Seiichi Mizuno
by W. David Marx
13 February 2009
Introduction
An interview with former President of Seibu Department Stores Seiichi Mizuno
Seiichi Mizuno served as President of Seibu Department Stores in the early 1990s. As one of the core members of Seibu's Shibuya branch from 1970 onwards, Mizuno directly oversaw and personally contributed to the rise of Japan's world-class consumer marketplace. After stepping down from Seibu, Mizuno worked extensively with Netscape, while also serving in the House of Councilors as a member of the breakaway centrist and pro-environment New Party Sakigake. Now head of his own company Institute of Marketing Architecture Co., Ltd., Mizuno is a celebrated author, serves as a Director for some of Japan's top companies, and campaigns for the protection of the natural environment.
We sat down with Mr. Mizuno in his Daikanyama office.
Tell us about your background before joining Seibu.
I grew up in Tokyo, and I did my undergraduate degree at Keio University's Department of Economics.
Did you become interested in department stores while a college student at Keio?
I didn't have any particular interest in department stores per se, but I was very interested in what Seibu was doing as a business. I wasn't interested in the prestigious department stores like Isetan, Mitsukoshi, and Takashimaya. But I had the impression that Seibu was up to a lot of interesting things.
What was the image of Seibu in the late 1960s and early 1970s?
At the time, youth had grown bored with department stores. Seibu was the only department store trying to attract young people by offering the latest fashion.
More specifically, in 1968, Seibu's Shibuya branch opened a shop called Capsule, which offered cutting-edge fashion. There was no other department store that was opening boutiques of that nature. Seibu sold culture for people obsessed with culture, which let the company express a completely new vision for the department store.
Was Seibu the first to target the youth market?
During my student days, the Japanese brand VAN [famous for its Ivy League style] was at its peak, but the "Ivy Look" was still relatively niche in the total market. Seibu, however, thought VAN was interesting, so when VAN first moved out of Osaka for Tokyo, Seibu was the first department store to sell the brand, other than Hankyu. But since Hankyu did not have a big department store in Tokyo, Seibu was the only place you could really get it.
Isetan and Mitsukoshi didn't sell VAN. So when I was in school, I was really influenced by the Ivy look and thought it was cool that Seibu sold it. I thought it was really interesting that Seibu tried to capture the feelings of youth. From that time on, youth had the strongest reaction towards new trends. It's still true today. Youth are better than adults at picking up changes in trends. Compared to the U.S., the spending power of Japanese youth, even in that era, was much higher.
That was because the dankai baby boomer generation was enormous, and they became the leaders of consumer society in the post-war recovery. My baby boom generation was born in the post-war, and when they hit 17 or 18, Japan's economic strength really kicked in and their parents suddenly had a lot of consumer power. When they started to want to live more luxuriously, they took an interest in trendy goods — especially things from overseas.
What's different about Japan and overseas is the speed at which young people lead the market. In Europe, it's totally unthought of that young people would spend lots of money on clothing and other goods. For the Japanese, the idea of "trends" is young people spending a lot of money on luxurious things. That started back in the '70s.
Besides youth brands, was Seibu also the only department store to pick up European fashion?
This was the era when Japanese designers started to go abroad, like when Kansai Yamamoto did his sensational show in London, or when Kenzo Takada opened his first boutique in Paris, or when Issey Miyake started to get accolades in Paris.
Even before that time, Seibu had tight relations with many foreign brands. Seibu brought Hermès to Japan and started to sell Yves Saint Laurent haute couture. Seibu is the Japanese company with the longest relationship with the Paris collections. That was one of the company's strengths, but more than that, when Takada and Miyake came back to Japan after getting famous overseas, they made their triumphant return collection shows at Seibu.
I expected Seibu to become an innovative company in the realm of "information business." The philosophy of Seibu owner Seiji Tsutsumi resonated with me.
Was Tsutsumi already famous when you were applying to work at Seibu?
He was well-known in the industry, of course, and he had started to attract a lot of attention. But those in old financial and political circles still saw Seibu as a second-rate department store. They only thought it was an upstart.
When I was about to graduate from university, I told my advising professor that I wanted to work at Seibu. He said, "Don't do it. If you are going to work at a department store, go for Isetan or Mitsukoshi. I will write you a recommendation letter. Don't go to Seibu. It's a second class operation." I told him, "I am not interested in department stores. Seibu is challenging the entire idea of department stores. I think they're interesting." We got into a big fight.
So, fashion people and youth all respected Tsutsumi, but the general thought was that Seibu was a second class department store.
We sat down with Mr. Mizuno in his Daikanyama office.
Tell us about your background before joining Seibu.
I grew up in Tokyo, and I did my undergraduate degree at Keio University's Department of Economics.
Did you become interested in department stores while a college student at Keio?
I didn't have any particular interest in department stores per se, but I was very interested in what Seibu was doing as a business. I wasn't interested in the prestigious department stores like Isetan, Mitsukoshi, and Takashimaya. But I had the impression that Seibu was up to a lot of interesting things.
What was the image of Seibu in the late 1960s and early 1970s?
At the time, youth had grown bored with department stores. Seibu was the only department store trying to attract young people by offering the latest fashion.
More specifically, in 1968, Seibu's Shibuya branch opened a shop called Capsule, which offered cutting-edge fashion. There was no other department store that was opening boutiques of that nature. Seibu sold culture for people obsessed with culture, which let the company express a completely new vision for the department store.
Was Seibu the first to target the youth market?
During my student days, the Japanese brand VAN [famous for its Ivy League style] was at its peak, but the "Ivy Look" was still relatively niche in the total market. Seibu, however, thought VAN was interesting, so when VAN first moved out of Osaka for Tokyo, Seibu was the first department store to sell the brand, other than Hankyu. But since Hankyu did not have a big department store in Tokyo, Seibu was the only place you could really get it.
Isetan and Mitsukoshi didn't sell VAN. So when I was in school, I was really influenced by the Ivy look and thought it was cool that Seibu sold it. I thought it was really interesting that Seibu tried to capture the feelings of youth. From that time on, youth had the strongest reaction towards new trends. It's still true today. Youth are better than adults at picking up changes in trends. Compared to the U.S., the spending power of Japanese youth, even in that era, was much higher.
That was because the dankai baby boomer generation was enormous, and they became the leaders of consumer society in the post-war recovery. My baby boom generation was born in the post-war, and when they hit 17 or 18, Japan's economic strength really kicked in and their parents suddenly had a lot of consumer power. When they started to want to live more luxuriously, they took an interest in trendy goods — especially things from overseas.
What's different about Japan and overseas is the speed at which young people lead the market. In Europe, it's totally unthought of that young people would spend lots of money on clothing and other goods. For the Japanese, the idea of "trends" is young people spending a lot of money on luxurious things. That started back in the '70s.
Besides youth brands, was Seibu also the only department store to pick up European fashion?
This was the era when Japanese designers started to go abroad, like when Kansai Yamamoto did his sensational show in London, or when Kenzo Takada opened his first boutique in Paris, or when Issey Miyake started to get accolades in Paris.
Even before that time, Seibu had tight relations with many foreign brands. Seibu brought Hermès to Japan and started to sell Yves Saint Laurent haute couture. Seibu is the Japanese company with the longest relationship with the Paris collections. That was one of the company's strengths, but more than that, when Takada and Miyake came back to Japan after getting famous overseas, they made their triumphant return collection shows at Seibu.
I expected Seibu to become an innovative company in the realm of "information business." The philosophy of Seibu owner Seiji Tsutsumi resonated with me.
Was Tsutsumi already famous when you were applying to work at Seibu?
He was well-known in the industry, of course, and he had started to attract a lot of attention. But those in old financial and political circles still saw Seibu as a second-rate department store. They only thought it was an upstart.
When I was about to graduate from university, I told my advising professor that I wanted to work at Seibu. He said, "Don't do it. If you are going to work at a department store, go for Isetan or Mitsukoshi. I will write you a recommendation letter. Don't go to Seibu. It's a second class operation." I told him, "I am not interested in department stores. Seibu is challenging the entire idea of department stores. I think they're interesting." We got into a big fight.
So, fashion people and youth all respected Tsutsumi, but the general thought was that Seibu was a second class department store.