OSAKA (Kyodo) Daiei Inc. founder Isao Nakauchi, once dubbed the king of Japan's retail business, is in a coma in Kobe after suffering a stroke late last month, the University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences said Thursday.
Nakauchi, 83, has been undergoing medical treatment at the university hospital's intensive care unit. On Wednesday, the Kobe-based university would only say he collapsed after leaving around 4 p.m. on Aug. 26.
Nakauchi had been serving as head of Nakauchi Gakuen, an educational corporation that runs the university, after he gave up the right to represent any of the companies in the Daiei group.
Daiei is credited with pioneering Japan's version of the "supermarket" -- a store that sells groceries, clothing and a range of household items.
He spread the retail revolution concept across the nation, stressing consumer sovereignty -- the right of shoppers to determine prices.
He started what is now Daiei in 1957 in Osaka.