We had three interviews with Mr. Takashi Onisi. For the first and the second, he took a style of answering to a list of questions that had been sent to him beforehand. These were videotaped. The third interview, which was held over lunch and kind of off the record, turned out to be a remarkable and memorable secession for me as well as for our students. We would like to extend our whole-hearted thanks to Mr. Onisi.

In this report, I relate the interviews with my personal history.

I started my academic career with the study of commerce. My first debut at an academic meeting was when I was 26. I still remember the title of my presentation; ‘The Independence of Commerce and the Market Mechanism’. After my presentation, there was one person in the audience who argues with me fiercely: ‘I don’t agree with you in the way you deal with commerce in your presentation. You mentioned its functionalities and mechanics but where do merchants as a human being exist in your theory? What is the raison d’etre of the theory if it leaves those who do the commerce aside?’ My mind must have gone blank and I don’t remember how I responded to him.

While young professors in the meeting responded to his questions on my behalf, I was thinking, ‘Oh, what in the world have I got myself into. I have to research with a serious attitude.’ Since then, I have been interested in the study of the phases where macroscopic aspects of the actions of the market mechanism initiated by commerce and microscopic aspects of the behavior and concrete strategies of merchants intersect. ‘Theory of Commerce’ published in 1989 by Yuhikaku was a blockbuster textbook on the theory of commerce at that time. I was the author of the chapters on ‘Functions and Structure of the Retailing Business’ and ‘Functions and Structure of the Wholesaling Business.’ Mr. Takemasa Ishihara, co-author, is now a professor of the Faculty of Commerce of Kwansei Gakuin University. Another co-author was Mr. Kyoichi Ikeo. He was then an associate professor at the same university.

Interviews with Mr. Onisi made me ponder a various things. One of them is the possible development of a new theory which takes the human aspect of merchants into consideration. The reason why I come to think this way is because I saw some humanistic aspects of the wholesale function in the personality of Mr. Onisi. I am determined to continue further study on this front.

By the way, my project team member is Professor Emeritus Masao Nakanishi, who provided me an academic stimulus at the above mentioned debut presentation. Being associated with two of the most influential people on my career in this project, I sense some hidden tie with Kwansei Gakuin.