Nobuyuki Idei, former chairman and chief executive officer of Sony Corp., said he is hoping a world-class Internet company will emerge from among the younger generation in Japan.

"Sadly, Japan was unable to lead the information technology industry," said Idei, who retired earlier this month from the post of chief corporate adviser at the consumer electronics giant.

"At present, there is no world-class brand from Japan that does Net business," he said in an interview Monday. "There is no new Sony on the Net."