IKITANI, the boss of Rakuten, an e-commerce giant, is that rare thing in Japan: a businessman who wants radically to change society, but who also has the ear of the Japanese establishment. He is currently advising the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, on a programme of structural reforms to be announced later this year. Some of Mr Mikitani’s beliefs, and his business practices, nevertheless remain delightfully outsiderish.