They say that the CEO of Rakuten is a really weird and eccentric person. A few years ago he instated a company wide policy that all staff must use English for any and all business within the company. Since most Japanese people can't speak English, he ended up creating a really weird atmosphere where people pretend to use English but really end up secretly (or not so much) conducting business in Japanese.
In short, he's a weirdo, though a successful one.
