Toshio Kagami, 87, is retiring as Chief Executive Officer of The Oriental Land Company, which runs Tokyo Disney Resort. Yumiko Takano will be replacing Kagami as CEO.

The change was announced during the Friday OLC Board of Directors meeting and will officially be approved after the sixth ordinary general meeting of shareholders on June 29.

Kagami will stay on in his position as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors.

Takano is the current Executive Vice President and will be the OLC’s first female chairman and CEO.

Kagami was a driving force behind Tokyo Disney Resort, having been appointed director of the OLC’s Real Estate Division in 1976, six years before Tokyo Disneyland opened. By 1983, he was a Managing Director. In 1993, he was named Executive Vice President. In 1995, he became the Representative Director and President. Two decades later, in 2005, he officially became Chairman and CEO, in addition to Representative Director. Kagami was inducted as a Disney Legend in 2008.

“Walt was definitely a wonderful person,” D23 quotes Kagami as saying once, “but the fact that we were able to bring the Disney Resort to Japan and make it a success in Japan, I believe that we were able to bridge these two different cultures together. The world has to be a peaceful place and I would like to see more and more of these bridges built across the world.”

Kagami recently appeared at the groundbreaking ceremony for Tokyo Disneyland’s new Space Mountain.

The OLC reported a significant recovery in the past fiscal year following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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