Seiji Tsutsumi

Seiji Tsutsumi (堤 清二, Tsutsumi Seiji, March 30, 1927 − November 25, 2013) was a Japanese businessperson, author and poet, also known by the pen names Takashi Tsujii (辻井 喬, Tsujii Takashi) and Ikuo Yokose (横瀬 郁夫, Yokose Ikuo).[1]

Seiji Tsutsumi

Background

Tsutsumi was the son of Yasujirō Tsutsumi, founder of the Seibu Railway company and a long-serving member, and eventually speaker, of Japan's House of Representatives.[2]

He was born in Tokyo in 1927. After receiving his degree in economics from the University of Tokyo in 1951, he re-enrolled as a literature student and worked as a secretary to his father. He joined the Seibu Department Stores in 1954. Following the death of his father in 1964, he led the spin-off of its logistics business to form the Saison Group, which eventually included the Seibu department stores, Seiyu supermarkets, Wave (a music shop), Parco (shopping complex), and the Muji and Loft variety store chains.[3] He resigned as head of Saison in 1991 following the collapse of the Japanese asset price bubble, but continued as head of the Saison Cultural Foundation, which he founded in 1987.[4]

Just before the death of his father Tasujiro, his brother Yoshiaki Tsutsumi was nominated as his heir, potentially due to Seiji's brief involvement with the Japanese Communist Party after the World War Two.

In addition to his business career, he has also had a notable career as writer and poet under his pen name Takashi Tsujii, and served as Director of International PEN Club, Japan. His work has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Korean, and Russian.

He died of liver failure in Tokyo on November 25, 2013.[5]

Prizes

English translations
  • A spring like any other : a novel, translated by Beth Cary. Tokyo ; New York : Kodansha International, 1992. ISBN 4-7700-1550-X.
  • Disappearance of the butterfly, translated by Robert Brady & Susanne Akemi Wegmüller. Santa Fe: Katydid Books; Honolulu, HI: Distributed by University of Hawaii Press, 1994. ISBN 0-942668-43-X.

Selected works
  • Hōkō no kisetsu no naka de, 1969.
  • Shi doku henreki, 1975.
  • Tsujii Takashi shishū, 1975.
  • Kemonomichi wa kurai, 1977.
  • Hako matawa shingō e no koshitsu, 1978.
  • Shinʾya no dokusho, Tokyo : Shinchōsha, 1982.
  • Itsumo to onaji haru (いつも と 同じ 春), Tōkyō : Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 1983.
  • Fuan no shūhen (不安 の 周辺), Tokyo : Shinchōsha, 1985.
  • Shōwa no shūen : 20-seiki shogainen no hōkai to mirai (昭和 の 終焉 : 20世紀 諸概念 の 崩壊 と 未来), Tōkyō : Toreviru : Hatsubai Riburo Pōto, 1986.
  • Anʾya henreki (暗夜 遍歴), Tōkyō : Shinchōsha, 1987.
  • Yōnaki hito no (ようなき 人 の), Tōkyō : Shichōsha, 1989.
  • Yoshimoto Takaaki "itsutsu no taiwa" (吉本 隆明 「五つ の 対話」), Tōkyō : Shinchōsha, 1990.
  • Kokkyō no owari : yo no owari no tame no yonshō (国境 の 終り : 世 の 終り の ため の 四章), Tōkyō : Fukutake Shoten, 1990.
  • Niji no misaki (虹 の 岬), Tōkyō : Chūō Kōronsha, 1994.
  • Koigokoro (恋心), Tōkyō : Sakuhinsha, 1995.
  • Dentō no sōzōryoku (伝統 の 創造力), Tōkyō : Iwanami Shoten, 2001.
  • Chichi no shozo (Portrait of My Father), Tōkyō : Shinchōsha, 2004.

References
  1. Moramarco, Fred S.; Zolynas, Al (December 2004). The poetry of men's lives: an international anthology. University of Georgia Press. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-8203-2351-0. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  2. Morikawa, Hidemasa (2001-07-05). A history of top management in Japan: managerial enterprises and family enterprises. Oxford University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-19-513165-9. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  3. Arai, Shinya (1991). Shoshaman: a tale of corporate Japan. University of California Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-520-07142-1. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  4. "堤清二氏、86歳で死去―セゾングループ築く". 時事通信社. 28 November 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  5. "Ex-Saison Group head Seiji Tsutsumi dies at 86". Kyodo. 28 November 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  6. The Japan Times: "Yamanaka, Yamada among Order of Culture winners"
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