Tanji Kosuge
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
Born in Tokyo in 1918, he graduated from Keio University in March 1941 and joined Mitsui & Co., and after working at Gosho and elsewhere was brought into Isetan as Managing Director in June 1948. He was not a career employee who rose from the kimono floor; he entered at board level after a stint in trading. The Japanese corporate directory lists the President as Toshio Kosuge in its 1961 edition and, from the 1962 edition on, lists a person with the same birth year, birthplace and career as Tanji Kosuge. He appears to have taken the hereditary name Tanji, the third to bear it, around the time he became President.
Selection
In June 1960 he became President when the second Tanji Kosuge became Chairman. His predecessor had joined Isetan Gofukuten in April 1908 and became President in September 1930, the year it was reorganized as a joint-stock company, serving for 30 years. Others in the same list of officers took longer: Fukuhei Kato needed 14 years from joining in September 1933 to become a Director, and Soji Yamamoto 15 years from joining in May 1932. His speed in reaching the presidency in 12 years from Managing Director is thought to reflect family succession. Two months before he took office, the industry's first parking building had opened on the west side of the Shinjuku store.
Initiatives
In October 1961, the year after he took office, the company listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, 12 years after Mitsukoshi. In 1966 it took over the neighboring Marubutsu and built Japan's first department store dedicated to menswear on the site, opening it in September 1968 as the Shinjuku store's annex, later the Men's Building. In January 1972 it opened Isetan Singapore as its first overseas store. Domestic openings were limited to the Tokyo area at Kichijoji, Matsudo and Urawa, and branch sales accounted for only 25% of the total in the fiscal year ended November 1976.
Career
Career
Mitsui &
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Apr 1941 | Joined |
Isetan
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Jun 1948 | Managing Director |
| Jun 1960 | President |