Hirotake Yano

Hirotake Yano (矢野 博丈; April 19, 1943 – February 12, 2024) was a Japanese businessman who was the founder of the Daiso discount retail chain.

Biography Hirotake Yano was born Koro Kurihara in Beijing, China in 1943. He came from a family of five brothers and three sisters.

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.

Daiso

Yano established his first company named Yano Shoten (Yano Store) in 1972 when he was 29, selling items from the back of a truck and displaying his goods on a mobile wooden stand.

In 1987 Yano developed the 100 Yen Daiso company and in 1991 the company opened its first directly managed shop in permanent premises, in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture. In 2016 Yano said that he doesn't see himself as a "cool" or "modern" manager. He said he doesn't have any clear vision or strategy, and that he just likes to try things out and makes decisions based on gut instinct.

Yano's busy lifestyle led to him suffering a stroke in 2018. In 2018 Yano named his younger son Seiji Yano as president of Daiso, stating that he had become too old and that "the times and myself do not match". Yano noted that the retaiI industry makes heavy use of technology and computing but said he did not have the skills to do this.