If there is one phrase that encapsulates the Hiroshi Mikitani approach to running a business, it would be along the lines of the famous Nike slogan to “Just do it”.

Asked about a string of bold overseas acquisitions launched in the past year by Rakuten, the online shopping mall he founded and heads, the 45-year-old says simply: “If we don’t take drastic action [the globalisation of Rakuten] is going to take forever. Either you do it, or you don’t do it,” he says, speaking in a spartan room in his office in central Tokyo.

That combination of ambition and can-do attitude runs through the history of Rakuten. Over the past 13 years, Mr Mikitani has built it up from a six-strong operation into the country’s most widely recognised internet brand, with more than 35,000 merchants offering goods and services, and gross transaction volume of Y1,800bn ($21.4bn, €16.8bn, ￡13.8bn).