Sayonara

Mitsukoshi ousts the boss

For ten years Shigeru Okada reigned as the powerful president of Mitsukoshi, Japan's oldest and most prestigious department-store chain. The company, which grew from a modest kimono shop, founded in 1673, to a $2.4 billion concern, now has 15 branches in Japan and others in London, Paris, Rome, New York and elsewhere. But Okada seemed to have a most un-Japanese habit: he was unwilling to take responsibility for his actions, in both his professional and his private life. Last week Okada's personal flamboyance and his involvement in a series...