On September 25th, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. (Head office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Taiyo Onishi; hereinafter "Isetan Mitsukoshi HDS") announced the launch of a new project with the Cool Japan Fund Inc. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Nobuyuki Ota; hereinafter "Cool Japan Fund").

The project outline calls for Isetan of Japan SDN.BHD. (hereinafter "IOJ"), the local subsidiary of the Isetan Mitsukoshi Group that operates its Malaysian business, and the Cool Japan Fund to jointly establish a new company in Malaysia. Of the four department stores currently operated by IOJ in Malaysia, the Kuala Lumpur Isetan LOT10 store will be rebuilt (i.e., fully renovated) and operated.

The reconstruction concept is "to promote Japan's superior products and services." The entire building will showcase the charm of Japan (Cool Japan) through the department store's products and services, including food, restaurants, fashion, clothing, accessories, and home goods. A press conference was held in Tokyo to announce the launch of this new project. Three representatives from Isetan Mitsukoshi HDS, including President and CEO Hiroshi Onishi, Director and Executive Officer Hidenari Takeda, General Manager of the Related Business Division, and Executive Officer Jun Yokoyama, General Manager of the Overseas Business Division, attended the event. They explained the background to the project. According to Mr. Yokoyama, the new company will be invested 51% by IOJ and 49% by the Cool Japan Fund. While it has not yet been decided whether the store will be closed during the renovation or will continue to operate through a partial renovation, the grand opening of the new store is scheduled for October 2015. The name of the new store has yet to be decided, but given the widespread recognition of the Isetan name in Malaysia over the past 20 years, the company aims to choose a name that clearly identifies it as an Isetan-operated store. Since 2011, the company has been promoting the "Japan Senses" initiative in its domestic stores, aiming to reaffirm Japan's appeal as a new value to customers. Looking back on that time, President Onishi commented, "When the project first began, we believed that we needed content to promote attractive products and technologies overseas, so we launched Japan Senses. Leveraging what we've cultivated over the past three years, we're taking on a new challenge: creating products that are truly quintessentially Japanese and can be proud of around the world. Furthermore, we believe we need to consider a global strategy, including e-commerce expansion." Furthermore, he explained that the "quintessential Japan" products are not just "made in Japan," but are also important because they can only be created in Japan, where Japan boasts the world's leading design and technological capabilities." Yokoyama then discussed how to present these products and services. "Isetan's strength is its 'editing power'. The key point is that we ourselves select and edit the products and create the sales floor. Rather than simply displaying Japanese-made products, we want to convey the appeal of truly valuable items, and create a new store model that is completely different from previous overseas department stores," he said.

Currently, the annual sales of the Kuala Lumpur Isetan LOT10 store are approximately 1.9 billion yen, but the aim is to double this after the renovation.