was a Japanese corporate executive. He held the positions of the chairman of the board of directors of

Toray Industries is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan that specializes in industrial products centered on technologies in organic synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry, and biochemistry. Its founding business areas were fibers and textiles, ...

, vice-president of

Mitsui Bank was a major Japanese bank from 1876 to 1990. The home bank of the Mitsui conglomerate, it was one of the largest Japanese banks for much of the 20th century, together with Dai-Ichi Bank, Mitsubishi Bank, Sumitomo Bank, and Yasuda / Fuji Bank. I ...

, president of Mitsui Petrochemicals Industries, vice-chairman of Nihon Keidanren (

Japan Business Federation The is an economic organization founded in May 2002 by amalgamation of Keidanren (, Japan Federation of Economic Organizations, established 1946; name sometimes used alone as abbreviation for whole organization) and Nikkeiren (, Japan Federatio ...

), chairman of Japan Chemical Fibers Association and others. He was also general manager of Tokyo Metropolis of

Ise Shrine The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the solar goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami and the grain goddess Toyouke-hime (Toyouke Omikami). Also known simply as , Ise Shrine is a shrine complex composed of many Shi ...

Revered Board. He dedicated himself to reconstructing

Japanese National Railways The , abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pre ...

as the 4th chairman of audit committee thereof. He received Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese Order (distinction), order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six c ...

in 1979.

Biography

Yasui was born in

Hikone is a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 111,958 in 49,066 households and a population density of 570 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Hikone is located in central Shig ...

Shiga is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to t ...

. He carried on his father's name, Kizo. The last Kizo Yasui, father of this Kizo Yasui, was nicknamed Kōshō Chōchō［Commercial College Town Mayor］because he was elected Town Mayor of Hikone Town against his will while he was in Tokyo to negotiate the establishment of Hikone Commercial College（now, the Faculty of Economics of

Shiga University or is a Japanese national university, national university in Shiga Prefecture, Japan, with campuses in the cities of Ōtsu, Shiga, Ōtsu and Hikone, Shiga, Hikone. Founded in 1874, it was chartered as a university in 1949. Faculties & Gradua ...

）and resigned his post of the Town Mayor of

when he saw new-facility construction of Hikone Commercial College.Y. Abe, ''Shiga Daigaku Keizai Keiei Kenkyū-sho Chōsa-Shiryō-shippō ⑨'' ［''Departmental Bulletin Paper ⑨ of The Institute for Economic and Business Research Shiga University''］ 351 THE HIKONE RONSO 159, 162–163 (2004)
/ref> His older sister, Kinu, married into a distinguished family in

Akasaka-juku (Nakasendō) was the fifty-sixth of the 69 Stations of the Nakasendō, sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It is located in former Mino Province in what is now Akasaka neighborhood of the city of Ōgaki, Gif ...

, the Yabashis that

Emperor Shōwa , posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigning emperor as well as one of the world's longest-rei ...

officially visited in 1946.

Otohiko Hara , formerly known as Otohiko Yabashi, was a Japanese corporate executive. He was a chief executive officer of Unitika Tsusho (later, Unitika Trading ). One of the first Japanese businesspersons who led Dai Nippon Spinning Co., Ltd. (later, Un ...

( jp), formerly Otohiko Yabashi, is his nephew. Shinya Yabashi and

Hideroku Hara Hideroku Hara (原秀六; born 1956) is a Japanese legal scholar and professor emeritus at Shiga University. He was granted the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Law for his study of ''The Legal Theory on the Distribution of the Synergistic Eff ...

( jp) are his grandnephews. Yasui graduated from Shiga First Junior High School (now, Shiga Prefectural Hikone Higashi High School) and from Tokyo College of Commerce (now,

Hitotsubashi University , formerly known as , is a national university, national research university in Tokyo, Japan. Often regarded as Japan’s foremost institution for the study of the social sciences, particularly commerce, economics, law, political science, sociolog ...

) in 1926 under the old system of education. While in the College, he joined the seminar of Prof. Kin-no-suke Otsuka. He entered

after graduation. He became managing director, senior managing director and vice-president of

in 1959, president of Mitsui Petrochemicals Industries (now,

Mitsui Chemicals is a Japanese chemicals company listed on the Nikkei with business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. It is one of the leading chemical companies in Japan and is part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company mainly ...

) in 1961, vice-president of Tōyō Rayon (now,

) in 1963, chairman of the board of directors of

in 1971 and senior advisor to the board of directors of

in 1977. During this period, he successively held the positions of vice-chairman of Nihon Keidanren (

), chairman of Japan Chemical Fibers Association, general manager of Tokyo Metropolis of

Revered Board, member of the board of Japan Association of Corporate Executives, member of Tax Research Committee of Prime Minister's Office (Japan), member of National Language Council of Ministry of Education, Science and Culture and so on. He received Grand Cordon of the

in 1979. He died in 1983 at the age of 83 of pneumonia. The chairman of the funeral ceremony of Kizo Yasui was Fumio Takagi（ jp）, former Vice Minister of Ministry of Finance and former president of

Kinship

*father – Kizo Yasui (entrepreneur from

Meiji Era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...

. He was nicknamed Kōshō Chōchō（Commercial College Town Mayor） because he was elected Town Mayor of Hikone Town against his will while he was in Tokyo to negotiate the establishment of Hikone Commercial College（now, the Faculty of Economics,

）and resigned his post of the Town Mayor of

when he saw new-facility construction of Hikone Commercial College.) *sister – Kinu Yabashi (née Yasui, married Jiro Yabashi, Audit & Supervisory board member of Juroku Bank (See also Tom and Jerry#Outside the United States to know

Gifu is a Cities of Japan, city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. Durin ...

-based Juroku Bank)) *nephew –

( jp) (Formerly Otohiko Yabashi. Former Chief executive officer of Unitika Trading. One of the first Japanese businesspersons who lead Nichibo (Unitika) to the first overseas expansion of Japanese corporations after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

) *grandnephew – Shinya Yabashi (President of Yabashi Industries, Chairman of Ogaki Municipal Board of Education) *grandnephew –

( jp) (Legal Scholar, Professor at

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yasui, Kizo 1899 births 1983 deaths Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1st class Toray Industries people