publishes articles on the people and issues related to global financial ma ...

Magazine.

Philanthropy

In March 2011, Yanai donated 1 billion

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

to victims of the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six mi ...

Personal life

He is the son of Kanichi Yanai and Hisako Mori Yanai. Yanai is married and has two sons, Kazumi and Koji, and lives in Tokyo. He lives in a $50 million, 16,586-square-foot house outside of Tokyo and owns two golf courses in Hawaii.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yanai, Tadashi 1949 births Living people Japanese billionaires Japanese businesspeople in fashion Japanese racehorse owners and breeders 20th-century Japanese businesspeople 21st-century Japanese businesspeople Waseda University alumni Fast Retailing Asia Game Changer Award winners