Chronology of Seiji Tsutsumi/Takashi Tsujii
1927 | Born in Mitaka, Tokyo on March 30 |
1951 | Appointed as President of Kunitachi Gakuen School |
1954 | Enters Seibu Department Stores, Ltd. (SDS) |
1955 | Publishes his first anthology of poems titled Futashkana Asa (An Uncertain Morning) under the pen name Takashi Tsujii |
1961 | Organizes an art exhibition of Paul Klee’s works at SDS’s Ikebukuro store |
1962 | Takanawa Art Museum opens in Tokyo |
1971 | Tsutsumi is awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Legion d’Honneur from the French Republic |
1973 | Parco shopping center and Seibu Theater (later renamed as Parco Theater) opens in Shibuya, Tokyo |
1975 | The Seibu Museum of Art, Libro bookstore, and Art Vivant (a store that specializing in art books and records) opens at SDS’s Ikebukuro store |
1978 | Tsutsumi becomes a trustee of the International Council of The Museum of Modern Art of New York |
1979 | Ikebukuro Community College (culture school) and a multi-use space Studio 200 opens at SDS’s Ikebukuro store |
1981 | Takanawa Art Museum is transferred to Karuizawa in Nagano prefecture and becomes a museum of modern art Establishment of the convenience store chain Family Mart |
1983 | Seiyu opens the first Muji store in Aoyama, Tokyo (now operated by Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd.) Seibu Credit Co., Ltd. (now known as Credit Saison Co., Ltd.) launches its Saison Card full-scale Roppongi WAVE, a building housing a store selling records, CDs, and videos and a cinema called Cine Vivant, opens in Roppongi, Tokyo The Saison Group donates two million U.S. dollars to the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) of New York |
1984 | SDS’s Yurakucho Seibu, which houses Yurakucho Art Forum, opens in Tokyo Seibu Art Forum opens in SDS’s Ikebukuro store |
1985 | Seibu Retailing Group is renamed as the Seibu Saison Group |
1986 | Takanawa Art Museum (now known as Sezon Museum of Modern Art) is registered as a foundation SEED Hall opens in SDS’s Shibuya store in Tokyo |
1987 | Seiji Tsutsumi establishes The Saison Foundation with his personal funds and becomes its president Tsutsumi is awarded the Officier de l’Ordre de la Legion d’Honneur from the French Republic |
1988 | Yatsugatake Music Hall opens in Nagano prefecture |
1989 | Sezon Art Museum opens in Ikebukuro Tsutsumi is awarded the Commander’s Cross 1st Class for Service to the Republic of Austria |
1990 | Seibu Saison Group is renamed as the Saison Group |
1991 | Tsutsumi announces his retirement as Representative of the Saison Group Takanawa Art Museum is renamed as Sezon Museum of Modern Art |
1993 | Tsutsumi becomes Honorable Doctor of Moscow State University |
1994 | The Saison Foundation opens Morishita Studio, a building with rehearsal facilities for theater and dance, in Tokyo |
1998 | Tsutsumi receives a doctorate in economics from Chuo University for his 1996 thesis Blueprint for Change – Beyond the Distribution Theory |
2003 | The Saison Foundation receives the 2003 Mecenat Award for Leading the Theatrical Arts from the Association for Corporate Support of the Arts |
2007 | Takashi Tsujii is inducted into the Japan Art Academy |
2009 | The Saison Foundation receives the Donald Keene Prize for the Promotion of Japanese Culture |
2012 | Serves as meshiudo, the person who composes a poem by special order of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, at the Imperial New Year’s Poetry Reading Tsutsumi receives the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Award from the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) Tsujii is selected as Person of Cultural Merit by the Japanese government |
2013 | Dies in Tokyo on November 25 |
The Saison Foundation extends its sincere gratitude to the following Legal Entity Support members and for their generous contributions (as of March 2023/in alphabetical order):