It has been serialized in Kodansha's Morning, starting with the first series Kachō Shima Kōsaku in 1983 and has currently been divided into eight parts.

The character also acts as the "host" or framing device for a business documentary series on NHK World, Shima Kosaku's Asian Entrepreneurs.

At the start of the long-running series, Shima Kōsaku is a kachō, or section chief, of a huge conglomerate, Hatsushiba Electric.

The fictional conglomerate is modeled after Panasonic, or Matsushita Electric, where Hirokane worked before and is highly accurate in its portrayal of Japanese corporate culture.

[34] In 1991, Kachō Shima Kōsaku won the 15th Kodansha Manga Award in the General category.