PUBLIC PROGRAM
The Nineteenth Edition of Roundtable Japan
Tokyo, 24 - 25, October 2023
Time for Japan to Ramp Up its Act?
View or download the public program.
Keynote speaker:
Kuronuma Yasushi, Vice Governor of Tokyo
Opening session:
- Assessing the impact of:
– The euro zone deteriorating growth outlook
– The Fed’s continuing monetary tightening and of political polarization in US paralyzing economic policy
– The uncertainties on China’s growth prospects. - How will these external factors and domestic conditions – labor shortage, inflation prospects etc. – determine Japan’s economic outlook in 2024?
Kono Ryutaro, Chief economist, BNP Paribas, Ltd.
Kumagai Mitsumaru, Deputy Chairman, Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd. Special Advisor to the Cabinet
Nakao Takehiko, Chairman of the Institute, Mizuho Research & Technologies, Ltd.
Moderated by:
Claude Smadja, President, Smadja & Smadja Strategic Advisory Switzerland
- Assessing the impact of TSE emphasis on price-to-book ratio on profitability and capital efficiency of listed companies
- How to address the doubts or reluctance of some corporate leaders as the price-to-book ratio set by the TSE is not fully mandatory?
- What could be the “domino effect” of a greater emphasis from listed companies on ROI on Japan’s overall business landscape.
- How could the TSE reforms help attract more foreign investors and contribute to establishing Tokyo as a regional and global financial hub?
Opening Keynote:
Yamaji Hiromi, Director & Representative Executive Officer, Group CEO, Japan Exchange Group
Speakers:
Bessho Kensaku, Member of the Board of Directors, Deputy President, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd.
Thierry Porté, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, J.C. Flowers
Matsumoto Oki, Executive Chairman MONEX GROUP, INC.
Yamada Daisuke, Director, Managing Executive Officer, Senior Vice President, Finance & Accounting, King Street
Moderated by:
Kawahara Shigeharu, Representative, Kawahara Associates; Member of the Advisory Board, Hitotsubashi Financial Leadership Program, Hitotsubashi University
Keynote speaker:
Hayashi Yoshimasa, Member, House of Representatives, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
Keynote speaker:
Shibusawa Ken, Founder and President, Shibusawa and Company, Inc.
Sustainability information disclosure, which has been a voluntary initiative of companies, started to be incorporated into statutory securities reports now. However, it is not clearly articulated how sustainability efforts will lead to future cash flows and what the progress of actions are. What is necessary to pursue sustainable management, make most out of sustainability information disclosure, and reward from constructive dialogue for achieving sustainable growth and increasing corporate value?
- How do we capture the components of corporate value?
- What is sustainability information that contributes to investment decisions?
- How are advanced companies pursuing sustainable business?
- What are key issues and Improvement Measures to advance sustainability of business in Japan?
Speakers:
Ishihara Yu, Vice President, APAC ESG & Climate Research, MSCI
Matsubara Minoru, Managing Executive Officer, Responsible Investment Division, Resona Asset Management Co., Ltd.
Sekiguchi Michiru, Senior Director, General Manager, corporate Sustainability Division, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.
Tsutsui Yuko, Executive Office, Deputy Chief Executive of ESG Strategy Headquarters, NYK Line
Moderated by:
Tanaka Hirotaka, Senior Executive Board Member, KPMG AZSA LLC, Head of ESG, KPMG Japan
Dinner Session
Fireside chat with:
Ito Joichi, President, Chiba Institute of Technology
AND:
Thierry Porté Vice Chairman and Managing Director, J.C. Flowers
Moderated by:
Claude Smadja President, Smadja & Smadja Strategic Advisory Switzerland
Beijing is increasingly wary of Japan’s ever closer alignment with the US containment strategy towards. For its part, Tokyo keeps stressing its will to promote “constructive and stable” relations with China. Can the balancing act between geopolitical confrontation and economic collaboration endure? And on what conditions?
- What are the red flag issues that could/will precipitate an open crisis between China and Japan?
- While President Biden has convened a US-Japan-Korea in August, Beijing is now launching its own initiative for a China-Japan-Korea summit? How can Japan “navigate” these two competing initiatives?
- What do Beijing’s moves to reinforce ties with Russia and North Korea mean for Japan?
- Japanese companies are as affected as those from other US allies by the protectionism of the Biden administration. Does Japan risk losing on both sides as its companies will continue to be affected by US protectionism while risking to be also penalized by possible Chinese restrictions in reaction to Tokyo’s alignment with the US containment strategy?
Speakers:
Victor Zhikai Gao, Chair, VicePresident Center for China and Globalization, Professor, Soochow University; Chairman, China Energy Security Institute
Benoit Hardy-Chartrand, Adjunct Professor Department of Political Science and International Affairs Temple University
Kokubun Ryosei, Professor Emeritus, The Keio University and National Defense Academy of Japan
Nakabayashi Mieko, Professor, Waseda University
Taniguchi Tomohiko, Special Advisor, Fujitsu Future Studies Center, Specially appointed professor, University of Tsukuba
Moderated by:
Claude Smadja, President, Smadja & Smadja Strategic Advisory Switzerland
- What kind of adjustments are needed for Japan in a context where all its major economic partners – the US, the EU, China, India – are either openly embracing officially industrial policy practices or expanding them?
- How could a revisited industrial policy crucially help GX and DX transitions?
- Is the model of supporting with public money the development of private businesses in sectors deemed “strategic” politically sustainable?
- What is required for an updated industrial strategy for Japan’s semiconductors sectors to work in view of the competition of the US, China, Taiwan, and Korea?
Speakers:
Amari Akira, Member, House of Representatives
Koshiba Mitsunobu, Former Chairman JSR Corporation
Tagawa Joji, Senior Vice President, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
Moderated by:
Itoh Motoshige, Professor Emeritus University of Tokyo
Lunch Discussion over Bento Box:
Japan is looking at a shortfall of 790,000 workers by 2030, and of more than 11 million workers by 2040. What key elements for a holistic strategy to address the challenge?
- Implementing Immigration policy changes
- Policies to accelerate women’s integration in the economy
- Accelerating digitalization drive
- Universities innovating new kinds of learning towards more technology innovation
Speakers:
Bando Mariko, Chancellor, Showa Women’s University
Fujii Akio, Chair of Editorial Board, Nikkei Inc.
Hiiro Tamotsu, Representative Director, President and CEO, McDonald’s Holdings Company (Japan), Ltd.
Shimada Haruo, Professor Emeritus, The Keio University
Moderated by:
Robert Alan Feldman, Senior Advisor Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities
The country’s startup ecosystem has not seen the kind of growth comparable to many other countries, but changes are coming with some increase in startup funding and domestic VCs expanding their investments. The government has come up with a five-year plan to ramp up annual startup investments tenfold to 10 trillion ¥ – US$ 71.5 billion – by 2027. This, however, pale in comparison with the level of startup funding in the US, China, or India.
- To what extent is Japan’s ecosystem benefiting from the geopolitical risk associated with investment in China?
- What kind of VC funding – between seed and later stage funding – is expected to increase most in the coming period?
- What role could global VCs play in boosting Japan’s startup ecosystem and technology innovation?
- What could be the transformative impact of a more vibrant and innovative startup ecosystem on the country’s society and economy?
Speakers:
Arai Motoyuki, Founder & CEO, Synspective Inc.
Inoue Tomoko, General Manager, Global Corporate Venturing Office, OMRON Corporation, Chief Executive Officer, Omron Ventures Co., Ltd.
Okahashi Hiroaki, Partner Co-founder, Miyako Capital Inc.
Okiyama Sho, CRO, Aillis Inc.
Watanabe Reina, President and CEO, Terafood
Moderated by:
Katsumata Mikihide, President and COO, INCJ, Ltd.
Whether it is on Ukraine or Japan’s involvement in the QUAD and in creating a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”, whether on the Taiwan issue or the New National Security Strategy, the Kishida government has not only continued the foreign policy approach of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe but even expanded it.
- To what extent is there a national consensus behind the expansion of Japan’s global profile?
- While the government considers that a higher international profile is made necessary by the new geopolitical context, what kind of risks could this new profile create for Japan?
- Can Japan meet the expectations created by an expanded global profile given its aging and shrinking population and its utmost energy dependency?
Speakers:
Chino Claire Mitsuru, Managing Executive Officer, General Manager, Corporate Communications Division, ITOCHU Corporation
Woosuk Kenneth Choi, International Editor, Chosun Daily Newspaper
Kono Masamichi, Senior Advisor MUFG Bank, Member of Global Advisory Board, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
Mireya Solis, Director of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies, The Brooking Brookings Institution
Kenneth Weinstein, Japan Chair, The Hudson Institute, US
Moderated by:
Claude Smadja, President, Smadja & Smadja Strategic Advisory Switzerland
While Japanese equities have been in the doldrums over most of the last thirty years, Japan has now regained the favor of foreign financial players as an investible destination. Improved economic conditions, corporate governance reforms starting to have an impact on efficiency and profitability, greater attention from the management to the expectations of shareholders, the weak Yen and still lower valuations than in rival markets, still loose monetary policy by the BOJ have been the kind of factor that have put Japan back on the radar screen of global equity funds managers
- How should investors consider factors like currency dynamics, sectoral exposure, and geopolitical risk as they move into Japanese equities?
- What would be the balance to consider in terms of sectors as well as in terms of exposure to the established industry players and to the mid-cap companies?
- Could demographic trends and acute shortages of talent become soon an issue for sustained equity performance?
- Foreign investors have been the main drivers in the surge of capital flows. Will domestic investors fully join the trend now?
Speakers:
Jean-Baptiste Feat, Co-CIO, Co-Head of Asia, Tikehau Investment Management Asia Pte Ltd
Kawasaki Tatsuo, Co-Founder and Partner, Unison Capital, Inc
Ed Rogers, CEO, Rogers Investment Advisors
Moderated by:
Fujii Akio, Chair of Editorial Board, Nikkei Inc.
- How long before the BOJ shift to neutral or positive rate territory after the tweaking yield-curve control ?
- How will the country’s changing inflation dynamics bear on the BOJ next moves?
- What prospects for shrinking the bloated balance sheet of the BOJ? And what implications?
- What higher interest rates would mean for the country’s debt now at more than 260% of GDP?
Stefan Angrick, Associate Director, Senior Economist Moody’s Analytics
Fujita Ayako, Chief Economist, JPMorgan Securities Japan Co., Ltd
Mizuno Atsushi, Former Member of the Policy Board, Bank of Japan
Momma Kazuo, Executive Economist, Mizuho Research & Technologies, Ltd.
Suzuki Keisuke, Member, House of Representatives
Moderated by:
Tamaki Rintaro, Chairman, Japan Center for International Finance
Keynote speaker:
Nishimura Yasutoshi, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry
Session over Seated Dinner:
A conversation with:
Arai Motoyuki, Founder & CEO, Synspective Inc.
Moderated by:
Kamikura Takayuki, Acting President, The Matsushita Institute of Government and Management