Jack Matsumura is a man with a mission: to turn Nippon Columbia, Japan's oldest label, into a profitable, hit-making record company once again.
Matsumura, who became president and CEO of Nippon Columbia on Oct. 2, certainly has his work cut out for him. The last time the label had anything like a hit act on its roster was with rock band The Yellow Monkey a decade or so ago.
Since then poor old Nippon Columbia -- whose history goes all the way back to 1910, when it was established as Nippon Chikuon-kai -- has lost its sense of direction and sunk further and further into a sea of red ink.