Hirotake Yano

rdf:langString Hirotake Yano

rdf:langString Hirotake Yano

rdf:langString Hirotake Yano

rdf:langString Koro Kurihara

rdf:langString Japanese

rdf:langString Businessman

rdf:langString Hirotake Yano (矢野 博丈, born 19 April 1943) is a Japanese businessman and founder of the Daiso discount retail chain. Hirotake Yano was born Koro Kurihara in Beijing, China in 1943. He comes from a family of five brothers and three sisters. His father and two brothers were doctors. Yano's family moved back to his father's home town Higashi-Hiroshima when World War II ended. Yano took up boxing while at Hiroshima Kokutaiji High School in Hiroshima, and became a Hiroshima Prefectural representative. He was chosen for an Olympic athletes preparation camp, where one of his opponents was Tetsuro Kawai, an amateur featherweight champion and contender for the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Yano's father would not send him to university unless he studied science or engineering-related subjects which would lead to a good job, so he could not apply for a sports scholarship. He failed entrance examinations for 16 different universities, and then was accepted into Chuo University's night school civil engineering department. Yano graduated from the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Chuo University in 1967 with a bachelor's degree majoring in civil engineering, but struggled to find employment. Yano married Katsuyo Yano while he was a student. He adopted his wife's surname because he thought it sounded better than Kurihara for business transactions. With difficulties finding employment after graduation, Yano and his wife took over her father's aquaculture business rearing yellowtail fish. However, the business was unsuccessful and Yano became bankrupt within three years. Yano, his wife and young son escaped Hiroshima and went to Tokyo. Yano then tried many different menial jobs. He sold encyclopaedias for three months until he realised he was not good at it. He worked in a bowling alley and then in a cardboard and paper recycling company which enabled him to repay some of his debts. The family moved back to Hiroshima and Yano started working for a mobile merchandiser. This eventually lead to the formation of the Daiso company.

rdf:langString Koro Kurihara