T adashi Yanai is a Japanese retail magnate and the founder of Fast Retailing, the parent company of the global apparel giant, Uniqlo. He is the richest person in Japan. He inherited his father's small men's tailoring shop in the 1970s. After a trip to Hong Kong, he was inspired by the casual apparel chains he saw there and decided to transform his family's business. In 1984, he opened the first 'Unique Clothing Warehouse', which was later shortened to Uniqlo.

Yanai built his empire by focusing on high-quality, functional, and affordable basic casual wear, a concept he calls "LifeWear." The brand became famous for its innovative and technologically advanced fabrics, such as its Heattech thermal wear and its ultra-light down jackets. Under his decades of leadership as chairman and president, he has built Fast Retailing into one of the world's largest and most successful apparel retailers, with thousands of Uniqlo stores across the globe. His two sons are also involved in the company, which remains under the firm control of the Yanai family.