Tokyo’s leading professional network

Talent, the world’s most valuable commodity, has been difficult to find for the best part of one generation. Even before Covid-19, when profits were up and capital was footloose and fancy-free, bosses fretted that talented workers were in short supply. Employees are changing jobs at a record pace (about 33% of new college graduates leave after three years) and companies are struggling to respond to increasing demands for flexible hours and working locations. Furthermore, a weakened currency and stagnant wage growth make it less likely that talent will be seeded from abroad —only 0.025% of Japan’s workforce is foreign-born. 

This event addressed how business leaders can respond to talent shortages, lessons learned from other companies’ experience, and what executives can expect as new working trends take hold despite the economy’s apparent downward turn in 2023.

Speakers:

• The Honorable Masahiko Shibayama, Former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology & Member of House of Representatives

• Jordan Jarjoura, Head of Talent Capabilities at Meshd

• Justin Scarpone, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Asia Pacific at Scopely Inc.

• Yohei Shibasaki, Founder and CEO of Fourth Valley Concierge Corporation

According to MIC (総務省), 54% of Japanese firms fell victim to some sort of cyberattack in 2020. For any company, the threat of cyber crime weighs heavily on corporate management and its presence riles executives. But are companies in Japan doing enough to protect themselves?

In September 2022, the official Japanese government’s website e-gov was breached, allegedly by Killnet, a Russian hacker entity. One month later, a government-affiliated hospital in Osaka was hit by a ransomware attack. Whether the ransom was paid is not clear, but by December the hospital was still filling patients’ charts by hand.

During this event, EICN members learned about new cybersecurity threats likely to be faced in 2023 and guidance on how much to protect their businesses and how much investment is required.

Speakers:

• The Honorable Takuya Hirai, Japan’s first Minister of Digital
• Joich Ito, Co-founder and board member of Digital Garage
• Cartan McLaughlin, CEO of Nihon Cyber Defence

Global energy prices have rocketed due to both demand and supply factors, as well as unyielding pressure toward clean energy transition, at least in the West. The war in Ukraine has exacerbated supply challenges and further accelerated energy costs.

Japan has committed to becoming a carbon neutral society, with zero emissions by 2050. Economists, environmentalists and Japan’s residents at large are growing increasingly doubtful as to whether the noble target was overambitious. With ever-increasing threats to its energy supply Japan needs to secure its energy. As a resource-poor country, the implications of even small changes to how “power” trades can be significant for Japan.

This event examined which mix of solutions might work best for Japan, how business and future investment in Japan will be affected by the country’s energy dependency, and how they can mitigate energy risk.

Speakers

• Kenichi Hosoda, Ex-State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry; Member of Japan’s House of Representatives
• Russell Cato, Managing Director and CEO of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy

The Covid-19 pandemic has already revealed much about the fragility of the world in which we live. The institutional strengths and weaknesses of individual nations —and of the global political economy —laid bare. Moreover, the economic ramifications of the pandemic will reverberate for years, if not decades.

Geopolitical fault lines have also been put into stark relief. Political responses to the pandemic have exacerbated the already fractious relationship between the United States and China, for example. How will these and related geopolitical factors shape the global political economy? What are the implications for the Asian business environment?

Members of EICN’s Tokyo network were invited to join a conversation on these and related issues with world renowned historian, Niall Ferguson. Author of numerous bestselling books including The Ascent of Money, Civilization and most recently The Square and The Tower, Professor Ferguson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and holds academic posts at Stanford, Harvard and Tsinghua University, Beijing