Great Figures in World History Series | Episode 22: Yasujiro Tsutsumi - Founder of the Seibu Group and the Man Who Remade the Very Living Sphere of the Japanese People

There are many people in the world who have succeeded in real estate.
However,

there are few who have created a "town itself."

Moreover, what he created was
not just a residential area.

・Railways
・Residential areas
・Department stores
・Hotels
・Tourist spots
・Academic cities
・Resorts

were developed as a single entity.
And he did not just sell land.

"A place where people want to live"

is what he created.
What we now call

・Urban development
・Railway-line business
・Regional branding
・Real estate strategy
・Town planning

he was doing over 100 years ago.

Yasujiro Tsutsumi
A figure who had a major influence on the formation of Japan's post-war living sphere, including Karuizawa, Hakone, Kunitachi, and the Seibu Ikebukuro line.
1889–1964 | Founder of the Seibu Group.

【A Young Man Who Came to Tokyo from a Rural Village】

Yasujiro Tsutsumi was born in 1889 in what is now Aisho Town, Shiga Prefecture.
He was not the child of a wealthy conglomerate.
He was a young man from a rural village.
He had a strong ambition from a young age,

thinking,
"I want to do great work in the world."
Eventually, he moved to Tokyo and entered Waseda University.

His initial dream was to be a politician.
However, during his student days, he realized a certain reality.

To move politics,
and to change society,
money was necessary.

So, he chose the path of succeeding in business first.

【A Youth of Constant Failure】

Though it is hard to imagine from his later impression as a great businessman,
Tsutsumi was not a success from the start.

Publishing management.
Brokerage.

He challenged various businesses one after another,
but it is said that he also had many failures.

In fact, his 20s were a series of trial and error.
However, in that process, he gained one conviction.
That was the idea that

"Land is the greatest asset."

This belief became the origin of the later Seibu Group.

【The Big Gamble of Karuizawa】

Tsutsumi's first major success was Karuizawa.
Although it is now known as one of Japan's leading summer resorts,
the area around Naka-Karuizawa at the time was mostly wilderness.
Many people did not see any value in it.

But Tsutsumi was different.
He raised funds and acquired a large amount of land.

Furthermore, he proceeded with

・Road maintenance
・Water supply maintenance
・Hotel construction
・Public bath maintenance.

A normal real estate agent would buy and sell land.
But Tsutsumi
created the value of the land itself.

He then sold it as a villa area,

achieving great success.
Here lies his essence.

He did not buy land that already had value.
He created value in land that had none.
This was Yasujiro Tsutsumi.

【The Next Gamble: Hakone】

Having succeeded in Karuizawa, Tsutsumi set his sights on Hakone as his next development site.
Hakone at the time was not the tourist destination it is today.

It had hot springs.

It also had Lake Ashi.
It had tourist resources like shrines and checkpoints.
It also had beautiful nature.
Furthermore, it had a history as a site for the Imperial Villa and villas.
However, transportation was inconvenient.

The roads were not sufficient,
and it was not a place that everyone could visit easily.
But Tsutsumi was different.

He looked at Hakone and thought,


"This will become one of the largest resort areas in the capital region."It was the same as Karuizawa.

He did not look for a place that already had value.
He saw through to a place that would become valuable.
So, the first thing he undertook was


road maintenance.

No matter how attractive a place is, it is meaningless if people cannot come.

So, he started with improving access.
Including the development of the road network that would later lead to the Hakone Turnpike,

he prepared the mechanisms to transport people.
Furthermore, he developed
・Railways
・Buses

・Hotels

・Tourist facilities
one after another.
Even today, many things remain in Hakone, such as
・The Seibu Group

・Prince Hotels
・Izu-Hakone Railway

・Seibu-affiliated leisure facilities.
This is not a coincidence.
It is because Tsutsumi had a vision from an early stage to


"develop Hakone as a whole into a resort area."

It was the same in Karuizawa.

It was the same in Hakone.He did not stop at buying land.He built roads,

improved transportation,

built lodging facilities,
and created the very reason for people to gather.
Yasujiro Tsutsumi was not a real estate agent,

but

"a person who creates the value of a place."

【The Idea of Building a Town】

Having succeeded in Karuizawa and Hakone, Tsutsumi proceeded with development one after another.
Representative examples include
・Kunitachi

・Oizumi Gakuen
・Mejiro Bunka Mura
and so on.

Kunitachi was particularly symbolic.
He envisioned not just a residential area,

but a "cultural town."
He invited a university (Hitotsubashi University),

developed a railway station, donated it to the Japanese National Railways,
and created a high-class residential area.
The fact that Kunitachi is still known as an educational city today

is a remnant of that.
Incidentally, "Kunitachi" was named by Tsutsumi
from the middle of Kokubunji and Tachikawa.
Tsutsumi was thinking about what kind of town to build,

rather than just selling land.

【Not Everything Was a Success】

Of course, not all of Tsutsumi's developments were successful.
A representative example is Oizumi Gakuen.
Tsutsumi initially had a vision to

"create an academic city in Japan."

The plan was to invite universities,

gather educational institutions,
and make it a cultural residential area.
However, the planned university invitation did not materialize,

and the ideal academic city concept was not completed.
Although "Oizumi Gakuen" remains as a place name today,

it did not actually become an academic city centered on universities.
However, what is interesting is

that Tsutsumi was not afraid of failure.
Karuizawa.

Hakone.
Kunitachi.
There were successful developments,

and there were those like Oizumi Gakuen that did not go as planned.
Even so, he moved on to the next development.
What was important to Tsutsumi was


not "not failing," but creating the future first.

【The Road to the Railway King】

Eventually, Tsutsumi realized.
Land alone has its limits.
If people do not come, the town will not develop.

So, he entered the railway business.
He acquired the management rights of the Musashino Railway,
and developed it into the later Seibu Railway.

Here, his thinking was extremely unique.
Ordinary railway companies

"lay tracks to where people are."

But Tsutsumi was different.

"I will lay tracks to transport people to the land I bought."

This became the prototype for current private railway business.

【He Created a Living Sphere】

Furthermore, Tsutsumi did not stop at just railways.

・Residential areas
・Department stores
・Hotels
・Tourist facilities
・Resort development

He promoted these as an integrated whole.

Transport people by rail,
have them live in residential areas,
have them shop at department stores,
and go to Hakone or Karuizawa on holidays.

In other words, he thought of

Land
↓
Railway
↓
Housing
↓
Commerce
↓
Tourism

as a single system.
This is the very essence of modern private railway group management.

【A Bold Entrepreneur】

Yasujiro Tsutsumi is also known as a very aggressive figure.
Land acquisition.

Corporate acquisitions.
Business expansion.
All of them were bold.

Because of this, he had many enemies.
After the war, he was sometimes criticized as

the man who bought up all the land.
However, he did not care.

He prioritized achieving results above all else.
His decisions were fast.

His business instincts were sharp.
He did not fear risk.
That boldness

created the massive Seibu Group.

【The DNA of the Seibu Group】

Tsutsumi's philosophy
still remains strongly in the Seibu Group today.

Its characteristics are:

・Long-term perspective
・Emphasis on land
・Bold investment
・Speed-oriented management
・Owner-led

In particular,
the idea of "securing land first"

became the foundation of Seibu.

Karuizawa,
Hakone,

the Seibu Ikebukuro line area,
these massive assets that continue to hold value today
began with Yasujiro Tsutsumi's judgment.

【Changed the Lives of the Japanese People】

Yasujiro Tsutsumi's greatest achievement
is not that he built a company.
It is not that he sold land.

He

・Built resort areas
・Built academic cities
・Built railway networks
・Cultivated department store culture
・Built suburban residential areas

As a result,
he had a major influence on the formation of the post-war Japanese lifestyle of

"living in the suburbs, commuting by train, and enjoying leisure on holidays."

What he built was not a company.
It was the very living sphere of the Japanese people.

【Who He Was Fighting Against】

Who Yasujiro Tsutsumi was fighting against
was not other real estate companies.

What he was truly fighting against were

・Unused land
・Inconvenient transportation
・Regional stagnation
・Population concentration
・The common sense that "land is something to be bought and sold"
・The gap between cities and suburbs

That is why he
bought land,

laid railways,
built residential areas,
built department stores,
and built tourist destinations.
What he did was

not mere real estate development.


It was the "creation of a living sphere."

【Was This a Strategy?】

Looking only at the results, it is a success story of the Seibu Group.
However, within it, there is an extremely strong model.

・Secure land first
・Create value in places that have none
・Transport people by rail
・Build residential areas
・Build commercial facilities
・Build tourist destinations
・Brand the entire region

It is an extremely modern structure.

And what is interesting is
that he did not just sell land and finish.

He designed everything from
Land
↓
Railway
↓
Housing
↓
Commerce
↓
Tourism
↓

to the living sphere.
In other words, he was not selling real estate.

He was designing "people's lives themselves."

Much of current private railway group management and development along railway lines
is an extension of this idea.

【Summary】

Yasujiro Tsutsumi
was not from a zaibatsu,
nor was he a person with special backing.

He came to Tokyo from a rural village,
and while repeating failures,
he saw the value in land.

And then,

he developed Karuizawa,
developed Hakone,
built Kunitachi,
and developed the Seibu Railway.

What he was looking at

was not land, but the town.
No, not the town, but"people's lives."That is why he

built

Land
↓
Railway
↓
Housing
↓
Commerce
↓
Tourism
↓
Living sphere

as an integrated whole.
Even today, many people live along the Seibu line,
commute by train,
and enjoy leisure on holidays.

That is not a coincidence.
It is because over 100 years ago,

there was a man who kept thinking about

"what makes a place where people want to live."

What Yasujiro Tsutsumi left behind
is not just a massive corporation.

It was Japanese urban development itself,

the idea that "if you build a town, you can even change people's lives."

Next Episode Preview

Great Figures in World History Series | Episode 23: Seiji Tsutsumi
Founder of the Saison Group

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