[3] As part of a wealthy family belonging to the Saegusa clan, Tsuji, as their first child, lived a life of luxury, yet he was secluded.
[4] From 1945 to 1947, Tsuji studied chemical engineering at Kiryu Technical College (now a part of Gunma University); at that time, he also practiced manufacturing, and he would later take advantage of the post-World War II shortage situation in the country by creating goods for the black market - an act that formed the basis of his entrepreneurial career.
[6] He first worked in a job Tsuji described as his "second adversity after his boyhood", before becoming a teacher, and later (under the request of Hisashi Amano, then-governor of Yamanashi Prefecture), a commerce worker.
[8] On August 10, 1960, with ¥1,000,000 in capital,[a] Tsuji founded Yamanashi Silk Center, a textile company that would eventually become Sanrio.
[5] As president of Sanrio, he also thought of committing suicide at one point, but Tsuji ended up wanting to live upon undergoing polypectomy.