Ikujiro Nonaka (野中 郁次郎, Nonaka Ikujirō; 10 May 1935 – 25 January 2025) was a Japanese organizational theorist and…Ikujiro Nonaka (野中 郁次郎, Nonaka Ikujirō; 10 May 1935 – 25 January 2025) was a Japanese organizational theorist and Professor at the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy of the Hitotsubashi University. Known for developing the Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation, which explains how organizations generate continuous and sustainable innovation through the creation and conversion of individual, group, and organizational knowledge. He has also been a key figure in the field of knowledge management.
Seijun Suzuki (鈴木 清順, Suzuki Seijun), born Seitaro Suzuki (鈴木 清太郎, Suzuki Seitarō) (24 May 1923 – 13 February 2017)…Seijun Suzuki (鈴木 清順, Suzuki Seijun), born Seitaro Suzuki (鈴木 清太郎, Suzuki Seitarō) (24 May 1923 – 13 February 2017), was a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are known for their florid visual style, absurd humour, and a playful rejection of traditional film grammar. He made 40 predominately B-movies for the Nikkatsu Company between 1956 and 1967, working most prolifically in the yakuza genre. His increasingly surreal style began to draw the ire of the studio in 1963 and culminated in his ultimate dismissal for what is now regarded as his magnum opus, Branded to Kill (1967), starring notable collaborator Joe Shishido. Suzuki successfully sued the studio for wrongful dismissal, but he was blacklisted for 10 years after that. As an independent filmmaker, he won critical acclaim and a Japanese Academy Award for his Taishō trilogy, Zigeunerweisen (1980), Kagero-za (1981) and Yumeji (1991). His films remained widely unknown outside Japan until a series of theatrical retrospectives beginning in the mid-1980s, home video releases of key films such as Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter in the late 1990s and tributes by such acclaimed filmmakers as Jim Jarmusch, Takeshi Kitano, Wong Kar-wai and Quentin Tarantino signaled his international discovery. Suzuki continued making films, albeit sporadically, until the early 2000s.
Ryūichi Tamura (田村 隆一, Tamura Ryūichi; 18 March 1923 – 26 August 1998) was a Japanese poet, essayist and translator of…Ryūichi Tamura (田村 隆一, Tamura Ryūichi; 18 March 1923 – 26 August 1998) was a Japanese poet, essayist and translator of English language novels and poetry who was active during the Shōwa period of Japan.
Taiji Tonoyama (殿山 泰司, Tonoyama Taiji; October 17, 1915 – April 30, 1989) was a Japanese character actor who made many…Taiji Tonoyama (殿山 泰司, Tonoyama Taiji; October 17, 1915 – April 30, 1989) was a Japanese character actor who made many appearances in films and on television from 1939 to 1989. He was a close friend of Kaneto Shindo and one of his regular cast members. He was also an essayist. In 1950 he helped form the film company Kindai Eiga Kyokai with Shindo and Kōzaburō Yoshimura. He served in the Japanese military in China in the Second Sino-Japanese War and considered himself to have narrowly escaped from death. He was married but also had a mistress and maintained relationships with both women until the end of his life. He was a keen reader of detective stories and a fan of jazz music. He wrote a series of semi-autobiographical essays under the title Sanmon Yakusha (三文役者), meaning "third rate actor". Kaneto Shindo wrote a biography of Tonoyama called Sanmon yakusha no shi, meaning "The death of a third-rate actor", which he also filmed as By Player.
