I’m not one to pay much attention to celebrities, and I’m not overly impressed by billionaires, but I did notice an article posted on the BBC website about the death of Hirotake Yano. Yano’s death was announced by the firm he founded and ran for many years, Daiso. In a statement released on Monday, the firm said he passed away and that a private funeral had already been held by close family members.

When we visited Japan, we enjoyed shopping at Daiso. The store stocked everything from housewares to paper products. It was a good source for some of the tourist goods that we wanted to bring home, such as rice bowls, chopsticks, origami paper, and Japanese candy. In Japan you can find Kit-Kat bars in dozens of flavors not available in the United States, including Matcha and Wasabi.

Before dollar stores became popular in the United States, Mr. Yano opened his first discount store in 1972. He named the store Yano Shoten, which means “Yano’s Store.” Five years later, he changed the name of the company to Daiso, which means “Create something big.” He said that he and his wife Katsura found that having to price products differently was too time-consuming so they decided to charge 100 yen for every item. For comparison, 100 yen is worth 67 cents. They operated the store on that basis for a long time and eventually opened many more stores. Eventually the stores began to sell items in multiples of 100 yen.

The idea became very popular in the 1990s when the Japanese economy stalled. Eventually Daiso grew to 4,360 stores in Japan and nearly 1,000 in other countries around the world. The idea was imitated by several different chains of dollar stores in the US, Australia, and Canada as well as Pound stores in England.

We have a special connection with Japan. When our children were high school students, we hosted an exchange daughter from Japan for a year in our home. We have remained in touch with her and twenty years later, in 2018, we were able to visit her and her family in Japan. It was powerful to meet her parents and realize that although we don’t have a common language, we do share a daughter who is an excellent translator and we have been bound for more than 20 by our love for our shared daughter. Both of our children participated in short student exchanges and traveled to Japan. Our daughter lived in Japan for nearly 5 years and one of our grandsons was born there. We got to make a second visit to Japan when he was born.

As a result, we were delighted when Daiso opened a store in Bellingham Washington last fall. Shortly after they opened we visited the store and found that some of the things we purchased in Japan are available at the Bellingham store. Throughout the store there are signs that show the prices in Yen and in Dollars. And the store is stocked with some of the same items we shopped for when we were in Japan. On our first visit to the Daiso store here we bought a rice bowl to replace one that had been broken. We bought some inexpensive paper products. We purchased a variety of Japanese candies for Christmas presents for our grandchildren. We sent a few special Japanese treats to our daughter with the presents for their family, too.

There are several products that cost considerably less at Daiso than they do in US dollar stores. Daiso has a much larger selection of housewares than in dollar stores. It is a good place to purchase storage bins and boxes priced well below half the cost of similar items in big box stores. There is a Japanese brand of ginger beverage that is only available at Daiso or online in the US and the store price is well below that of Amazon.com.

This journal entry may illustrate why Mr. Yano became a billionaire and I will never do so. I am promoting the store with my comments here and my conversations with friends. I spend a bit of my money in the store. And I’m not one to devote much energy to bringing business ideas to fruition. I am just the kind of customer that helped make Daiso successful. I enjoy saving a little money, and I don’t mind accepting items with a bit lower quality in exchange for a good price.

Since 1972, when Mr. Yano started his first discount store, I haven’t focused my attention on how to earn more and more money. I’ve figured out how to earn enough for my family to have good food and a home and that has been enough for me. I haven’t had the desire to possess millions.

I’m pretty sure that Mr. Yano’s death will have very little impact on the continuing success of the stores that he founded. The chain continues to grow. They recently opened a new store about an hour’s drive from the one in Bellingham and I think more are being planned for the west coast of the US.

I’ll be back at Daiso from time to time. It is a good place to pick up inexpensive Japanese chop sticks. And sometimes I’ll just look around the store for entertainment and when I do, I’m sure to discover a few bargains. It isn’t that I need anything, we have plenty. But a few items spark my nostalgia and remind me of the wonderful people that we have met from Japan.

Our daughter now lives in South Carolina and these days purchasing airline tickets to Japan isn’t quite as attractive as it was when she lived there. We might never make an other trip there. In the meantime, we can drive a few miles down the road and pick up a few treats from Japan because we have the good fortune to have a Diaso store. Thanks’ Mr. Yano for your vision. May your memory be treasured not only by your family, but also by those of us who enjoy visiting your stores.