REBEL WITH A CAUSE

Tadashi Yanai grew Uniqlo into a global force. Now he's out to fix his country By Charlie Campbell

- Charlie Campbell

THE PREVIOUS EVENING'S STORM CLOUDS HAVE CLEARED to bathe Tokyo in crisp sunshine. Tadashi Yanai, Japan's richest man and the founder of $73 billion apparel empire Uniqlo, is perusing the art books that line his wood-paneled office, which, like most of his firm's cavernous headquarters, commands sweeping vistas of the Sumida River. Finally, he retrieves one he believes will be of particular interest: a tome of historical photographs curated by TIME that features John F. Kennedy on the cover in a deep conversation with his brother Bobby during the Cuban missile crisis.

"I particularly like his saying 'Ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country'," says Yanai, 74, carefully replacing the book in its stand. "That's what I want to talk about today."

On the face of it, Yanai has many reasons to feel upbeat. Fast Retailing the holding company that operates Uniqlo and eight other brands he established out of his father's tailoring business - saw operating profits of $2.54 billion for the year to Aug. 31, up 28.2% year over year. The firm's share price, meanwhile, has soared 31% so far this year, propelling Yanai's personal wealth to $36 billion. He also has bold plans to finally conquer the U.S. by nearly tripling Uniqlo's existing 72 North American outlets by 2027.

The rosy outlook radiates across Japan, where a perennially sluggish economy is now predicted to grow faster than those of the U.S. and Europe, its bourse riding a three-decade high. Moreover, in response to the Ukraine war, Japan has pushed through a transformative increase in defense spending and in May welcomed world leaders for a G-7 summit in Hiroshima, galvanizing a resurgent leadership role for the world's No. 3 economy. "The alliance between Japan and the United States is unprecedentedly strong and deep," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told TIME in late April.