40 Motivational Tadashi Yanai Quotes About Business

Which are your favorite Tadashi Yanai quotes?

Tadashi Yanai is a Japanese businessman. He is most famously recognized for being the founder and president of the renowned enterprise, ‘Fast Retailing’, which is the parent company of the worldwide popular fashion brand ‘Uniqlo’.

Thanks to his company’s outstanding success, Yanai received the recognition of being the richest person in Japan as of April 2021 according to ‘Bloomberg Billionaires Index’.

Yanai started working in the business as a salesman for ‘JUSCO’ supermarket where he used to sell kitchenware and men’s clothing. He shortly quit after a year before joining his father’s roadside tailor shop.

Yanai notably opened his first ‘Uniqlo’ store in Hiroshima in 1984 during which he also changed the name of his father’s company ‘Ogori Shoji’ to the current umbrella company he is leading now.

Here’s a collection of the most motivational Tadashi Yanai quotes:

40 Motivational Tadashi Yanai Quotes About Business

1. “We are a country of artisans and a country of manufacturing. I think Japanese textile technology is the best in the world.” – Tadashi Yanai

2. “Japan has only 100m people. Asia has 4bn. At least one-third, maybe nearly half, will become middle class, and this is a big opportunity for Japanese businessmen.” – Tadashi Yanai

3. “Too often, we have tended to fall into a trap of creating plain hamburgers.” – Tadashi Yanai

4. “Opening new stores outside of Japan is important, but training our employees is even more important.” – Tadashi Yanai

5. “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.” – Tadashi Yanai

6. “I learned that people don’t buy anything from unknown stores.” – Tadashi Yanai

7. “This is the first time since the dawn of history that an infectious disease has spread across the globe at as fast a pace as this. Many people say that the world will be divided due to the virus crisis, but, on the contrary, I feel that we — and the world — are increasingly interconnected.” – Tadashi Yanai

8. “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.” – Tadashi Yanai

9. “I tell people that we must have the courage to share what we feel, but no one follows me.” – Tadashi Yanai

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10. “I think I may not be able to retire.” – Tadashi Yanai

 

11. “In general, the apparel industry isn’t about continual process improvement or making the perfect piece of denim; it’s about chasing trends.” – Tadashi Yanai

12. “At Uniqlo, we’re thinking ahead. We’re thinking about how to create new, innovative products… and sell that to everyone.” – Tadashi Yanai

13. “I’m afraid Japanese people tend to collective hysteria.” – Tadashi Yanai

14. “Our underwear used to just be cotton, but we wanted to see if we could create something out of synthetics.” – Tadashi Yanai

15. “Our international success started out first because we became the No. 1 casual wear brand in our home market of Japan. Then, we set up stores in the world’s major fashion centers of New York, Paris, and London.” – Tadashi Yanai

16. “More than trends, consumers need functionality. Everything needs an element of fashion, but that’s more like a spice.” – Tadashi Yanai

17. “Japanese businesspeople and companies are lacking in individuality.” – Tadashi Yanai

18. “The world’s major metropolitan cities are more or less the same.” – Tadashi Yanai

19. “I’m glad I was able to market Uniqlo globally. Many Uniqlo shops were closed in the U.S., Europe, Southeast Asia, and China.” – Tadashi Yanai

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20. “Americans believe cotton is best, but we’ve invented new fabrics that will change your lifestyle.” – Tadashi Yanai

 

21. “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.” – Tadashi Yanai

22. “The new world of 10 years into the future has suddenly arrived. We have joined the super information society in which information is transmitted instantly. It has become possible to understand each other and impossible to survive without making use of information. In this world, we have to think about how to apply information technology to our core business.” – Tadashi Yanai

23. “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.” – Tadashi Yanai

24. “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.” – Tadashi Yanai

25. “I hate politics. What they say and what they do is completely different.” – Tadashi Yanai

26. “People say that globalization has negative aspects, but I don’t believe globalization is bad. It’s criticized from a western perspective, but if you put yourself in the shoes of people in the developing world, it provides an unprecedented opportunity.” – Tadashi Yanai

27. “I thought it was essential to continue operating the shops as long as possible. We were able to share the success and failures in various countries among all the shops.” – Tadashi Yanai

28. “Forty-five years ago, when I was 18, I came to San Francisco by boat and took two weeks to get here. I had a great impression. I think San Francisco is the welcoming gate for people from Asia.” – Tadashi Yanai

29. “If you always think about your dreams or goals, work steadfastly towards them and continue to challenge yourself, you will definitely be able to realize those dreams or goals.” – Tadashi Yanai

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30. “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.” – Tadashi Yanai

 

31. “America, for me, is the country where, if you have something great to offer, you’ll be valued highly.” – Tadashi Yanai

32. “Politicians make decisions in favor of their interest groups or their supporters back in their hometowns.” – Tadashi Yanai

33. “People the world over feared that they too might die from the coronavirus infection. And, I think, they wondered what they were doing in their jobs. This was especially true among young people with a promising future. So, each person has returned to the starting point, and I sense people are thinking about how they can use their business and profession to contribute to society.” – Tadashi Yanai

34. “People shouldn’t have to spend a lot of money to get high-quality clothing.” – Tadashi Yanai

35. “It is clothes. It is parts. Therefore, you combine the parts differently to create your own unique expression.” – Tadashi Yanai

36. “You have to be a crazy guy and a little eccentric to be very successful.” – Tadashi Yanai

37. “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.” – Tadashi Yanai

38. “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 crystallized into common sense.” – Tadashi Yanai

39. “Japan’s biggest problems are conservatism and cowardice.” – Tadashi Yanai

40. “We sell clothing — one of the three basic elements of life, along with food and shelter — together with many daily necessities.” – Tadashi Yanai

Summary

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