Fujio Mitarai
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He is the nephew of founder Takeshi Mitarai. After graduating from the Faculty of Law at Chuo University in March 1961 he joined Canon Camera, and from 1966 was seconded to Canon U.S.A., spending more than 20 years in the United States. He became President of Canon U.S.A. in January 1979, a Director in March 1981 and Representative Director and Senior Managing Director in March 1989. No individual members of the Mitarai family appear among the major shareholders, so this is not a founding family backed by ownership.
Selection
In September 1995 he became President, succeeding Hajime Mitarai, who had died in office. At the time consolidated net sales were ¥2,085.8 billion and net income ¥55.0 billion. He handed the presidency to Tsuneji Uchida in May 2006 and became Chairman, returned as Chairman, President and CEO in March 2012, and stepped down again in March 2016 in favor of Masaya Maeda. In May 2020 he became President for the third time. At the annual general meeting in March 2023, the approval rate for his reelection as a director was only 50.59%. In January 2026 the company announced that Executive Vice President Kazuto Ogawa would be promoted to President and COO, with Mitarai remaining as Chairman and CEO.
Initiatives
After taking office he shifted management away from divisional profitability toward using the profit and cash flow of the whole consolidated group, subsidiaries included, as the yardstick. Over about four years he scrapped the conveyor belts at all 54 plants and switched to cell production, and the cost-of-sales ratio fell from about 62% in 1995 to 50% in 2003. In his second term he made a series of acquisitions, buying Axis of Sweden for about ¥300 billion in 2015 and Toshiba Medical Systems for ¥665.5 billion in 2016. In 2025 the company wrote down ¥165.1 billion of goodwill in its medical business.
Career
Career
Canon
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Apr 1961 | Joined |
| Jan 1979 | President, Canon USA |
| Mar 1981 | Director |
| Mar 1989 | Representative Director, Senior Managing Officer |
| Sep 1995 | Representative Director, President |
| May 2006 | Representative Director, Chairman |
| May 2006 | Stepped down as President |
| Mar 2012 | Representative Director, Chairman and President, CEO |
| Mar 2016 | Stepped down as President |
| May 2020 | Representative Director, Chairman and President |