At Uniqlo, we're thinking ahead. We're thinking about how to create new, innovative products... and sell that to everyone.
I think like a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Failure is a great teacher. At the same time, you must remember, success will never last... Whether it's tech or fashion, it must be for the customer.
Konosuke Matsushita was a visionary entrepreneur. He started working very young as a teenager, and he eventually created Panasonic to become a truly global company.
Politicians make decisions in favor of their interest groups or their supporters back in their hometowns.
Wal-Mart is an amazing success story. What I particularly admire very much about the late Sam Walton was his policy of valuing his employees. Giving value to employees is very rare in the retail industry. I also admire the strategies Walton used to build up his discount store concept.
Japan's biggest problems are conservatism and cowardice.
The biggest part of my job now is to quickly develop successors, and around the world I am working to develop new business leaders in the company.
At first, Uniqlo was a casual chain on the back streets of Hiroshima. Then... we became a national brand in Japan. So, the next step is to become a global brand.
If you always think about your dreams or goals, work steadfastly towards them and continue to challenge yourself, you will definitely be able to realise those dreams or goals.
You have to be a crazy guy and a little eccentric to be very successful.
Too often, we have tended to fall into a trap of creating plain hamburgers.
The Asian brand, which I admire for having become a global success, is Samsung. In comparison, we're just starting, but I believe that we at Uniqlo will be the next Asian brand to do well globally.
I learned that people don't buy anything from unknown stores.
Opening new stores outside of Japan is important, but training our employees is even more important.
Our underwear used to just be cotton, but we wanted to see if we could create something out of synthetics.
It is clothes. It is parts. Therefore, you combine the parts differently to create your own unique expression.
As a businessperson, I don't have the power to change the government. That is in the hands of the political leaders. However, as a taxpayer, we have the right to be critical of the government and demand change.
I tell people that we must have the courage to share what we feel, but no one follows me.
America, for me, is the country where, if you have something great to offer, you'll be valued highly.
The air of the English is down-to-earth. They care about details; there's a tradition, but there's also a counter-culture: the younger generation versus the older generation and so on. But then that's well blended into a happy balance and crystallised into common sense.
