OSAKA -- It is considered difficult and extremely unusual in Japan for those who have failed once in businesses to have a chance to succeed again.

However, Kazuo Wada, the former chairman of collapsed giant supermarket chain Yaohan Group who lost billions of yen when his company went bankrupt, is challenging that notion by starting a new business at age 71.

Wada took over his parents' vegetable and grocery shop in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, and turned it into the Yaohan supermarket and department store chains, which operated in 16 countries. He quit his post as the group's chairman in 1997 to take responsibility for Yaohan Japan Corp.'s bankruptcy, with liabilities amounting to 160 billion yen.