Japan Press Weekly

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2012 August 29 - September 4 [ECONOMY]

Japan’s business leaders aim for US-style management

Many Japanese business leaders studied in the United States before starting their business careers in Japan. Lack of such educational background sometimes is regarded as a weak point and a target for criticism in the economic circles of this country.

Those who used to live in the U.S. are often picked as chairs of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) and the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, such as Mitarai Fujio (Canon), Yonekura Hiromasa (Sumitomo Chemical), Kitashiro Kakutaro (Japan IBM), and Hasegawa Yasuchika (Takeda Pharmaceutical).

Miyauchi Yoshihiko, chair of the leasing and financial firm Orix Corporation and a former Keidanren official, also studied at a U.S. university.

During the tenure of Prime Minister Koizumi Jun’ichiro under the former government led by the Liberal Democratic Party, Miyauchi headed a government panel on regulation reform which in 2002 proposed the removal of a ban on the use of temporary workers in the manufacturing industry.

In a book he wrote, Miyauchi said, “If asked what Japan’s business management needs to do right now, I would say, ‘Look to the U.S.’,” implying that implementation of U.S.-style neo-liberal policies provide the solution to Japanese economic issues.