was a Japanese billionaire businessman, the chairman and founder of Unicharm.
Born in Kawanoe City, Ehime Prefecture (now Shikokuchuo City). He graduated as class representative from his local junior high school, then went on to Matsuyama High School, before studying Marxian economics at Osaka City University. Having acquired all the necessary credits in his third year, he was given a letter of introduction from his supervisor and studied Keynesian economics at Hitotsubashi University in his fourth year. He graduated from the Faculty of Commerce at Osaka City University in 1953. His graduation thesis was "An Empirical Study of Japan's Pulp and Paper Industry". He joined Kansai Paper Co., Ltd. in the same year.
Takahara was married with three children and lived in Tokyo. His son Takahisa Takahara is president and CEO of Unicharm. According to Forbes, Takahara had a net worth of $5.2 billion, at the time of his death. He received a Doctorate Honoris Causa in Humanities from Anaheim University in 2000.