Ground Truth
The ACCJ launches its AI Futures Series with a look at infrastructure, energy, and economic security.
The ACCJ launches its AI Futures Series with a look at infrastructure, energy, and economic security.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is all around us. With each passing day, it seems that more of the tools we use are infused with the technology, more people and businesses are relying on it, and demand is forcing rapid reflection on how we work and how we feed AI’s thirst for resources.
American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) members and guests gathered on September 3 at the office of President’s Circle member Cisco Systems G.K. for the first in a series of signature events focused on the technology.
The first session of the AI Futures Series examined the physical and policy foundations that AI requires to scale in Japan.
ACCJ Digital Forum Co-chairs Shuichi Izumo and Ken Haig welcomed attendees and thanked sponsor Aflac and Cisco’s fellow President’s Circle members KKR and Eli Lilly Japan K.K. for their support of the event.
In his opening remarks, ACCJ President Eric John emphasized the importance of the infrastructure behind AI adoption—from semiconductors and data centers to telecommunications and energy.
“The resilience and security of this infrastructure will directly impact Japan’s ability to innovate and compete,” he said.
“The ACCJ strongly supports the Government of Japan’s ambition to make Japan the easiest country in the world for developing and utilizing AI,” he continued. “However, getting the policy balance right will be critical: protecting transparency and security while ensuring that regulation supports, rather than constrains, innovation and the adoption of new technologies.”
Bringing the Pieces Together
The discussion began with a panel moderated by ACCJ Governor Rebecca Green, who is also a partner and APAC technology industry lead at ERM. Offering their perspectives were:
- Nanako Tanaka, country director of government affairs and policy at GE Vernova
- Quint Simon, vice president of public policy for Asia-Pacific at Amazon Web Services
- Junichi Kitamura, director of government affairs and country lead at Micron Memory Japan K.K.
The group represented a range of elements critical to AI infrastructure: semiconductors, the cloud, and power generation. These areas are often discussed in separate rooms, and the goal of the first AI Futures session was to bring them together and highlight how they are interdependent when building a resilient AI supply chain that keeps up with demand and positions Japan as a leader in the field.
“If there is to be a prosperous path forward for AI in Japan, it must be charted by sharing lessons learned, presenting a common industry position, and engaging local governments jointly rather than company by company.”
A Question of Scale
The conversation opened on the sheer size of the moment. Global capital commitments to AI infrastructure now run into the hundreds of billions of dollars annually from hyperscalers alone. Hyperscalers are companies that provide cloud computing resources so businesses can access computing power, storage, and other services on demand.
That astounding investment total does not include outlays for AI labs and colocation providers. According to the panelists, the semiconductor market is on a trajectory that few forecasters anticipated even two years ago, driven in large part by demand for the memory that feeds data-hungry processors. The impact of such demand can be felt by everyday consumers in the rising prices of computers and smartphones caused in part by memory shortages.
Much of this investment has so far been concentrated in the United States. The open question, and the one the panel returned to repeatedly, is how much of the next wave lands internationally, and how much of that share can Japan secure.
The panel was clear that Japan enters this competition with genuine advantages: a strong rule of law, robust intellectual property protection, and a policy environment widely regarded across the region as forward-leaning. These all weigh in its favor, as does the depth of the US–Japan relationship itself. For investors evaluating assets with 15- to 20-year horizons, Japan’s reputation for deliberate, predictable policymaking is an asset rather than a liability.
Where the Friction Lies
But there are challenges. Energy cost and availability surfaced as the single most cited obstacle, followed closely by the state of the grid. Permitting regimes and technical regulations designed for traditional, non-IT facilities add further delay. So does the fragmentation of responsibility for critical infrastructure across prefectures, municipalities, and private utilities, which leaves companies negotiating with multiple parties on questions that elsewhere have a single owner.
Underlying all of it is a mismatch in timescales. Japan has a reputation for being slow-moving. The same deliberateness that reassures long-term investors becomes a liability on project timelines. Industry investment cycles turn over every two to three years, while transmission lines, water infrastructure, and land rezoning move at a pace of five, 10, 15 years or more. The discussion turned to jurisdictions where central government builds enabling infrastructure ahead of committed demand, and contrasted that with a chicken-and-egg dynamic over who takes the first risk.
Talent emerged as a related constraint. Decades of retreat from semiconductor manufacturing have left a generational gap, in engineers and in the professors who train them. This is compounded by shortages in construction labor and specialist trades.
On energy specifically, the discussion converged on two priorities: modernizing the grid, including transmission and interconnection, and expanding the role of nuclear power alongside renewables. Early nuclear power purchase agreements and colocation projects were noted as encouraging signals.
Trust as Infrastructure
Even if all these obstacles can be overcome, winning over everyday people is a must if Japan is to succeed in AI. Community opposition to data centers has become a live political issue in parts of the United States, and while Japan remains comparatively quiet, panelists asserted that social license should be treated as infrastructure in its own right.
Concerns vary sharply from site to site. While energy and water consumption are at the top of the list in news coverage surrounding AI pushback, noise from the construction and operation of data centers, as well as the impact on aesthetics and biodiversity, are also big concerns. The consensus was that industry, not government, must lead here, through transparency, listening, and evidence-based engagement with communities where they wish to operate.
That led to the conclusion: the need for collective action. If there is to be a prosperous path forward for AI in Japan, it must be charted by sharing lessons learned, presenting a common industry position, and engaging local governments jointly rather than company by company. The ACCJ, panelists agreed, offers a natural platform for such work.
In her closing remarks, ACCJ Executive Director Laura Younger expanded on the goals of the chamber’s exploration of AI:
“As we developed the AI Futures Series, we really wanted to look at AI through three different lenses as part of one broader conversation. Tonight we began with the foundations. We looked at infrastructure, energy, and security. In the next session, we are going to start looking at application, what it means for business, and then we are going to broaden the lens even more and to what AI actually means for society, for people—really defining what it means to be human.”
Beyond the Answer
As AI becomes both coder and tutor, teachers ask what students still need to learn and what role they should play.
As AI becomes both coder and tutor, teachers ask what students still need to learn and what role they should play.
According to Satya Nadella, artificial intelligence (AI) writes 20 to 30 percent of the code in Microsoft’s repositories, with some already passing the halfway point. Sundar Pichai puts Google’s figure at roughly a quarter to a third. At my own startup with 15 engineers, no one handwrites code anymore. Two years ago, any of these claims would have sounded like science fiction.
Linus Torvalds, who created Linux, the operating system that powers every Android phone and most of the world’s servers, has pointed out that compilers write 100 percent of everyone’s code and nobody boasts about that. He is right that this has happened before. The difference is that a compiler is reliably correct, and a large language model is not.
If professional software is increasingly written by machines, what do schools have left to teach?
I put that question to four people from very different disciplines who do this for a living: in schools, in coding boot camps, in research, and in the creation of Japanese school textbooks. Surprisingly, there was a good deal of consensus.
That Which Survives
Simon Guest, a computer science educator and former chief technology officer of Code.org, the nonprofit behind the Hour of Code and the largest provider of free computer science curriculum in US schools, teaches AI at both the high school and undergraduate levels. He explains what he thinks endures using house construction as a metaphor.
“The student could ask an AI to ‘build me a house’ in one shot and simply accept whatever it produces,” he said. “Or they could design the house first, deciding on the structure and what each room needs to accomplish, and then use AI to help build each part. Using the second approach, AI may still do much of the construction, but the student is the ‘builder’ of the system.”
Stefania Druga holds a PhD in AI tools for creative coding, created the Cognimates platform, and is currently a staff research scientist at Sakana AI in Tokyo. She arrived at the same place after a decade of studying children learning alongside these tools. When agents write more of the code, she said, “knowing how to decompose a problem, specify what you want, and evaluate what comes back matters more, not less.”
Kani Munidasa cofounded Code Chrysalis in Tokyo in 2017, initially helping people transition into software engineering, and today works primarily with companies to develop their in-house software development and organizational capabilities. He put it in the language of hiring.
“As building software becomes faster and cheaper, the scarce capability is increasingly not simply, ‘Can you code?’ but ‘Can you decide what to build, and can you build it effectively as a team?’ That’s an organizational capability,” he said.
This is not new. I have hired senior engineers for 15 years by asking why they built the thing they are describing—what prompted the migration, who decided, and whether they understood the reasoning. If somebody simply told them to do it, the interview is largely over. What’s new is that I now ask the same of juniors. The judgment that used to earn a promotion is becoming the price of entry.
AI as Teacher
Let’s do a little philosophical exercise. AI could be the perfect teacher. It is infinitely patient. It never tires of the same question asked a fourth time. It explains at whatever level you need, in whatever language you speak, and it will do it at two in the morning.
Munidasa does not hedge: “I think AI will eventually do a lot of what we traditionally think of as teaching, and probably do some of it better than we can,” he said. “It can already explain concepts, answer questions endlessly, adapt to the individual, review code, generate exercises, and give immediate feedback. We shouldn’t pretend those capabilities are somehow protected from AI.”
Of the years Code Chrysalis spent running consumer boot camps, he said: “People weren’t paying us for access to information. Even when we started, you could learn JavaScript, algorithms, databases, or almost anything else online for free. What they were paying for was an environment designed to transform how they learned and worked.”
The evidence for that predates AI. When Harvard put CS50, its introductory computer science course, online for free, 150,349 people registered in the first year. Just 1,388 of them finished. On campus that same year, 703 of 706 students completed the identical course, taught by the same instructor from the same material.
Guest does not think the difference is pedagogical.
“When a student signs up for an in-person course, they’re accountable to another person,” he said. “If they don’t show up or complete the work, there’s a teacher or professor who notices.” Online, most of that disappears. Anyone who has joined a gym in January and stopped going by spring already knows how that story ends.
“I am much more optimistic about AI as a ‘teaching assistant’ rather than a teacher—an AI that can provide immediate, personalized help, while a human teacher remains responsible for the relationship, motivation, and accountability,” he said.
“AI may become an extraordinary teacher, but education still has to develop the human being.”
Who It Fails
“The people who can benefit most from self-directed AI learning are often the people who have already learned how to learn without it,” Munidasa noted.
“The danger,” he said, “is when you don’t yet know what you don’t know. AI can give you an answer that feels complete, and even produce something that works, without you understanding why it works.”
Druga explained it this way: “An answer machine optimizes time to answer. A teaching tool optimizes what you can do after it leaves the room.”
In her most recent study, North American participants already had AI at home, while several from other regions had never used it. “The tool amplifies whatever head start a child already has,” she said. “That is why access has to be designed, not assumed.”
The Adult in the Room
Japan has already tested whether access on its own is enough. In 2018, Japanese students spent less classroom time on digital devices than students in any other country in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The government’s response, announced the following December, was the Global and Innovation Gateway for All, or GIGA, School Program, which put a networked device in the hands of every public school student, with 1,769 local governments, or 97.6 percent, having completed planned delivery by the end of March 2021.
Distribution was never the hard part.
The education ministry’s own reviews now describe uneven use between regions and between schools.
The constraint is the adult at the front of the room. A survey by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) for FY2022 found that 23 percent of junior high school teachers responsible for technology were teaching under a temporary license or an out-of-field arrangement.
That is easy to read as a competence problem, but I do not think it is one. “The gap is teacher confidence, and tools built for learning rather than for answers,” Druga said.
Ayana Murakami, who works on the digital content in Japan’s authorized junior high school textbooks and is a software engineer and PhD candidate at Ochanomizu University, describes a second structural problem. “The national curriculum is revised roughly once a decade, and junior high school textbooks follow a four-year cycle, while AI can change dramatically within months.”
The ministry appears to agree. Its budget documents describe a new junior high subject under consideration, provisionally called Information and Technology, and say work on teaching materials will begin without waiting for the next curriculum revision to take effect.
Murakami is not pessimistic about schools. Asked whether compulsory education is better placed than self-directed learning to help students understand the potential, risks, and use of AI, she said: “AI makes it easier to learn on your own, but it can still be hard to study things you are not interested in. Schools provide a common foundation by giving students a structured learning environment.”
What’s Left
Having granted AI that much, Munidasa draws a conclusion that runs against his own interest. “But if that’s all a boot camp does, then yes, I think AI should replace it.”
What survives is the part that was never about information. “You don’t learn teamwork by reading about teamwork. You learn it by having to build something with another human being when you don’t agree.”
Asked what she would fund in Japan if she could fund one thing, Druga did not name a tool for learners. She chose “AI tools that assume a teacher is present and make her better.” Every person I spoke to for this piece said a version of the same thing.
A country where every child has a device, a teacher, and a teacher confident with both would be the first of its kind. Japan already has two of those three.
The third is the hardest. Teachers need confidence with these tools, as well as AI built for learning rather than for answers. Current AI products will not do that out of the box. They are built to answer. So tools that enhance and support the learning process have to be built.
MEXT is reconsidering the curriculum now, and the obvious move is to add AI to the syllabus. But nothing in a syllabus reaches a student except through a teacher. What we do know is that accountability matters more than it did, and that what is worth teaching is the reasoning rather than the result. As Munidasa put it: “AI may become an extraordinary teacher, but education still has to develop the human being.”
AI in the Workplace
As artificial intelligence gets its own desk in the office, workers and leaders weigh its risks and rewards—and whether age shapes their view.
As artificial intelligence gets its own desk in the office, workers and leaders weigh its risks and rewards—and whether age shapes their view.
A client question nobody has an answer for leads to a stalemate in the middle of a meeting. One colleague takes the old-school approach and books another meeting for next week, spending the days between sketching notes. The other opens an artificial intelligence (AI) tool and has a workable plan within the hour.
That contrast, said Roy Tomizawa, chief executive officer of Reinventing Asia, is the story of AI in the workplace: it is changing the distance between thinking and acting.
“So much organizational time is spent waiting and procrastinating,” Tomizawa said. Unread emails and slow-to-schedule meetings are a kind of quiet tax that most companies never measure. “Half of what was discussed could have been thought through, drafted, or prototyped beforehand by the person who leveraged the available AI tools on his or her own.”
How businesses close the gap between thinking and acting is dividing opinion, forcing leaders to decide what AI should handle and what it shouldn’t, while young professionals are discovering that the skills worth building are shifting day to day.
The Age of the Generalist
Tomizawa explained that the shift goes beyond speed. AI is dissolving the old dependency on specialists. An employee who knows how to assemble credible first versions of a website or a video will have an advantage. Tomizawa called this “the age of the generalist.”
But that doesn’t flatten the value of expertise, he said.
“It actually raises the price of real expertise, since shallow, surface-level work is now cheap and abundant.” Someone still has to know when an AI’s answer is actually good, he added. Without that, the same tools that make people efficient just make them “efficient masters of AI slop.”
Sludge, Slop, and Everything in Between
Not everyone sees the acceleration in such rosy terms. Dr. Greg Story, president of Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo, compared the effect of AI on communication to that of social media. Both are technologies that can make people more insular, offering contact with or through a machine as a substitute for real contact with each other.
Story, who has written nine books and recorded thousands of podcast episodes, said listeners can identify his writing by ear. Hand that same task to AI by default, he argued, and you never develop a personal voice.
“If you’re ever going to have a distinctive style, and you keep outsourcing it to AI, then you’ll never achieve that and you’ll be part of the sludge,” he said. “There’s no discrimination between one piece of sludge and the other.”
For most professionals, the risk, he argued, is that AI tends to default to generic text unless given deliberate direction. That caution shows up in how he runs his own training business. Dale Carnegie has built its own AI system, trained only on its own material, to keep answers on brand rather than generic. But Story keeps it confined to prework and follow-up, away from the live instruction that’s actually being sold.
In sales, he explained, AI becomes a genuine research tool for those who ask the right questions, provided someone checks it for hallucinations—the tendency for AI to make up information when it doesn’t have an answer.
“The human dimension is being reduced,” he said, “so we have to hold on to it as much as we can to counterbalance the swing to impersonal communication.”
“AI is dissolving the old dependency on specialists. An employee who knows how to assemble credible first versions of a website or a video will have an advantage.”
Finding a Voice with AI
Ted Katagi, CEO of Kenja K.K., builds tools based on retrieval-augmented generation, or RAG, that draw only on a company’s own material rather than the open internet, including the system behind Dale Carnegie’s own AI tool. Katagi makes a distinction between content and style.
“We have to separate things—the voicing of it, which to me is the style, versus the content,” he said. The content has improved with AI use, he said, but the style “will tend to aggregate” as writers rely on it. Part of that, he argued, is simply that AI eliminates bad writing—which raises its own question. “If we get rid of the bad writing, isn’t that going to make you a little bit more similar in a sense?”
Preserving an individual voice, he said, takes deliberate work. “I wouldn’t just say, ‘Here, AI, write like me.’ I would say, ‘Here are all my papers. How do you think I write?’” Skip that step, he warned, and a personal voice doesn’t get replaced so much as quietly forgotten.
Katagi’s advice to young professionals is to treat AI more as a “sparring partner” than a first-drafter.
“Ask always: What did it do that was smart that I need to learn?” Katagi advised. “What did it do that was bad that I need to check on?” For those who genuinely engage with AI, it “can seem like they gain 10 years of experience.”
“It will get you where you want to go and it will help you finish the last mile,” he said. But human judgment and intuition are still needed. He cited as an example a recruiting-industry deployment that builds an editor directly into the workflow rather than letting AI hand off a polished document unchecked.
Differentiating from Sameness
Meghan Barstow, president and representative director of ACCJ Corporate Sustaining Member Edelman Japan K.K., has watched two prior technology shifts reshape her industry: the internet and mobile phones.
“I experienced the advent of the internet and mobile phones,” she said, “both of which transformed how we create, communicate, and connect.” She expects AI to do the same, viewing it as a tool that “aids and amplifies human creativity rather than replaces it.”
Her concern is closer to what Story called sludge. Barstow called it “sameness.”
“AI is incredibly good at producing something plausible. But plausible isn’t necessarily interesting, original, or culturally meaningful,” Barstow said, adding that her worry is more about the behavior it enables.
“If we all use the same tools, trained on much of the same material, and accept the first answer they give us, there is a real risk that we will create more content but with less creativity.”
As an executive, Barstow, who is also an ACCJ vice president, described adopting AI as “quite fun,” but said the stakes reach into business models themselves, with real winners and losers ahead. Organizations that treat AI as additive to their core value rather than a replacement for it will succeed, she predicts.
For young professionals, she offered this advice: “Raise your hand. Get involved. Be curious. Learn, learn, learn. Use the new tools, absolutely, but don’t do so at the expense of learning the fundamentals or having experiences that develop your judgment and perspective.”
She also viewed the generational exchange as a two-way street. Edelman brought interns back this year for the first time since the pandemic, several through the ACCJ’s own internship portal, and Barstow credited them with making the organization sharper.
“The more opportunities we create for generations to learn from one another, the better all of us—and our organizations—will be,” she said.
What Leaders Need to Know
Digital fluency doesn’t mean becoming a technologist, Tomizawa said. It means understanding how value is created and decisions are made. He said three mindsets matter most:
- Treating information as a strategic asset
- Measuring outcomes, not activity
- Introducing AI deliberately
By treating information as a strategic asset, Tomizawa means that it is important to know where critical data sits, who owns it, and whether it’s reaching the people making decisions. Once that is in place, the value of the technology must be assessed. “High usage of an AI tool, for example, tells leaders little about whether people are saving time, making better decisions, improving customer outcomes, increasing revenue, or reducing risk,” he said. When preparing to implement AI tools, leaders should start by looking at the work itself to find the bottlenecks and errors before choosing the technology. Finally, they should define exactly what AI should recommend and where human approval stays mandatory.
Story said that leaders rarely had time to check employees’ work before AI, and they have even less reason to start now. His solution is to train people on privacy and instill in them a healthy skepticism.
Cybersecurity is another area to be mindful of.
Katagi said a clash between cybersecurity’s oldest principle and AI’s newest capabilities exists, pointing to “zero trust,” the model he said most cybersecurity experts rely on now.
“Zero trust means you say you’re Chris and it looks like it, but I’m not going to trust it until I see some irrefutable proof that you are who you say you are,” he explained. Agentic AI, a system trusted to act on a user’s behalf that Katagi said is at the center of AI right now, asks for the opposite. “Basically, what it’s allowing you to do is say, ‘Okay, trust me and I’ll do the thing.’ But that’s going directly against all the cybersecurity frameworks that people have.”
“The professionals who thrive will be the ones who know when to trust it, when to challenge it, and when to think differently.”
A Youthful Approach
Among young professionals, thoughts on AI lean more toward the opportunities the technology brings.
“AI is one of the most significant shifts I have seen in how we work, and I think young professionals have a real opportunity to shape how it is adopted,” said Fatim Diallo, a director at FGS Global and vice-chair of the ACCJ Young Professionals Forum (YPF). “Used well, it frees up time for the kind of creative thinking and relationship-building that transforms careers.”
The shift has made her more curious about where she can add value than anxious about what AI might replace. At a company dealing with multiple markets, AI has “meaningfully reduced the friction of working across linguistic and cultural contexts,” she said.
Her main concern is what she dubs a “meat proxy”—people who pass AI output straight through without reviewing or questioning it.
“The professionals who thrive will be the ones who know when to trust it, when to challenge it, and when to think differently.”
Kelly Langley, CEO of Gemini Group K.K. and co-chair of the YPF, noted a similar shift in what makes someone valuable. AI increasingly handles the “first 80 percent” of a task, he said, freeing people to spend more time exercising judgment on the final 20 percent.
“That makes me more interested in capabilities that are difficult to replicate: judgment, trust, persuasion, relationship-building, improvisation in moments of crisis, and understanding what motivates people.”
Langley pushed back on the idea that there is a generational divide among AI adopters.
“The bigger distinction is between people who are relentless learners and early adopters and those who remain comfortable with established ways of working.”
Progress in the Age of AI
The next wave of AI innovation isn’t going to come from the massive, companywide rollouts most large organizations are currently betting on, Katagi said.
“People think the big projects are the thing. I think the next innovation is going to occur in agile projects at the middle level,” he said, predicting smaller teams and narrower budgets focused on solving one specific problem well rather than applying a general-purpose tool everywhere at once.
Story said that “at the end of the day, most business problems are people walking around on two legs talking to each other. That doesn’t go away, but the skill sets are going away in a sense, as people become more isolated.”
But he sees an opportunity ahead in the people using the tools themselves.
“As we’re moving away from voice and body language, we are getting to a stage where AI is just going to accelerate that process,” he said. “If you have the ability to communicate, you’re going to stand out head and shoulders above everyone else. You’ll be clear, empathetic. I think that’s an opportunity rather than a threat.”
Tomizawa argued that most companies are still years from redesigning how work actually gets done around AI, rather than just using it to make things faster.
“The more capable AI becomes, the more important human judgment becomes in deciding what problem deserves attention, what ‘good’ looks like, and which trade-offs are acceptable,” he said.
Five years from now, he added, the people with the greatest value will be the ones who know how to combine machine capability with sound human judgment.
At the Center of the Game
ACCJ President Eric John shares thoughts on the chamber’s role in the bilateral relationship during a milestone year.
ACCJ President Eric John shares thoughts on the chamber’s role in the bilateral relationship during a milestone year.
Photos Antony Tran/LIFE.14
Earlier this year, The ACCJ Journal sat down with Eric John as he took the helm of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ). Halfway through a busy year of outreach and activity, we check in with the Boeing Japan K.K. president about how he sees the chamber in a time of rapid change, uncertainty, and new challenges facing the US–Japan partnership.
You took office with a focus on policy creation and advocacy. How are those goals progressing?
We set out to strengthen the ACCJ’s committee-driven policy advocacy and accelerate our engagement with the Japanese and US governments. As a result, we have built a stronger foundation, improved cross-committee collaboration, and are now better prepared to act quickly and effectively in order to remain relevant in advocacy.
In Japan, we have proactively met with cabinet ministers, Diet members, and other key leaders in both business and government. On the business side, we met with leaders at Keidanren (the Japanese Business Federation) and Keizai Doyukai (the Japan Association of Corporate Executives) to discuss our priorities and deepen our understanding of their focus and goals. When meeting with government officials and politicians, we shared our views in a straightforward manner, and I believe we have built closer relationships through which we can exchange views more openly.
In June, we visited Washington for our annual DC Doorknock, where we met with key administration officials and a number of congressional members, as well as Japanese Ambassador [Shigeo] Yamada. As the voice of global business in Japan, we provided strategic recommendations to address critical issues affecting US companies and outlined measures to further strengthen the US–Japan economic alliance.
This year’s DC Doorknock highlighted the continued strength and momentum of the US–Japan economic partnership and provided an important opportunity for the ACCJ to advance key priorities across our advocacy focus sectors. We were encouraged by the palpable recognition throughout the US government of the strategic importance of the US–Japan relationship and by the continued progress being made to deepen investment, strengthen economic ties, and address shared challenges.
We are seeing progress in policy development and advocacy, and this will continue to be our focus for the remainder of the year.
Because the ACCJ is committee-driven, our policy work depends heavily on the time and insight of member volunteers, and I am grateful for that effort. We have also worked to strengthen coordination across committees and between the board and committee leaders, including through in-person Leadership Forum meetings and closer liaison support.
A strong example of this approach came in 2025, when we were able to gather committee input quickly and provide a coordinated response on a major policy issue. That experience reinforced the importance of having a clear policy foundation and being able to act quickly when opportunities arise.
Looking ahead, we need to stay agile. Both the US and Japanese governments like to move fast, and the ACCJ must be ready to do the same if we want to remain an effective voice for our members.
Another goal was to continue growing the chamber. How is that going?
I am glad to see the progress we have made. We added a third member to the President’s Circle and six new Corporate Sustaining Members. This contributes to our bottom line, but more importantly, it contributes to our influence.
Where do you see the bilateral relationship—and its role on the regional and global stages—as the United States marks its 250th birthday?
The US–Japan relationship is marked by significant progress, including the 2025 trade agreements and Japan’s substantial $550 billion investment commitment in the US economy. Japan remains the United States’ largest foreign investor, and overall bilateral trade in goods and services reached $324 billion in 2025, with the US maintaining a strong $12.6 billion surplus in services.
At the same time, US companies continue to face persistent trade challenges. The ACCJ encourages the Government of Japan to address nontariff barriers, promote further investment, and enhance regulatory transparency to strengthen bilateral trade. As a business organization, we are focused on improving ties that serve the interests of both our stakeholders and our members. We also appreciate that the US and Japan are pursuing what they believe to be in their best economic interests.
This year is also a special one for the United States as we continue to mark the 250th anniversary of our founding. While celebrating America’s development and the strong US–Japan relationship, I am excited by how the ACCJ has worked so far this year to build on recent successes, shape our shared future, and strengthen our resilience. I also thought that A Night of Stars and Stripes, our Independence Day event on July 1, was a perfect celebration of our nation’s birthday and bilateral relations.
ACCJ President Eric John speaks at A Night of Stars and Stripes, the chamber’s Independence Day celebration, on July 1, 2026, at Tokyo American Club.
How do the chamber and the US embassy collaborate? How critical is the support from each side?
I, and many others, regularly meet with Ambassador [George] Glass. In addition, the board and embassy leaders meet monthly. We coordinate on our top priorities and exchange information and views about the evolving economic relationship and planned joint tactics.
Speaking for the chamber, I know that the embassy’s role has been essential for us to achieve many of our policy goals. I would also like to think that the initiatives of the ACCJ help the embassy team achieve their goals in their relationships.
How was this year’s DC Doorknock?
As mentioned, this year’s visit to Washington was very positive and reinforced the continued strength and momentum of the US–Japan economic partnership. A key takeaway was the strong recognition throughout the US government of the strategic importance of the relationship, as well as the continued progress being made to deepen investment, strengthen economic ties, and address shared challenges.
At the same time, we emphasized that persistent nontariff barriers still need to be addressed. We also reaffirmed the importance of reducing these barriers, boosting investment, and improving regulatory transparency to support growth and innovation across our key sectors and further strengthen bilateral trade.
What were your goals for March’s roundtable with Japanese media?
Good question. It had been years since the ACCJ had held a media roundtable, and I thought we needed to rebuild that relationship to be able to get our message out to the Japanese public. Our goal, therefore, was to clearly convey our intent and activities and position the ACCJ as a reliable source on the US–Japan economic relationship. This set a strong foundation for future engagements with the media.
The US and Japan are indispensable economic and strategic partners, and our bilateral alliance—grounded in shared values and common interests—supports peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. The ACCJ believes it is important to continuously and proactively communicate the value of this relationship to Japanese media and to help them gain a deeper understanding of the importance of a healthy economic relationship for both countries.
What do you see as the biggest challenges that lie ahead?
I see this to be coordinating the chamber’s six key focus sectors, as well as our business priorities, with Prime Minister Takaichi’s 17 strategic growth priorities. To tackle that specific challenge, we established a growth strategies task force earlier this year, and we are also focusing on this in our committees.
What else would you like to say to members?
Simply, thank you. This is a huge volunteer effort to create policy, advocate, and move the business of the chamber forward. It’s been the product of so many people. I think we should all appreciate how much our members contribute to the success of the chamber.
Healthy Momentum
As Lilly marks its sesquicentennial, the ACCJ President’s Circle member focuses on what comes next for Japan.
As Lilly marks its sesquicentennial, the ACCJ President’s Circle member focuses on what comes next for Japan.
It has been 150 years since American pharmacist, chemist, and businessman Eli Lilly founded Eli Lilly and Company in 1876. It was just over a decade after the end of the Civil War that the former Union Army officer turned his attention to creating innovative medicines of the highest quality. A century and a half later, the company that started in Indianapolis has become one of the world’s leaders.
In Japan, where ACCJ President’s Circle member Eli Lilly Japan K.K. has operated for more than half a century, the milestone is being treated as a responsibility to shape what comes next. The country is one of Lilly’s most important markets, thanks to its world-class scientific capabilities, highly skilled healthcare professionals, and exceptionally high standards of patient care.
The next chapter for Lilly in Japan starts with building the manufacturing muscle and partnerships with government, academia, and the tech world to close the gaps in diagnosis and access to ensure that medicines get to the patients who need them most.
That also means putting technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to work to accelerate scientific discovery and improve how medicines are developed, manufactured, and delivered.
The ambition is to become the most trusted and impactful medicine company in Japan by 2030.
“Our success will be measured not only by business growth, but by the lasting difference we make for patients, the healthcare system, and society,” the company told The ACCJ Journal. “Our legacy is what we do next.”
Bridging Leadership
That next chapter arrives alongside a change at the top. In July 2026, Karla Alcazar became president and representative director of Lilly Japan, succeeding Simone Thomsen, who had led the organization since 2019.
Thomsen described Japan’s healthcare sector as having reached an important turning point during her tenure. The country’s strengths remain considerable, she said, including universal healthcare coverage, highly skilled professionals, strong scientific institutions, and a deep commitment to quality. All this comes as the healthcare environment has grown more complex with an aging population and a growing burden of chronic disease, which have raised the need for innovation.
While Lilly’s mission remains to bring innovative medicines to Japanese patients, continued uncertainty around pricing and reimbursement policies makes it increasingly challenging to sustain investment, accelerate innovation, and ensure timely patient access, she added. Going forward, a more predictable policy environment will be essential to support both innovation and long-term healthcare sustainability.
For Thomsen, that means integrating Japan into global development, strengthening the company’s manufacturing network and supply resilience, raising awareness in areas such as obesity disease and Alzheimer’s disease, and building partnerships that help patients move from awareness to diagnosis and appropriate care.
She was especially proud to see Lilly Japan’s role extend beyond medicines, working with local governments, medical societies, and patient organizations to promote earlier diagnosis and build more connected care pathways.
“The progress achieved over these years was not the work of one leader,” Thomsen stressed. “It was created together by our employees and partners, and that shared journey is what I value most.”
Alcazar arrives in Kobe after nearly 20 years with Lilly. With most of those spent in Latin America and the United States, she brings with her a perspective shaped by very different markets.
What stands out to her in Japan is the strength of its universal healthcare system, the scientific rigor of its medical community, the emphasis on quality and safety, and the discipline with which organizations execute.
Set against a rapidly aging population, issues such as healthy longevity, chronic disease management, sustainable access, and earlier intervention have become especially urgent.
“My experience has taught me that sustainable progress requires both strong execution and collaboration across the healthcare ecosystem,” Alcazar explained. “I come to Japan with curiosity and humility.”
She said that the greatest opportunity is to expand early and consistent access to innovation for more people in Japan.
Through deeper collaboration and responsible use of data and technology, Japan can further improve early diagnosis, personalize care, strengthen treatment pathways, and continue to play an important role in global medical innovation, she added.
The harder task, in Alcazar’s view, is that scientific innovation alone does not automatically lead to better outcomes.
Patients can still face stigma, limited disease awareness, uneven access, and complex care pathways. The system needs a predictable, sustainable environment that recognizes the long-term value of innovation.
“We must work across sectors to remove barriers, strengthen the patient voice, and build an ecosystem in which advances in science can translate into meaningful improvements in people’s lives,” she said.
Confronting Obesity Disease
Nowhere is that approach more visible than in Lilly’s push on obesity disease, a chronic, progressive condition shaped by biology, genetics, psychology, the environment, and social circumstances.
The disease is linked to more than 200 serious complications, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, and liver disease.
Despite this, the condition remains widely misunderstood as simply a matter of personal responsibility or willpower. This misconception often creates stigma that can keep people from recognizing it or seeking care at all.
Japan’s aging population and its barriers to diagnosis and treatment make the country a particular focus for Lilly. Its role extends beyond developing medicines, the company said, to working with medical societies, healthcare providers, and policymakers to strengthen disease understanding, treatment pathways, and evidence generation, so that people can move from awareness to appropriate action.
Digital healthcare is central to that effort. The company argued that the biggest challenge is not simply access to treatment, since many people living with obesity disease never reach the point of seeking medical care in the first place. Earlier recognition can encourage people to seek professional advice before the disease leads to more serious complications.
Online medical consultations can help reduce psychological barriers to seeking care and improve access to appropriate healthcare. Lilly recognizes the potential of digital health solutions to enhance patient access to care and support better health outcomes.
Digital tools can also narrow regional gaps in access. They can connect patients, regardless of location, to appropriate care, since specialists and experienced providers are not evenly distributed across the country.
Looking beyond individual medicines, the next frontier is a more personalized approach with integrated treatment decisions reflecting disease severity, related conditions, patient needs and preferences, as well as old-fashioned clinical judgment.
Earlier recognition, stronger disease awareness, reduced stigma, and better-coordinated care across the healthcare ecosystem, the company argued, all matter as much as the medicines themselves in improving long-term outcomes.
The goal is to ensure people living with obesity disease can recognize the disease earlier, seek help without fear of stigma, and access the right care at the right time.
Lilly said Japan has an opportunity to build a more patient-centered ecosystem for obesity disease care that combines in-person care, digital health services, disease awareness programs, and community-based support. No single organization can achieve this alone.
Collaboration among healthcare professionals, policymakers, patient communities, academia, and industry, the company said, will be essential to enable earlier diagnosis, smoother referral pathways, and equitable access to evidence-based care.
Applied Intelligence
The other pillar of Lilly’s forward-looking push is the ever-growing field of AI, which is becoming a foundational capability across the full medicine value chain for the company rather than a standalone technology initiative.
In early discovery, AI allows scientists to analyze complex biology and chemistry at a scale and speed that were previously impossible. Its reach extends well beyond early discovery, supporting clinical-trial design, regulatory-document preparation, manufacturing quality, supply-chain resilience, and more precise patient engagement.
That integration was reinforced recently with the launch of a Co-Innovation AI Lab alongside Nvidia, pairing Lilly’s drug-development know-how with Nvidia’s computing horsepower.
The goal is to reinvent how scientific discovery happens by pairing AI-driven computational research with real lab experimentation so hypotheses get generated, tested, and refined in a continuous loop, far faster than before.
Ultimately, the company said, the purpose of the collaboration is to help address some of the most difficult challenges in medicine and accelerate scientific breakthroughs that can improve patients’ lives around the world.
AI will be a powerful accelerator of drug discovery and healthcare, according to the company. But it’s ultimately people who make the breakthroughs that improve patients’ lives. Curiosity, scientific judgment, creativity, and accountability remain fundamentally human traits.
As the company put it, AI does not replace scientists but, rather, augments human expertise. Scientists remain at the center of every decision, while AI helps analyze complex biology, generate insights, and explore possibilities at a scale that was previously impossible.
Over the long term, Lilly expects the greatest impact to come from connecting AI across a medicine’s entire life cycle: better trial design and patient selection in development, improved quality control and planning in manufacturing and supply, and, in research, a far wider exploration of biological and chemical possibilities.
For patients, the company noted, the ultimate value will not be the technology itself but what it enables: better scientific decisions, a greater probability of successful development, faster learning, and more reliable supply.
For organizations using AI, the company said that those who empower their people to use it responsibly and effectively will create the greatest value.
The Value of a Network
Lilly credits its ACCJ President’s Circle membership with a distinct role in supporting its work. The company described it as an important platform for dialogue, partnership, and shared learning across industries, one that allows it to engage with business leaders, policymakers, and the US Embassy,
Tokyo on issues touching both healthcare and the broader US–Japan economic relationship.
That matters, Lilly said, because many of today’s healthcare challenges cannot be solved by the pharmaceutical industry alone. Through the ACCJ, the company contributes its expertise to policy discussions, learns from other sectors, and helps develop collaborative initiatives spanning healthcare innovation, digital transformation, sustainability, inclusion, and women’s empowerment.
The premium membership also gives Lilly’s employees a chance to broaden their professional networks and engage with initiatives beyond the pharmaceutical sector.
“Ultimately,” the company said, “the ACCJ helps us strengthen trust and collaboration and advance our goal of creating a healthier, more innovative, and sustainable future in Japan.”
University Briefings
Through custom sessions, the chamber helps professors and students navigate the US–Japan business landscape.
Through custom sessions, the chamber helps professors and students navigate the US–Japan business landscape.
A delegation from the University of Michigan–Flint
Through tailored sessions, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) gives emerging US business leaders a direct view of Japan’s economy and the US–Japan commercial relationship.
For US students preparing for careers in global business, the ACCJ University Briefings program offers an executive-level perspective on Japan’s business environment and the bilateral relationship. The sessions examine the opportunities and challenges companies face in Japan and the role of the business community in strengthening economic ties between the two countries.
ACCJ Executive Director Laura Younger personally leads each briefing and tailors the discussion to the needs of the visiting group. The sessions connect Japan’s business environment to the wider bilateral agenda. Discussions have covered Japan’s regulatory and business environment, US–Japan economic relations, technology and artificial intelligence policy, demographic and workforce challenges, healthcare, and the importance of professional networks and long-term relationships in Japanese business.
To date, the ACCJ has conducted 50 briefings and reached more than 1,400 students from US universities. The program gives these emerging leaders an opportunity to test their classroom learning against practical perspectives from the ACCJ’s executive director.
The program also contributes to the wider US–Japan relationship. Educational exchange is an important form of soft diplomacy because it gives future US leaders a more informed understanding of Japan and encourages sustained bilateral engagement. By giving US students a more nuanced understanding of Japan’s economy, institutions, and business environment, the briefings prepare them to engage more effectively with Japan throughout their careers and strengthen the human foundations of bilateral commercial and policy cooperation.
Selahattin Imrohoroglu, a professor of finance and business economics at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, is among the educators who have brought their students to the ACCJ University Briefings program.
“Visiting the ACCJ was an excellent experience that gave our group a deeper appreciation of Japan’s business environment, professional culture, and the important role of international organizations in connecting business leaders, policymakers, and students,” he explained. “The briefing helped us better understand Japan’s current economic and demographic challenges, the opportunities for foreign companies, and the importance of cross-cultural communication and long-term relationship building in doing business in Japan.”
“The briefing helped us better understand Japan’s current economic and demographic challenges, the opportunities for foreign companies, and the importance of cross-cultural communication and long-term relationship building in doing business in Japan.”
The University of Arizona’s Justin Jarvis brought his executive MBA candidates to the ACCJ to learn how international companies navigate regulatory, cultural, and market differences. “I also hoped they would see how organizations like the ACCJ play a role in shaping dialogue between the private sector and government,” said the director of the school’s master’s studies. “The experience exceeded expectations. One of the biggest takeaways for me was just how different Japanese business culture is from that in the United States. While both countries are highly developed economies, the business environment, as well as the interpersonal and social dynamics of doing business, are meaningfully different.”
For Greg Laurence, 2026 marked the seventh time he has led a study-abroad group to Japan. As a professor of organizational behavior and human resources management, as well as chair of the University of Michigan-Flint Department of Management and Marketing, Laurence teaches a course on design thinking, namely, how organizations and the people in them solve problems.
“Many of our site visits are with very focused organizations,” he explained. “We wanted students to get a broad picture of business in Japan and how it relates to them in the United States. Japan can feel very far away. When visiting with boutique ceramics makers in Bizen [Okayama Prefecture], it is easy to lose sight of the US–Japan relationship, which matters to boutique ceramics makers in Bizen even if they don’t talk about it. The goal was to get that 10,000-meter view and to think about central design-thinking questions: Why does the ACCJ exist? What problems does it aim to solve and how?”
At least one student from each of Laurence’s past trips has made the move to Japan. “I think that is a pretty impressive testament to their experience there. Japan opens our students’ eyes to what is possible for them.”
Professor Arup Varma of Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business has been leading students on trips to various parts of the world for the past two decades. “In 2026, the students were keen on visiting Japan, and I must say we had an absolutely outstanding trip,” he explained. “We visited both Tokyo and Kyoto. One of the highlights was the initial visit to the ACCJ, which helped set the framework and the context. I was very excited because [chambers] typically have deep experience in a country, and their breadth of knowledge of the intricacies of doing business in that country helps set the stage for subsequent visits.”
Quinlan student Przemek Thomas Krydka said the visit gave him confidence that, should he ever seek to establish a business presence in Japan, the ACCJ would be an invaluable resource and trusted partner. “I came away from our meeting with a strong impression that the ACCJ can provide American businesses with the relationships, knowledge, and support needed to successfully establish a foothold in the Japanese market.”
Students from Baylor University’s McBride Worldwide program visit the ACCJ
Another student who found the University Briefing inspiring is Rhiannon Noel, who visited as part of Lynn University’s undergraduate delegation. Apart from business insights, she found her post-university vision energized. “Seeing interns who came from backgrounds other than Japanese gave me peace of mind that I would fit in if I decided to come back and also do an internship,” she said.
Since returning to Florida, Noel has given presentations and worked on projects related to Japan’s need for immigration, discussing topics such as the declining birth rate, the Highly Skilled Professional program, and the Specified Skilled Worker program, which is designed to address labor shortages in key sectors. “Japan remains one of my favorite places I’ve traveled to, and I am still planning to come and do an internship eventually after the conclusion of my degree.”
Baylor University undergraduate Max Fuller said he came to the University Briefing hoping to learn more about how businesses from outside Japan are able to succeed and adapt to Japan’s different culture.
“After meeting with Executive Director Laura Younger, I actually understand that it is not easy due to tax laws and regulations, and also how people interact,” he explained. “Laura used real-world examples. Through visiting the ACCJ, I have been able to hear firsthand experiences that you usually wouldn’t in a normal classroom setting.”
Younger’s deep experience and insights were also appreciated by Shizuka Modica, a lecturer at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Modica brought a delegation of MBA students to the ACCJ University Briefing as part of the school’s course titled Japan: Where Tradition Meets Innovation.
“Laura introduced ACCJ’s role in strengthening the US–Japan business environment and offered grounded, practical perspectives on how business is conducted in Japan,” she said. “Her lively, highly interactive presentation wove together economic and regulatory data with firsthand stories about pain points American executives commonly encounter and how the ACCJ helps them navigate those challenges. This brief but rich visit helped students process their new experiences and articulate deeper insights into Japan’s political, economic, and social challenges. We are deeply grateful to Laura and the ACCJ for their generosity and impact on our students’ learning.”
Pieces of the Same Puzzle
ACCJ President Eric John shares his thoughts on 2026 and the chamber.
ACCJ President Eric John shares his thoughts on 2026 and the chamber.
Photos Antony Tran/LIFE.14
January 1 marked a change in leadership for the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) as Eric John, president of Boeing Japan K.K., was elected to guide the chamber in 2026.
A former US diplomat, John spent more than three decades in government and served as US ambassador to Thailand from 2007 to 2010. After arriving in 2024 from South Korea, where he was also Boeing president, he quickly became part of the ACCJ and served as a governor in 2025.
The ACCJ Journal sat down with John at Boeing’s office in Toranomon Hills Station Tower to learn more about his career in the Foreign Service, his views on the new US–Japan trade agreement and the opportunities for member companies, and his vision for a new year—one in which the United States celebrates its 250th birthday.
How did you become involved in the ACCJ?
It was shortly after I arrived in Japan. Laura Younger approached me, and Sarah Bader convinced me to run for the board.
Of course, I’ve been involved with chambers throughout my career in diplomacy and business. The reason I got involved in the ACCJ is because there is no more important bilateral relationship in the world for the United States than with Japan; and right at the center of that relationship is the chamber.
Why did you choose to take on the role of president?
I deeply believe in the mission of the ACCJ. It’s a critical point in the relationship. As a diplomat, you’re always saying that, but it really is, because you’re looking at new governments in both the United States and Japan.
You’re also coming off the momentum from the trade deal, the positive, dynamic relationship between the prime minister and the president—and you’re looking at the table being set very nicely to significantly move the economic relationship forward.
I’ve looked at bilateral relationships for 40-plus years as a diplomat and with Boeing. This is one of those rare instances where both sides are coming in with a win-win mentality, and you’re also building on very strong foundations.
So, it was an opportunity that presented itself, and I thought I could help as president.
With the new trade deal, what do you see as the biggest challenges facing the bilateral relationship and US businesses in Japan in 2026?
I see the opportunities as larger than the challenges. There are some things to be resolved on market access and other issues, but for the most part, the two leaders and the two governments have a deep bench and want to see trade expand. So, it’s not something where there are walls being put up. It’s not driven by a punitive spirit. It’s driven by a growth spirit. And in that sense, I see this as much more of an opportunity-oriented trade deal.
The challenge is that it’s very ambitious. You can look at the investment fund on the Japanese side—$550 billion—and there’s a total cumulative investment over many decades of close to $900 billion. So you’re looking at having to put a very significant additional delta of investment from Japan into the United States. And that’s a challenge if not handled properly.
But again, I see that more as an opportunity, where both sides recognize that it’s valuable to invest in the United States. Similarly, the US is the No. 1 investor in Japan as a foreign partner. So I think that we can do that well and make this relationship grow.
As Japan looks to invest in the United States, almost all these investments are going to require strong partners. And almost all the strongest partners are members of the ACCJ, so I think we’re a good umbrella organization for enabling that.
Why have you identified policy creation as a principal goal of your presidency?
The chamber does a lot of things, and it does a lot of things really well. It serves a wide community—3,000-plus members—all of whom have very different interests and things they want out of the chamber. Some see it primarily as an educational tool, some see it as a social networking tool, others see it as a business networking tool.
But at its heart, and what drives the chamber’s reason for existence, is policy. If you look at the 1980s and ’90s, in my experience, all the chambers in the region were helping fight some pretty tough battles on market access. Now, in the 2020s, it’s a very different climate. Many of those battles have been won, but there’s still a very significant policy role for the chamber.
You never hit nirvana for a business climate anywhere in the world, so there remains a lot of policy formulation that we need to do. And it does sound like common sense to have policy formulation and advocacy as one and the same. But often, they’re viewed as separate, and you can’t have serious advocacy or engagement with the Japanese government if you don’t have a really solid foundation of policy.
Similarly, none of our committees, none of our members are really going to care about formulating policy if we just put it on the bookshelf and admire it. We have to be taking it out and advocating with it.
How can committees support this policy formulation and advocacy?
We always say that the ACCJ is a committee-driven organization, because committees drive the formulation of policy.
I think it’s important that we recognize that all of us are volunteers—this is not generally our day job—so it is a way of giving back to and being part of the community. And the job that the committee leaders do takes a lot of work to do right. So I appreciate the effort that goes into that.
For the committee leaders to develop good policy, they have to see how doing so is going to be effective. The DC Doorknock this year as well as regular ongoing engagement with the Takaichi administration and the embassy will reinvigorate not just our efforts to formulate policy but how we put it into the machine of advocacy.
We saw a very good example of this in 2025. The United States Trade Representative, the USTR, requested feedback early in the Trump administration for how the US government could engage with the Japanese government.
We reached out to all the committees through the Policy Advocacy Task Force and put together a very strong answer based on their feedback. The information we put forward was almost entirely incorporated into the USTR’s engagement with the Japanese government and formed a major component of the final trade deal.
So you really need to look back no further than just a few months to see how quickly we can advocate if we have that strong foundation of policy. And I think more people need to know about that very positive effort that we made in 2025, and that we should have the ability to keep doing that in the coming years.
One thing about policy formulation and advocacy is that it’s not very effective if it’s just done by a cloistered group of people, some 20 or 30 of us who do that while the others go about their business. That’s not a good way to do it. There are levels of detail in policy that maybe just not everybody wants to or needs to know, but it behooves everybody, all 3,000-plus members, to know the big billboard policy issues that we’re advocating for.
In 2026, we should be aware that both the US and Japanese administrations like to move fast, so we need to be prepared to move fast. If we can keep that pace with our two governments, then we can remain right at the center of the game and be relevant players.
How does your experience as a diplomat help advance these efforts?
You have to be inherently optimistic that you can get a deal when you enter into bilateral negotiations. And you have to be able to reach across the table and understand what the other side wants, what the other side is thinking.
So in terms of leading the ACCJ in how we engage with the Japanese—managing relationships between the ACCJ and the embassy—I’ve done a lot of that.
I’ve also led what was, at the time, the fourth-largest embassy in the world. We had 2,000 staff from 40-plus government agencies and offices. I’m used to working in an environment where everybody is on the same team but all have different priorities. Coordinating those priorities into a cohesive position is something that I feel a background as a diplomat helps with.
How can the chamber best work together with Ambassador Glass and the US Embassy?
Speaking personally, as an ambassador, what you value most from a chamber is the ability to describe effectively the business environment as they see it on the ground. We’re the ones who are working and living in it 24/7, 365. So first and foremost is providing the embassy with that information.
Part of that is sharing what’s going really well. That’s useful to know as an ambassador because you can feed those models back to Washington. We can also share what needs to be better, the macro environment, specific cases or case studies, and the policies that we would like to see. It’s extremely valuable for an embassy team to hear that and have real examples of how they could help solve problems.
This embassy, perhaps more than any other, gets a lot of visitors from Congress, from the administration, from state and local governments. There’s a plethora of visitors, and they benefit from hearing the same things that the ambassador does. And to the degree that the embassy has confidence in the ACCJ as a partner for really being able to describe the honest-to-goodness business environment in Japan, they will see that visitors can benefit from that same perspective.
And as the embassy engages with the Japanese government and the Diet on how to improve the business relationship, they’ll not only be able to draw on the policies and experiences that we present, but they can also help open doors, encouraging politicians and lawmakers to meet with the ACCJ. That can be a force multiplier for how we engage with the Japanese government.
What does America’s 250th birthday mean for the ACCJ?
I know that the ambassador will be driving a lot of 250th anniversary celebration events throughout Japan all year. We want to partner, to the degree possible, with the embassy as they do that.
Likewise, I think that we could advantage ourselves with Japanese counterparts if we look at hosting speaking events with them or with US visitors to help celebrate the 250th and where we are in the business relationship.
So, you take this great embassy, combine it with the momentum we have on the bilateral relationship, and place all of that on a solid foundation of the ACCJ’s strategy and advocacy, and you have something that all of us as members should be excited about.
How can the chamber nurture and benefit from young talent?
When I look back at my twenties and thirties, as I was engaging—even as a government employee—with chambers, I recall that I was always curious. What are the really hard issues? What are the interesting issues? How do you make money in [South] Korea or Japan or Thailand?
I think if you’re a young professional, in addition to just your particular field—whether it’s IT or banking or you’re a startup—you also want to know how others are doing things. What are other companies here doing in a general sense? What are the really tough issues they face and what is the chamber doing to help them?
The chamber can provide value on policy, on education, on learning about Japan. As a young professional, if you’re asked “What do you do in the chamber? What does the chamber do?” you want to be able to talk about policy around a few of the big issues. I’m not trying to turn everybody into an ACCJ missionary, but I think if you’re part of an organization, generally you want to have pride of ownership and to be able to encourage somebody to think about joining, or to invite them as your guest to an event you think they’ll enjoy.
There are young professionals, but there’s also someone like me. In terms of being in Japan, I’m a baby professional; I don’t have a lot of time on the ground here. I can learn from the experiences of others who have been doing business here as a startup, the experience of learning Japanese and working at the same time. I think that there’s a really good exchange that we can get out of that.
A big challenge is less about the ACCJ and more about how young people network differently today. If you wanted to meet a lot of people in the 1980s or ’90s, you had to go to a place where there were a lot of people. Now you don’t need to go to a place.
Likewise, in the ’80s and ’90s, the place where there were a lot of people was the chamber. I’d say in the 2020s, we’re not that only place. There are a lot of options. So I think we’re hitting up against a different sociodemographic milieu than we faced 30 years ago. We have to adapt to that and meet people differently where they are.
How can the ACCJ best support members in 2026?
One challenge we all face is finding employees. We haven’t run out of people, but they’re in short supply, and talent is very precious in Japan. Whether you’re a major company, a startup, a senior professional, or a young professional, we all have to find talent and new colleagues all the time. We’re always refreshing, we’re dynamic, and that’s an area where we’re all going to have to work together.
A way in which we’re a little different from Japanese companies is that we offer a different value proposition. A lot of us at ACCJ companies, we’re not seen as places where you come, you work for 35 years, and you retire automatically. But we do offer a multicultural experience, a different office environment, different working hours. How we can promulgate and exploit that advantage we have as US and multinational employers in the Japanese marketplace is where the ACCJ and Japanese companies can work together really well, because we’re different pieces in the same puzzle.
One other item is generating buzz. I was always excited at other chambers’ events when a major figure, such as a cabinet member, would come and speak. It’s something that we should strive for. It’s one way to get people—and maybe even young professionals—excited, because if we are only a policy and advocacy organization, it gets a little boring. We’re not just a think tank, so to generate some buzz around the ACCJ is an important goal and where we want to go this year.
What else would you like to say to members?
Everybody should be very excited about 2026. We could not be more fortunate to have the embassy that we have here. I was in the State Department for 32 years. The US embassy in Japan always attracted the top level of talent. Granted, I was never in that embassy, but they always had the best people, and the current team is no different. The talent level and the dedication level are super high, and it’s led by somebody who’s an experienced ambassador, in his second ambassadorship, with access to the administration that most other US embassies only dream of.
So, you take this great embassy, combine it with the momentum we have on the bilateral relationship, and place all of that on a solid foundation of the ACCJ’s strategy and advocacy, and you have something that all of us as members should be excited about.
Sharpening the Story
The ACCJ Healthcare x Digital (HxD) initiative reached a new milestone on December 2 with its first-ever exclusive mentorship event for healthcare startups at Nakanoshima Qross in Osaka.
HxD Mentor Day helps healthcare startups perfect their pitch for 2026.
The ACCJ Healthcare x Digital (HxD) initiative reached a new milestone on December 2 with its first-ever exclusive mentorship event for healthcare startups at Nakanoshima Qross in Osaka. Instead of pitching onstage, founders spent the afternoon strengthening their narratives—then pressure-testing them in small-group mentoring sessions with industry experts.
The program opened with a workshop led by Christian Boettcher, managing partner at Takaraya Capital and formerly a senior partner and APAC sector leader consulting partner for healthcare and life sciences at EY Strategy & Consulting. He was joined remotely by Kristin Chen, a Silicon Valley product leader, fractional chief executive (CxO), and adviser with more than 15 years’ experience at LinkedIn, Twitch, Pinterest, and multiple startups.
Their joint message? A compelling pitch starts with clarity, discipline, and a strong grasp of what investors listen for in the first minute.
Expanding the Model
HxD is an initiative team within the ACCJ–Kansai chapter’s Healthcare Committee. It connects academia, startups, corporates, and government around three themes:
- The hospital of the future
- Patient data empowerment
- Urban–rural healthcare equity
Since 2020, HxD has hosted pitch competitions and ideathons; the December Mentor Day introduced a more intimate format designed to help founders refine their thinking ahead of the 2026 HxD Pitch Competition.
After the workshop, founders rotated through two rounds of 30-minute sessions with mentors from organizations including Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, EY, IQVIA, K&L Gates, Innovation Dojo, and Zimmer Biomet. The conversations were candid and practical, focusing on communicating value, understanding customers, and positioning within the healthcare ecosystem.
Christian’s Essentials: Focus Your Story
Boettcher began with simple, universal guidelines:
- One message per slide
- Readable font sizes
- Minimal, intentional use of color
From there, he walked through several elements investors expect to see. The first is the founding team—why they are qualified to address the problem and what insight or experience led them to the idea.
Next comes the problem definition. Founders often jump into technology, he noted, without clearly explaining the pain point or who experiences it. “What is the problem itself? And why does it matter?”
Only after establishing the problem should founders propose their solution and what differentiates it. He urged startups to evaluate the “graveyards” where companies that attempted similar ideas and stalled—and understand what went wrong.
Boettcher also highlighted the importance of financial clarity. Even non-financial founders must be able to explain revenue streams, cost structures, runway, and the logic behind market estimates. Overstated markets or vague assumptions erode credibility quickly.
Finally, he emphasized context awareness. With artificial intelligence (AI) accelerating innovation and policy changes influencing healthcare, strong founders show they understand how broader shifts affect their strategy.
Kristin’s First 60 Seconds: What Investors Listen For
Chen offered an investor’s perspective, noting that expectations have risen. “Venture capitalists now want retention, growth, and monetization signals early,” she said.
Sharing a four-pillar framework for evaluating a pitch, Chen stressed that she listens for all four within the first 60 seconds:
- A real, enduring problem
- A meaningful or growing market
- A scalable, tech-driven advantage
- A credible path to revenue
“If these elements aren’t clear within a minute, it’s hard for an investor to stay engaged,” she said.
To make the problem tangible, Chen urged founders to reference user research and analytics: interviews, surveys, user-generated content, and existing studies. Specific data points or quotes help quantify severity and show that founders understand the people they aim to serve.
She also recommended preparing two deck versions: a concise one for live delivery and a self-contained one for investors reviewing the pitch independently.
Pain, Markets, and Communication
During the Q&A session, a mentor asked how to quantify customer pain and how narrowly to define the target market. Chen suggested starting with an ideal customer profile and using qualitative and quantitative research to validate who feels the pain most. Boettcher offered a healthcare example: Japan’s diabetes-related hospitalizations can be quantified not only in medical costs but also lost productivity.
A biotech founder asked how to pitch when pharmaceutical companies are the paying customers, but patients benefit most. Boettcher explained that in areas like AI-driven drug discovery, startups must map a multilayered market—including pharma, biotechs, and government programs. Chen added that founders should be explicit about the sales cycle, decision-makers, and associated risks.
Another question focused on Japan-based founders pitching in English while simultaneously managing verbal, visual, and nonverbal communication. Chen emphasized practice, tailoring the story to each investor, and developing “executive presence.” Early-stage investors, she said, often bet on the founder as much as the idea. “If you don’t believe in yourself, how do you expect others to believe in you?”
Boettcher echoed the importance of rapport. Even strong products struggle if founders cannot communicate confidently and connect with the audience.
Platform for 2026 and Beyond
After the workshop, the mentoring sessions brought theory into practice. Founders and mentors sat together to refine slides, discuss specific markets, and explore potential collaboration pathways.
As the first HxD Mentor Day, the gathering added a valuable new dimension to HxD’s ongoing efforts to support digital health innovation across Japan. With the next major pitch opportunity coming in February, participating founders left with clearer stories, stronger decks, and a better understanding of what resonates with investors, especially in that critical first minute.
In a healthcare environment where technology and expectations are evolving quickly, these communication skills are becoming as essential as the innovations themselves.
Gateway to Japan
As arrivals boom, can the country’s hospitality industry keep pace through a new era of omotenashi? That was the question at the center of an ACCJ event hosted on October 8, featuring Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.
As arrivals boom, can the country’s hospitality industry keep pace through a new era of omotenashi?
Photos Miki Kawaguchi/LIFE.14
From left: Stephen Zurcher, Christopher Clark, Yoshiya Amanai, and Tadayuki Hara
Bullet trains slicing past a snow-covered Mount Fuji. Real-life anime beneath the neon lights of Akihabara. A fleeting glimpse of geisha in Kyoto’s lantern-lit alleys. For millions of tourists around the world, it’s scenes like these that put Japan at the top of their travel list.
Demand for such experiences has surged since the country reopened its borders in October 2022, after nearly two and a half years of pandemic-imposed isolation. This year alone, more than 35.5 million inbound tourists arrived through October, shattering the previous annual record set in 2019 of 31.88 million with two months to go. Japan is well on its way to hitting the government’s target of 60 million by 2030.
With visitors comes money. Inbound tourism is now Japan’s second-largest export industry after autos, and achieving the 2030 goal would see an injection of ¥15 trillion ($100 billion) into the economy—equal to the nation’s annual defense spending at nearly two percent of gross domestic product.
This potential—and how to harness it—was at the center of an event at the new JW Marriott Tokyo on
October 8, hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) Tourism and Hospitality Committee and organized by Vice-chair Mayumi Nakamura Birt, who also served as emcee.
Gateway to Japan
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike delivered the keynote, sharing exciting plans that stretch even farther and promise to elevate all aspects of tourism, going beyond sightseeing to business, education, cultural exchange, events, investment, and innovation.
“We have formulated the Tokyo 2050 Strategy as a compass guiding us to the future,” she explained, speaking in a milestone year when New York City and Tokyo celebrate their 65th anniversary as sister cities. “The driving force harnessing the strength of the city is people. And that is why Tokyo is advancing people-focused initiatives. Notably, in response to globalization, we are bolstering efforts to build an environment enabling younger generations to play an active role in the world. Through our investment in people who underpin socioeconomic activities, we will enhance our hospitality and guide the further growth of Tokyo and the rest of Japan.”
Tokyo ranked third behind New York and London in the 2024 Global Power City Index, compiled by the Mori Memorial Foundation’s Institute for Urban Strategies. First published in 2008, the annual study ranks major cities around the world in terms of magnetism—their power to attract creative individuals and enterprises—according to 70 indicators across six functions:
- Economy
- Research and development
- Cultural interaction
- Livability
- Environment
- Accessibility
Thanks to improvements in research and development, cultural interaction, livability, and accessibility, Tokyo significantly increased its score from the previous year, closing the gap on second-place New York. In the study’s actor evaluation—how a city is perceived by specific groups of people—Tokyo ranked second among tourists.
But there’s still room for improvement. After-dark activities is one area highlighted by Koike.
“We are also focusing on upgrading our nighttime tourism. Projection mapping on the wall of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building holds a Guinness record and has attracted over 900,000 spectators,” said the governor.
The event’s panel of experts, who discussed hospitality in depth following the keynote, also touched on nighttime offerings.
“Compared to other countries, Japan has quite few nighttime activities,” noted Yoshiya Amanai, a manager at East Japan Railway Company (JR East) who oversees the marketing headquarters of the Shinagawa Community Development Division. JR East is the developer of the Takanawa Gateway City complex, of which the JW Marriott is a part.
Amanai said that entertaining guests after 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. is a core part of the Takanawa Gateway concept, and such activities will expand as more buildings open. The complex is scheduled for completion in spring 2026.
“If we can expand the nighttime economy, that’s going to bring a lot of revenue,” he added.
Broader Appeal
Tokyo is at the center of discussion because it truly is the gateway to Japan. Two-thirds of all visitors to the country come through the capital. While 2025 numbers are not yet in, that figure equated to nearly 25 million people in 2024.
But for Japan to truly benefit from its superstar role on the global travel stage, tourist destinations beyond Tokyo and the Golden Route that runs west through Kyoto and Osaka must be developed and marketed.
Stephen Zurcher, chair of the ACCJ Tourism and Hospitality Committee and moderator for the discussion, noted that diversification is essential in part because the most popular destinations are seeing strain on their infrastructure as a result of Japan’s remarkable tourism growth.
JR has been doing its part with a special experience that taps into one of tourists’ greatest loves and fascinations about the country: trains.
“In 2017, we started Shiki-shima, a luxurious train with service spanning three to five days in the eastern side of Japan,” Amanai shared.
Shiki-shima takes travelers to lesser-known corners of Honshu, tracing routes from Tokyo’s Ueno Station north to Tohoku and Hokkaido—the opposite direction from the Golden Route. Its journeys tear up the typical guidebook itinerary to reveal delights such as the cedar forests of Nikko, the sake breweries and crafts of Fukushima and Miyagi, the inns and hot springs of the Iwate highlands, and the samurai history of Akita.
“It’s expensive, but every time we sell tickets they all sell out,” Amanai added. All courses through summer are fully booked, and JR is currently accepting applications for tours between July and September.
JW Marriott Tokyo General Manager Christopher Clark shared Marriott International’s embrace of diversified tourism. “We operate 116 hotels in Japan, and the goal is to continue growing in all prefectures. We see that inbound tourists are increasingly interested in traveling beyond the Golden Route. We want to be there, whenever our customers want to go.” Also an ACCJ governor, Clark was previously general manager and oversaw the opening of JW Marriott Nara before moving to Tokyo to lead the new property in Takanawa Gateway City.
People Matter
The theme of investment in people, which Governor Koike emphasized as central to Tokyo’s future, resonated in the panel discussion.
One thing the panelists agreed on is that more qualified talent is needed to meet the growing needs of Japan’s skyrocketing tourism industry. Clark experienced this firsthand while hiring for JW Marriott Tokyo.
“Our biggest challenge opening the hotel was the human resource element,” he revealed. “I think the number of young associates who are willing to enter the hospitality business is becoming less and less in Japan. We need to continue to encourage the younger generation to join our industry. However, we also need support from the international market, in regards to visas and programs, to allow these employees to come and be trained on language but also Japanese omotenashi.”
Dr. Tadayuki Hara is very familiar with the industry talent outside Japan. He is an associate professor and senior research fellow at the Dick Pope Sr. Institute for Tourism Studies at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, a tourism mecca.
Hara noted the importance of developing human resources. “Unfortunately, in Japan, many universities are putting emphasis on tourism studies, but it’s a study of tourism. I don’t think it’s really meeting the need of the industry. Whereas in America, 70–75 percent of tourism-related programs are hospitality management. Management is how you allocate the limited internal resources into the highest growing areas.”
He sees three skills as key:
- Hospitality management
- Entertainment management
- Event management
Zurcher, dean of Asian studies at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, has been working to boost Japan’s hospitality talent for years. “Honestly, the reason I started a hospitality program 10 years ago was to help Chris [Clark] and other GMs who were telling me that they couldn’t find enough people to support the growth of their business. And now, of course, that challenge has become more severe.”
The gap—and the challenge of filling it—is certainly not lost on policymakers. Koike used part of her keynote to announce that Tokyo will subsidize overseas study for young people, noting that the weak yen has reduced their ability to gain international experience. “We wish for more of our young people to step out into the world,” she said. “Through our investment in people who underpin socioeconomic activities, we will enhance our hospitality and guide the further growth of Tokyo and the rest of Japan.”
Education, however, is not only about developing talent. It’s also about helping locals understand why tourism matters, Hara said. “What the government needs is more marketing. Not external marketing to bring more people, but internal marketing. Tell taxpayers and residents about the importance of tourism. In America, this is highly emphasized. For a destination marketing organization, a DMO, it’s usually one of the three pillars. Whereas in Japan, many DMOs are not really paying attention to the internal market.”
Japan now faces a simple but powerful challenge: to grow tourism not only by promoting the country abroad, but by building understanding at home. And if it succeeds, 60 million tourists will be more than a visitor metric; it will be a driver of local prosperity.
2025 Person of the Year: Ambassador William E. Grayson
On October 10, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) recognized Ambassador William E. Grayson as the 2025 ACCJ Person of the Year. He was selected for his leadership in advancing the US–Japan partnership as commissioner general of the USA Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai.
The ACCJ honors the USA Pavilion commissioner general for his support of Expo 2025 and bilateral relations.
Interview by Masami Ito • Photos by Yuichi Terada/Cloud9Field
On October 10, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) recognized Ambassador William E. Grayson as the 2025 ACCJ Person of the Year. He was selected for his leadership in advancing the US–Japan partnership as commissioner general of the USA Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai.
ACCJ President Victor Osumi and Executive Director Laura Younger were joined by Vice Presidents Sarah Bader and Jiro Kawakami as well as Governors Julian Bashore, Yumiko Ohta, Frank Packard, Megumi Takayama, and Simone Thomsen plus Treasurer John Kawase to present the award at the USA Pavilion just before the official close of the expo, which ended its six-month run on October 13.
Reaching that finish line, Grayson told The ACCJ Journal, gave him and his team a chance to look back at everything they had accomplished. “I think we’ve all been so deep into it—15 hours, 16 hours every single day—without thinking often about the broader impact.”
That wider influence can certainly be seen in the many interactions between the United States and Japan through the USA Pavilion and the extensive exposure the expo gave US business, innovation, and culture.
Imagine the Infinite
Grayson oversaw the pavilion’s theme—Imagine What We Can Create Together—which focused on innovation, exploration, and the future of human potential. This included:
- Space exploration
- NASA’s Artemis moon program
- US–Japan scientific collaboration
- Next-generation technologies
- Human ingenuity in engineering, medicine, and sustainability
The ACCJ contributed to this with its Osaka to Orbit event, held in the USA Pavilion on August 19. The panel discussion, which highlighted Japan’s contributions to advancing the space industry, featured Osamu Aoki, president and chief executive officer of Aoki Co., Ltd.; Nobu Okada, founder and chief executive officer of Astroscale Holdings; Koichi Yonemoto, cofounder and chief technology officer of Space Walker Inc.; and Dr. Koichi Wakata, chief technology officer at Axiom Space and Japan’s most experienced astronaut.
One item on display at the USA Pavilion was a moon rock brought back to Earth by the astronauts of Apollo 17. Grayson mentioned how former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba remembers seeing another moon rock retrieved by Apollo 12 astronauts at the 1970 Osaka expo, and also that astronauts visiting this year’s exhibition shared that the same experience led to their love of space and desire to take to the stars. “Grandparents bringing their grandkids through to see what they saw back in 1970, it has a very powerful impact, a lasting effect,” the ambassador said.
Shifting Gears
The USA Pavilion welcomed nearly 2 million visitors, and more than 29 million explored the exhibits of 160 nations. The final count made Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai the second-highest-attended world expo in the past 25 years, trailing only Shanghai in 2010.
But such a resounding success was far from certain before the gates opened.
“The press was terrible,” recalls Grayson of the situation he found when he arrived. “The expo was going to fail, they said. These buildings were going to sink into Yumeshima Island. Nobody was going to show up. The thought among the government and even the expo leaders was that this thing is going to fail.”
Public excitement was also low. A nationwide survey conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun just six weeks before the grand opening found that two-thirds of respondents had no plans to attend the expo.
Grayson, appointed commissioner general in April, was determined to change the narrative. Bringing his strong background in business, finance, law, and public policy to the task of serving as the senior US government representative to the Government of Japan for the expo, he played an important role in guiding the USA Pavilion to success as one of the expo’s most popular destinations, delivering fascinating exhibits that piqued interest among those unsure about visiting.
Strengthening Relations
Beyond that, noted Osumi at the award presentation, he and his team strengthened the long-standing legacy of collaboration and deepened ties between the United States and Japan.
His role as commissioner general included hosting a presidential delegation from Washington on July 19 that included Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Ambassador to Japan George Glass. Three days later, it was announced that the United States and Japan had reached a new bilateral trade agreement. Seeing the expansive opportunities and warm relations during this visit, Grayson suggested, may have helped push things over the finish line.
If the visit did play a role, it’s the sort of impact Grayson sees as a strength of the world expo concept. “A lot of it is just convening great people who come together at every possible level,” he explained. “We really provide the genesis and the spark of opportunity for people to make things happen. Culturally, business-wise, diplomatically, on every level. And there’s no place in the world where you can bring 160 nations together this closely, with this much interaction, and not have great things come from it.”
Grayson thanks his whole team, including Tom Hwei, the deputy commissioner general who arrived in Osaka before him, for their hard work month after month and without breaks. “We’ve been through something together that is so significant, so important, showcasing the United States of America in the best possible light on the grandest diplomatic stage in the world.”
An Honor to Serve
Accepting the ACCJ Person of the Year award as the expo ended, Grayson was to return to San Francisco and his wealth management planning practice. But he looked back fondly on the previous 184 days that had flown by at warp speed, saying he expected to spend a lot more time in Japan in the future.
“It’s bittersweet because all of us have loved it, and it’s sad because it’s coming to an end,” he said. “I think [the expo has] done a remarkable job of further strengthening relations. We saw a very strong bond between Japan and the United States, but I think it’s exceeded all expectations in terms of how good it would be. We’ve had so many representatives from the US government, Congress, various departments and agencies, and businesses come here from the US to help support it, because they were excited to see it. So I think it’s been, as I like to say, an Ohtani grand slam for both countries.”
Talent Exchange
Faced with a dwindling workforce, companies in Japan are locked in fierce competition to find young talent who can carry the organization forward and inject it with fresh ideas and vitality. Many overlook an option that offers tremendous advantages for employers and students alike: internships.
The ACCJ Internship Portal gives businesses and students a leg up on the competition.
Faced with a dwindling workforce, companies in Japan are locked in fierce competition to find young talent who can carry the organization forward and inject it with fresh ideas and vitality. Many overlook an option that offers tremendous advantages for employers and students alike: internships.
A survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers—a 60-year-old professional association that connects more than 17,000 college career services professionals, early talent recruiters, and business solution providers—found that 84 percent of graduating seniors in 2025 participated in an internship, co-op, or other experiential learning program.
Students in Japan also take part in off-campus learning at a high rate—more than 85 percent according to a 2025 Mynavi survey—but the experiences tend to be shorter and less hands-on compared with those in the United States.
To help connect students with internship opportunities offered by American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) member companies, the chamber launched the ACCJ Internship Portal in 2017 and has continued to grow the platform.
The mission is to offer an opportunity to attract, engage, and cultivate the next generation of leaders, while promoting professional development of students.
ACCJ member companies are invited to share internship opportunities through the ACCJ website, allowing students to easily explore options.
APCO, Big Picture International, Boeing, Cezars, EY, Fidel Technologies, Hays, the InterContinental Osaka, Kenja, and Morgan Stanley are among the many organizations that have shared openings through the ACCJ Internship Portal.
The ACCJ Education Committee started revamping the Internship Portal last January by expanding participants to students studying in Japan, maintaining the portal year-round, improving its look and accessibility, and increasing the number of sponsors. The changes have attracted more than 5,000 visitors to the site.
Company Benefits
Alan Brender, co-chair of the Education Committee, sees some companies hesitating to embrace interns. “Often they don’t understand what an internship entails, and they might think it will be too time-consuming, difficult, or expensive to offer a program.”
But there are many benefits that companies can reap from welcoming those preparing to enter the workforce into their office. These include:
- Recruiting advantage
- Enhanced employee performance
- Fresh ideas from young talent
- Cost-effective project assistance
- Improved brand recognition
Small companies can also reap these benefits, but often dismiss the idea because they believe they do not have the resources to provide interns with support. To overlook internships, however, would be to miss a great opportunity. All that is needed is to have a manager take one or two interns under their wing and get them involved in the operations of the company. Soon, even the smallest organizations can benefit from the energy and insights of dedicated interns.
Business Boost
Without a doubt, the opportunities being offered through the ACCJ Internship Portal are getting results.
“Students who take internships have real-life experience they cannot get from a part-time job,” said Nanami Takeuchi, an international business student at Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ) who has been interning with Japan Travel since May 2025.
“It’s different working in an office than at a part-time job. There are more chances to interact with a variety of people, and the internship helps prepare you for a future career. I can see that value. Interns also benefit from working with people of different ages, backgrounds, cultures, and skills.”
The value goes both ways.
“There are so many benefits,” explained Erica Adams, director of the Career Development Office at TUJ. Adams has assisted TUJ students since 2009 as a career adviser. “It can be a great way, of course, to scout talent, and if it’s a company that hires new grads, it can be a pipeline into the organization. I think there is a really low chance of a mismatch if they hire somebody who has been successfully interning with them for a few months. The intern understands what they’re getting into, and the company understands the person they’re hiring, so it can be a really fail-safe way of onboarding new staff without spending a lot of resources on recruiting.”
Adams added that having junior staff manage an intern can be a great way to develop the leadership skills and groom them for management positions.
Hands-on Learning
The experience of Bobur Gulnetov echoes Adams’s advice about the recruitment benefits for companies. While a student at Lakeland University Japan, he did a three-month internship at the Peninsula Hotel.
“It was a great opportunity for me to develop a strong foundation in hospitality,” he said. “I learned teamwork and to pay attention to small details, which is really important in a corporation and also in personal life. Even though small mistakes might happen, because we are all human, the Peninsula taught me that paying attention to small details will help us with hands-on experience in guest relations and problem-solving. We can learn the expectations of guests, who expect the best. The internship helped build new skills. And at the end of the internship, I was employed full time at the hotel.”
Soren Dickson, who interned at the ACCJ in 2024, said that internships expose you to professionalism. “As a student, you hear about it, but you don’t really experience it. Interning is role-playing as an adult, learning how to be part of a team and what you are good at.”
The TUJ student built on that experience by joining the office of Diet representative Taro Kono for a three-month internship during which he researched the Japanese defense budget and defense industry and prepared briefings.
Get Started
Finding talent through the ACCJ is easy. Member companies can submit details of open positions through the chamber website. A list of guidelines and best practices is also available for those looking for ways to build the best two-way experience and mentor the next generation of talent while at the same time elevating their own success.
Visit the Internship Portal on the ACCJ website to get started.
Incredible Opportunity
Isabella Boulware shares her experiences interning at the ACCJ and how the Bishop Family Memorial Scholarship continues to open doors for young talent.
The Bishop Family Memorial Scholarship continues to open doors for young talent.
Photo Miki Kawaguchi/LIFE.14
From left: Isabella Boulware and ACCJ Executive Director Laura Younger
When Isabella Boulware logged on for a virtual meeting with the U.S.-Japan Bridging Foundation, she thought it was just a second-round interview for an internship. So when she was told she had been selected as the next American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) Bishop Memorial Scholar—a fellowship that honors late ACCJ leader Bill Bishop and his family—she was a bit surprised.
“I was thrilled,” said the Austin native. “I hadn’t planned on working during my time in Japan, but when I received an email about the opportunity, I knew I had to go for it.”
An international business management student at the University of Arkansas, Boulware, whose minors include Japanese, has been on a yearlong exchange at Toyo University in Tokyo since September. She spoke to The ACCJ Journal about her experiences at the chamber so far.
What was your first impression of the ACCJ?
Very positive. I researched the chamber when I first learned about the internship. As someone from the United States with an interest in working in Japan, the ACCJ’s mission immediately stood out to me. The team I’ve worked with, the professionals I’ve connected with, the events I’ve helped put together, and the projects I’ve contributed to have all made the experience incredibly impactful.
In which areas have you been most involved?
I’ve had the chance to take on a wide range of projects, which has been one of my favorite parts of working with the chamber. I’m still exploring where I want to focus in business, and the ACCJ has given me the opportunity to explore different aspects of the field. That’s helped me get a clearer sense of what I’m aiming for.
What has been your favorite event?
My first event was both my favorite and the one that left the biggest impression. It was on my first official day and was my introduction to the ACCJ. It was Building the Future of The Estée Lauder Companies in Japan, delivered by President and General Manager James Aquilina. I was impressed by the quality of the presentation and his effectiveness as a speaker. That event gave me a clear picture of the kind of professional I hope to be in the future.
How will you maintain your relationships?
I believe the relationships I’ve built at the ACCJ will continue to be an important part of my professional life. I plan to stay in touch with the people I’ve met, both personally and professionally. My coworkers, in particular, have become some of my good friends. Professionally, I will maintain connections through LinkedIn, email, and ongoing collaboration, ensuring that the relationships I’ve formed continue to grow.
What would you tell future Bishop Scholars?
This internship is an incredible opportunity. Make the most of each and every part of it. The ACCJ gives you a chance to work on a variety of projects and to meet people from across many industries. Build relationships during your time with the chamber; these are people who may be able to support you as you pursue your future.
Meaningful Mentors
Heather Kodhelaj and Leo Abufadil share how being chosen as Bishop Scholars has opened doors to their future careers.
Heather Kodhelaj and Leo Abufadil share how being chosen as Bishop Scholars has opened doors to their future careers.
From left: Leo Abufadil, ACCJ Executive Director Laura Younger, and Heather Kodhelaj at the 2025 ACCJ Shinnenkai
In her final year of high school, Heather Kodhelaj’s philosophy teacher suggested that she go into the foreign service. “I didn’t see a clear path, but my mom encouraged me to start traveling.”
Though Kodhelaj was born and raised in the United States, her parents are Albanian and immigrated in 1998. On her mother’s advice, Kodhelaj went to Europe. When she returned to Philadelphia, she caught herself falling into a rut and headed to South Korea for more international experience.
“When I came back from Korea, I was changed as a person and had fallen in love with Asia,” she explained. “My mom and I bonded over her love of a Korean drama called Crash Landing on You. It’s about a North Korean and a South Korean who fall in love despite their different cultures. Having been raised under Communism, she really identifies with the story.”
Seeing how time abroad was shaping Kodhelaj, her mother encouraged her to keep going. “When I heard about the Bishop Scholarship, she said, ‘Take a chance, the worst they can say is no.’”
Kodhelaj arrived at the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) on August 22, 2024, for a five-month internship provided by the scholarship established after ACCJ leader Bill Bishop, his wife, and daughter were killed on Christmas morning in 2022. The award, established by the ACCJ and the US-Japan Bridging Foundation, brings students from the United States to study at Temple University, Japan Campus, where Bishop was a lecturer and board member.
The experience, Kodhelaj said, opened her eyes and changed the impression she had of Japanese business culture. Working on the ACCJ–Kansai D&I Summit was especially meaningful.
“The collage of 10 years of their events, seeing how everyone was so happy, talking, interacting, not a phone in sight—it was just genuine human connection. That they had done this for a decade, even through Covid … the perseverance of people was really inspiring,” she said.
Kodhelaj was also inspired by the her interactions with the Women in Business Forum, which she credits with teaching her to be more confident.
“I struggle with impostor syndrome. At the first event I helped with, I asked the executive who was speaking how to get over that feeling that you don’t belong in a room, that you’re not supposed to be there,” she recalls.
“I learned that, at the ACCJ, it’s not about your title or how much money you make, it’s what knowledge you bring to the table. And you don’t always have to have something valuable to say; listening to others is valuable as well. Now I understand that everyone belongs in the room, you always belong.”
Kodhelaj said she is grateful for the experience, the chamber, and Bishop. “I wish I could have met him. I learned that his daughter had also been an intern. That was very emotional for me. I could feel how important my role was, what it means to be an intern at the ACCJ.”
Following her internship, Kodhelaj has returned to Temple University in Philadelphia for her final semester studying global relations.
Leo Tanaka Abufadil already had ties to Japan before arriving on January 14 as a Bishop Scholar. His mother is Japanese and he attended elementary school in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, during summers despite growing up in Oklahoma.
Now a political science and international studies major at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, the Tulsa native said he is “fixated on the bilateral relationship between Japan and the United States.”
To pursue that interest, he applied for the US-Japan Bridging Foundation Scholarship, which he received, and the foundation then said they had another opportunity they felt he would be right for. “I was honestly very moved by the memory of Bill Bishop,” Abufadil said.
“As a Japanese American, the Bishop family’s passion for cultivating the bilateral relationship resonated with me. My goal as an intern was to propel that relationship while honoring the Bishop family’s legacy.”
Coming in, Abufadil explained, he had an idea of what the ACCJ might be like. He expected to work with economics and trade relations while improving his formal Japanese, known as keigo.
“But it’s been so much more than that,” he said. “Not only have I been able to sharpen my keigo, I gained a new perspective on how businesses operate in Japan. Something that was really illuminating and captivating is how intertwined business and government are. Being able to sit in on a lot of external affairs meetings, I could see the direct impact US and Japanese domestic and international policies each have on the other country. I find that quite fascinating.”
Abufadil said he especially loved that his time at the ACCJ wasn’t limited to one department or one activity. “There were a myriad opportunities. It was wonderful.”
The project he said he’s most proud of is the Student Internship Portal. “To see how the other interns and I, as well as our supervisors, worked so hard on this project, and to watch it take off, feels so rewarding. I love that I was able to make a tangible impact.”
He also recalls an unexpected moment with a member of a Japanese ministry.
“He was willing to talk to me and break down financial technology—something I had never engaged with in my life. People’s willingness to explain things and put them into perspective has been amazing. It’s something I’ll take with me for the rest of my life.”
Unified and Secure
As artificial intelligence sweeps the world, there is growing concern. Cisco is ensuring that it is powerful, efficient, and safe.
How Cisco is ensuring that artificial intelligence is powerful, efficient, and safe.
As artificial intelligence (AI) sweeps the world and finds its way into nearly everything we touch, there is growing concern about its safety. The breakneck pace at which companies are deploying this emerging technology—whose behavior is not fully understood—has some people delighted and others sounding alarms.
American Chamber of Commerce in Japan President’s Circle member Cisco is committed to securing AI technologies by integrating advanced measures and encouraging a culture of innovation and responsibility. By doing so, the company is ensuring that AI solutions are not only powerful and efficient but also safe and reliable for users in Japan and around the globe.
On March 26, Cisco hosted the AI Infrastructure and Security Summit at the ANA InterContinental in Tokyo for customers, partners, analysts, and the press. During the event, the tech innovator presented its latest solutions to promote further safe and secure utilization of generative AI by Japanese companies and local governments.
“To address the increasing challenges of managing AI security risks, Cisco’s latest innovations harness agentic AI to empower IT professionals with advanced tools for efficiently managing threats and streamlining security operations,” Cisco Japan President Yoshiyuki Hamada told The ACCJ Journal. “These innovations simplify the complexities of navigating the AI era, enabling security teams to stay ahead in today’s dynamic landscape,” he explained.
Thinking Machines
Agentic AI is a form of artificial intelligence that acts with agency to achieve specific goals—essentially a machine that can take on tasks and make decisions on its own. Jason Clinton, chief information security officer of Anthropic, developer of the Claude large language model, told Axios in April that he expects to see fully AI employees become part of companies in 2026.
“Agentic AI systems can make rapid decisions, manage complex tasks, and adapt to changing conditions,” Denise Shiffman, senior vice president of networking strategy and marketing explains on Cisco’s official blog. “They have agency to reach beyond the data their large language model was trained on and interact with external environments, such as IoT sensors, cloud platforms, [and] analytics software. The possibilities are endless for what an agentic AI system can achieve in improving customer experiences, increasing productivity, and creating new innovation.”
Such independent technology might give many IT departments pause. Clinton noted when speaking to Axios: “In that world, there are so many problems that we haven’t solved yet from a security perspective that we need to solve.”
This and other AI-related challenges are why Cisco has formed a partnership with chipmaker Nvidia to provide enterprises with an AI factory architecture that puts security at its core.
Called Cisco Secure AI Factory with Nvidia, these are data centers purpose-built for AI workloads that dramatically simplify how enterprises deploy, manage, and secure AI infrastructure at any scale.
Safe in the Fast Lane
At the core of these data centers is Cisco Silicon One, a unified network silicon architecture that facilitates fast switching and routing. Launched in 2019, the family of network processors is now in its fourth generation. Whereas a CPU is the brain of a computer or smartphone, Silicon One is the brain of high-performance routers and switches. The top-end G200 model is capable of routing data and switching traffic at 51.2 terabits per second—speeds essential for handling the massive amounts of data flowing among AI clusters.
“We are collaborating to deliver networking technology solutions through a unified architecture, with a focus on simplifying and optimizing customer experiences,” explained Hamada. “By enabling interoperability between Cisco Silicon One and Nvidia Spectrum, as well as their respective networking architectures, the partnership aims to provide full-stack solutions that prioritize customers’ needs.”
This approach, Hamada added, allows customers to maximize AI infrastructure investments while leveraging existing management tools and processes across both front- and back-end networks. “Additionally, the collaboration creates new market opportunities for Cisco by streamlining the management of enterprise and cloud provider networks through a unified architectural model.”
A New Architecture for Security
It seems as if every application you launch in 2025 is brimming with AI. Document readers want to save you time by offering a summary. Mail applications want to pull out key points and reply on your behalf. And large language models are handing smart assistants and search engines their coats and hats as they see them to the door. How we interact with devices and information is changing in the blink of an eye, and the amount of data being passed around is growing exponentially.
Networks and data centers as we’ve known them are often not up to the task of securing the high-performing, scalable infrastructure and AI software required to develop and deliver AI applications. A new architecture is needed—one that embeds security in all layers of the AI stack and automatically expands and adapts as the underlying infrastructure changes.
This is where the strengths of, and synergy between, Cisco and Nvidia technologies come into play.
“Cisco and Nvidia are collaborating to deliver networking technology solutions through a unified architecture, with a focus on simplifying and optimizing customer experiences,” said Hamada.
Cisco Secure AI Factory with Nvidia is expected to build on the companies’ unique abilities to offer flexible AI networking and full-stack technology options that leverage the planned joint architecture. The partnership will bring together technologies from Cisco, Nvidia, and our ecosystem partners into a secure AI factory architecture for enterprise customers.
The State of AI Security
Cisco did extensive research in developing the Cisco Secure AI Factory with Nvidia and its solutions such as Hypershield and AI Defense.
The company recently published the Cisco State of AI Security Report, which analyzes dozens of AI-specific threat vectors and more than 700 pieces of AI-related legislation to highlight key developments in a rapidly evolving AI security landscape.
In its conclusion, the authors note that the report “validates that the AI landscape has and continues to evolve rapidly. As we drive towards future breakthroughs in AI technology and applications, Cisco remains committed to AI security through our contributions to the community and cutting-edge solutions for customers pushing the envelope of AI innovation.”
Expo Connections
From 1970 to 2025, Osaka has played host to chamber member company opportunities and innovations. Aflac and IBM share stories past and present.
From 1970 to 2025, Osaka has played host to chamber member company opportunities and innovations.
Japan has been chosen three times as the site of the world’s fair. The first was in 1940, when Tokyo was to host an event that would have commemorated the 2,600th anniversary of the country’s founding. The onset of World War II put an end to that plan. But two other times—in 1970 and this year—the global celebration has come to Osaka, putting Japan in the spotlight. Both celebrations of global unity and culture presented opportunities for members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ). The ACCJ Journal spoke with two Corporate Sustaining Member companies about those experiences.
Expo ’70: Aflac
Aflac celebrated its 50th anniversary in Japan last year, and is today the country’s leading provider of cancer and medical insurance in terms of policies in force. The company’s entry in the market was inspired by a visit to the very event Osaka is hosting this year: a world’s fair.
John Amos, Aflac’s first chief executive officer and one of three brothers who founded the company, observed Japanese people wearing surgical masks during his trip to Expo ’70. He figured that people who were that keen on preventing the spread of colds and the flu must be health conscious and would understand the need for cancer insurance, Aflac’s core product. He was right.
Principal founder John Amos (center) watches Deputy Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda perform the traditional kagami-biraki sake barrel-breaking at Aflac’s grand opening party in 1974.
For the Columbus, Georgia-based company to bring that protection to the people of Japan took some effort. Cancer insurance was unprecedented at the time and required approval from several government ministries and agencies. There were no nationwide statistics on cancer hospitalizations, so the Aflac team had to gather the data from scratch. It took four years, but in October 1974, Aflac obtained its license, and the next month launched Japan’s first cancer insurance product. Sales took off right away.
Today, Aflac Japan has 4,874 full-time employees, and its products are sold by approximately 6,600 sales agencies and some 114,000 licensed associates employed by those agencies. More than 20,000 Japanese post offices and 360 banks—nearly 90 percent of all banks in Japan—serve as points of sale for Aflac.
“Localization has been an important factor in our success,” notes Andrew J. Conrad, senior vice president, general counsel, and compliance officer for Aflac Life Insurance Japan Ltd. “For example, back when Aflac first started selling cancer insurance in Japan, doctors and families typically hid cancer diagnoses from patients. They believed that knowing the diagnosis would be too stressful and hinder the patient’s recovery. Accordingly, in those early days, Aflac had to devise ways to pay claims without letting the patient know. This included sending documents in plain white envelopes, sending documents to family members at predetermined addresses, and making calls outside the home.”
Another way in which Aflac adapted to the local culture was to give its trademark duck—celebrating its 25th birthday this year—a softer, quieter character. It’s more consensus-minded than its US counterpart. In fact, for a time, there was a Maneki Neko Duck—the Aflac Duck dressed as a traditional beckoning cat good-luck charm.
In addition to insurance, Aflac focuses on two other areas in Japan: childhood cancer and youth scholarships. Three Aflac Parents Houses—two in Tokyo and one in Osaka—serve as comprehensive support centers for children with cancer, or other serious diseases, and their families. They provide accommodations for children undergoing treatment at hospitals away from home. Families can stay for ¥1,000 per night per person, with no charge for the affected children. More than 150,000 people, including those from overseas, have stayed at an Aflac Parents House. And through its scholarship fund, Aflac has helped more than 3,600 high school students who have had childhood cancer or lost a parent to cancer.
Aflac is looking ahead to the next 10 years and beyond with a new long-term management vision called “By Creating ‘Living in Your Own Way, Create New Shared Value,’” explains Conrad, who also serves as senior vice president of Aflac International, Inc. and is an ACCJ governor. “This vision highlights Aflac’s practice of using the company’s unique knowledge and resources to address societal issues in a manner that meets customer needs and creates economic value over the long-term.”
Japanese society has benefited greatly from Aflac’s dedication to helping others, and it all started among the pavilions of the Osaka expo.
Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai: IBM
Another ACCJ Corporate Sustaining Member is making a societal difference at this year’s expo. IBM Japan, Ltd. is giving guests the opportunity to try its AI Suitcase, a luggage-shaped robot that guides people with visual impairments to their destinations.
IBM Japan is working as a member of the Consortium for Advanced Assistive Mobility Platform, commonly known as the AI Suitcase Consortium, which leads the development as well as the demonstration at the expo. AI Suitcases are being used in the Smart Mobility Expo Robot Experience of the Future Society Showcase Project.
Enabled by artificial intelligence (AI), various sensors, and human–machine interfaces, the device autonomously navigates a user from point A to point B based on what the user asks for through voice interaction. The device is equipped with three cameras—positioned on the left, front, and right—which enable it to see the surroundings and describe them through audio, including how many people are nearby and what objects or structures are around.
The device’s capabilities have evolved significantly since its development began in late 2017. Until around 2023, AI Suitcase mainly used deep learning technology for image recognition of surrounding pedestrians. But the consortium began incorporating AI in 2024 as the technology rapidly advanced. AI has enabled new features, such as flexible voice-based interaction and detailed audio descriptions of the surrounding environment.
“The AI Suitcase project is a cornerstone of our work in the accessibility research domain,” explains Hironobu Takagi, senior manager of the accessibility research team at IBM Research in Tokyo. “Chieko Asakawa, IBM fellow and chief executive director of Miraikan, has defined this grand challenge as ‘real-world accessibility,’ which combines AI, software, computer–human interaction, robot operation, and human social behaviors.”
Miraikan is the commonly used name for the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, located in Odaiba. The popular innovation hub has been offering daily demonstrations of AI Suitcase since April 2024.
Takagi, who has been a researcher with IBM since 1999, says that, working with key partners, the company is successfully showcasing “tech for good” not only to Japanese society but the whole world through Expo 2025.
“Our experience at Miraikan has given us great confidence in the practicality of AI Suitcase,” he noted. “The know-how we developed at Miraikan, such as how to safely operate the AI Suitcase on a daily basis and how to explain its use briefly, has proved highly valuable, especially at Expo 2025.”
As of May 1, more than 216 groups had already participated in AI Suitcase since the opening of Expo 2025 on April 13, with 200 more reservations already booked for the first two weeks of May. Participants commented on how surprised they were that the robot had guided them safely, and said they hoped many people would experience this technology, because it is useful for society. One visually impaired person also commented that it was the best highlight of the Expo.
Still, this is one of many test runs for the life-changing technology. “Given that the current version of AI Suitcase is still a research prototype, very expensive to build, and operable only in limited environments, we have many hurdles to overcome—technically, socially, and legally—before it can be deployed in the real world,” admits Takagi. “But to make technologies like AI Suitcase truly practical, it is essential to offer members of the general public hands-on experiences and to broaden society’s understanding. If you have a chance to visit Osaka or Tokyo, we invite you to try AI Suitcase at the expo or Miraikan.”
Being Well in the Land of Wa
Ahead of a special event hosted by the ACCJ at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, four women share how to support mindfulness in the workplace.
Why this year’s Osaka expo is the perfect place to learn mindfulness.
With millions of visitors expected and exhibitors competing to show off exciting new innovations, enticing destinations, and even a rock from the moon, Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai may not seem like the ideal venue to learn about mindfulness and well-being. But improving human lives and society is what all world expositions have been about, and this year’s edition—with the theme Designing Future Society for Our Lives—has been designed as a “living lab” to share solutions for cocreating a better world.
This raises the question: What is a happy way of life?
The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ), under the subtheme Empowering Lives, will attempt to answer this question by hosting a special event at the expo on June 2 in the Women’s Pavilion in Collaboration with Cartier. The focus will be on practical solutions for embedding well-being practices into the workplace.
An Unmet Need
Societies need productive workers, and wellness in the workplace has come into sharper focus. Only a quarter of workers in economies such as those of the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom are happy, according to research by Indeed. Problems include technological change, information overload, the post-Covid surge in remote work, and always-on connectivity.
“This drains employees’ mental, physical, and emotional reserves, taking productivity down with them,” said Olesia Kyrylchuk, senior director and head of people for Asia-Pacific at EPAM Systems, Inc. and co-chair of the ACCJ Women in Business Forum.
One way to fight this burnout is mindfulness. Studies have shown that focusing on one’s body and mind can improve well-being, ease depression and anxiety, and boost motivation to improve other areas of daily life, such as exercise, eating, and sleeping habits.
At the Osaka expo, Kyrylchuk and others will talk about how mindfulness can address these challenges.
The panel discussion will share physical and mental well-being practices for the workplace, and will include a workshop focusing on empowering individuals to build success through holistic, personal, and spiritual development. The mindfulness session is tailored to the Japanese cultural context with content that is immediately applicable to participants’ lives and can be easily integrated into daily practices.
The event, hosted by the ACCJ–Kansai Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the ACCJ Women in Business Forum, will be moderated by Mie Kitano, Japan representative of Synfiny Advisors and co-chair of the Kansai Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
“Workplace well-being is more critical than ever in today’s VUCA world,” said Kitano, referring to an environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. “Global crises, shifting economic conditions, and evolving work structures demand that companies prioritize the well-being of employees to ensure resilience, adaptability, and sustained success. In this fast-changing, uncertain world, we are constantly facing stress and need to find better solutions to cope and overcome the challenges.”
Turning “Weakness” into Strength
Examples on a personal level are compelling. One is that of speaker Sarah Suyom, founder and chief visionary officer of Becoming. Suyom explained that she was a “high-achieving, over-functioning woman who ran on caffeine, adrenaline, and people-pleasing.” But she was restless inside and had endless thoughts racing in her head.
She realized she had adult ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which limits the ability to focus. She developed a heart problem at 21, fainting at the office multiple times and bleeding for a full month. Her first attempts at meditation failed and she couldn’t get through a five-minute practice. Change came when she started working with an emotional healing coach, who guided her back in touch with herself and her feelings.
By the time the pandemic hit, taking an enormous toll on the mental health of her family and friends, Suyom had become an accredited facilitator. She decided to use her skills and knowledge to help others, and so she began an online meditation group, which quickly grew.
Since then, she has spoken to audiences of thousands about her journey as well as topics such as mindfulness, subconscious reprogramming, and energy-healing to create transformative experiences.
“That’s what led me here. It’s personal. And, I suppose, spiritual, too,” said Suyom. “Mindfulness isn’t just meditation on a cushion. It can be a pause before replying to an email, a breath after a difficult client call, or a choice not to schedule back-to-back meetings all day. I’d like to emphasize that it’s not about never getting upset, but more about having the awareness and capacity to respond, not just react. That’s something we can train for, and I’ll share some surprisingly simple tools for it.”
Leading by Example
Panelist Yuri Ichihashi, head of APAC for Amazon Hub pickup and return points, said mindfulness and well-being are especially important for workers in Japan, where hierarchical structures are emphasized and individual needs are subservient to seniority and collective harmony, or wa.
“Therefore, meaningful change in workplace well-being must start with senior leadership,” she explained. “When senior leaders actively practice and prioritize well-being—whether by maintaining reasonable working hours, taking proper breaks, or openly discussing mental health—they create a powerful chain effect. Their example not only benefits their own health but also gives younger employees implicit permission to prioritize their own well-being without fear of career consequences.”
Another important part of being well at work is the ability to share concerns and fears about one’s own performance, something that can often be seen as weakness.
“For those from Japanese backgrounds, there’s often intense pressure to be perfect,” Ichihashi noted. “Sometimes, having the courage to be imperfect and accept support from others can be a powerful demonstration of the very workplace well-being principles we’re discussing.”
Making a Case for Businesses
Mindfulness can have far-reaching benefits beyond feeling good on an individual level, and many major brands have launched comprehensive employee well-being plans. According to The McKinsey Health Institute, the global economy could expand by as much as $11.7 trillion if companies invested in employee well-being. Through her experience developing workplace well-being programs, Kyrylchuk has witnessed the benefits of mindfulness not only for workers but also businesses.
“Well-being is not just an HR program,” she explained. “It is a pillar of lasting productivity. Today’s workforce—especially younger entrants—will not sacrifice their lives for a work-only existence. Businesses that weave well-being into their core strategy gain a clear competitive edge.”
Driven by Innovation
Lilly Japan’s Simone Thomsen reflects on six years of leading with purpose and ACCJ collaboration.
Lilly Japan’s Simone Thomsen reflects on six years of leading with purpose and ACCJ collaboration.
When Simone Thomsen arrived in Kobe in 2019 to guide Eli Lilly Japan K.K. as president, she fulfilled one of her longtime career goals. Over the past six years, she has been a critical player in the mission of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ), serving on the Board of Governors, helping launch the Healthcare x Digital (HxD) initiative, and mentoring young professionals. The ACCJ Journal talked to the 23-year Lilly veteran about her experiences in Japan, the value that ACCJ programs provide, and the mission of the President’s Circle company.
Has leading Lilly Japan been what you expected?
It’s been an amazing journey. The number of medical innovations we have brought to Japanese patients is really impressive. I always knew we had a very strong pipeline, but working with the team here has been impressive for me.
Between 2020 and 2024, we launched 11 new products and received 15 new indications for diabetes, oncology, immunology, Alzheimer's disease, and migraine.
Dealing with three years of Covid-19 was not in my plan, but it was important and interesting.
In January 2023, I became the first female chair of the Japan-Based Executive Committee (JBEC) of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). That was a new experience for me. There’s a lot going on in the healthcare system and policy, which I have worked on with the PhRMA president, JBEC, and other companies.
Did I envision all that in 2019? No. Looking back at that time, I’m proud of what we have done to support Japanese patients, and how we operate at Lilly Japan as a well-developed organization. The company has grown and matured since then. Our colleagues in Japan would say they’re working for a much better organization today compared with six years ago.
How has the pharmaceutical market changed?
In 2019, Japan was the number two pharmaceutical market globally. Now it ranks sixth. One reason for this shift could be the result of the Japanese government policy decisions in recent years. In the past, the pharmaceutical industry in Japan was viewed as a key growth sector. We are ready to partner with policymakers to try to revitalize the industry while also addressing the challenges brought by a super-aging population.
In the decade since 2016, I have seen many negative ad hoc pricing reforms. I believe there have been
approximately 60 such changes.
We’ve also seen the move from biennial to annual price revisions. What that has done to the industry basically is to accelerate the decline of biopharmaceutical innovation in Japan. Globally, our industry has never been more productive. Every year, we’re investing ¥37 trillion just in R&D. Growth over the past couple of years has been around 99 percent. But in Japan, it has remained relatively stable, having grown only six percent. So, in the area of R&D investment, the gap between what is happening globally and in Japan is pretty striking. And it continues to grow.
Currently, 70 percent of global phase-three trials for any type of medicine are not conducted in Japan. That’s an issue for Japanese patients, because innovative medicines are coming to Japan much later. At a time when you have a super-aging population, you really want to have innovation coming to help you deal with the challenges.
As pharma and as Lilly, of course, we are heavily invested; we want to bring back investment. That’s why, as Lilly Japan and as the JBEC chair, we are in conversation to help the government understand that they need to make positive, bolder reforms.
How has the HxD initiative tied into your goals?
At Lilly, we believe that we can find synergy among medicine, science, and technology. It helps us to serve patients better, to create more engagement and better outcomes. So, we have always been looking at new technology and how it can help us. That’s why HxD was perfect for us and we became one of the founding companies in 2020, along with AstraZeneca and Bayer.
For example, we are focusing on how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning can be used to quickly screen millions of molecule options to select the best candidates, allowing us then to accelerate clinical development.
During the pandemic, using these digital technologies allowed us basically to keep all of our clinical development programs going, despite the restrictions. I think that showed us what it could look like and what we actually can accomplish with these tools. It also helped us increase accessibility for patients to enroll in clinical trials. That allowed us to drive diversity—you always want to have a diverse population for the clinical trial design.
We are also utilizing automation for quality control. Specifically, we have automated the visual inspection of our incretin pens, which are used to deliver medications. This technology allows us to increase production with enhanced accuracy and efficiency, thereby meeting the growing demand more effectively.
Tying this back to HxD, when the opportunity arose to collaborate with a few other Kansai-based multinationals with similar interests, we said, why not work with the ACCJ on healthcare digitalization. It’s such a big, important focus area.
How vital is inclusion to Lilly?
We advocate for inclusion because it drives innovation. An inclusive culture empowers employees to bring their unique perspectives and capabilities to work, fostering out-of-the-box thinking. As we are an innovation-based company, this approach remains unchanged.
We started focusing on women’s empowerment 16 or 17 years ago. At the moment, about 30 percent of our leadership roles are held by women, and more than 46 percent of executives are female—the highest number in the industry. Today we also have a strong LGBTQ+ ally network at Lilly Japan. We continue to be recognized as a gold PRIDE company, have participated in the Tokyo Rainbow Pride, and this year we took part in the Osaka and Kobe Rainbow Festas.
We have also been accelerating our accessibility strategy to ensure everyone working at Lilly, regardless of whether they have disabilities, has a seamless experience.
Terminology may shift over time, but our commitment to people will not change. It has been part of our recipe for success. If you work in an inclusive culture and feel welcome, heard, respected, and valued, then you feel a sense of belonging at that company. We’re here to remove barriers, and we will continue to do this for employees as well as the people and communities we serve.
How does the ACCJ factor into your work?
The chamber has facilitated the growth of Lilly Japan. As a President’s Circle member, we participate in the networking and learning opportunities provided by the ACCJ, and our brand visibility has increased.
Personally, I have been proud to serve as an ACCJ–Kansai governor on the Board of Governors. I feel it’s a win-win-win for Lilly Japan, me as a leader, and the ACCJ. By participating, you will have the opportunity to collaborate extensively, provide valuable insights, and influence various areas, particularly in advocacy. For our employees, this serves as an excellent occasion for learning and networking.
I mentioned HxD. ACCJ companies emphasized the importance of healthcare digitalization and proposed collaboration on its design. This initiative would not have been undertaken by Lilly without the involvement of the ACCJ and the opportunity to work with other entities.
We believe that company growth comes from continuous individual development. Networking, discussions, events, and learning offer new ideas that can create business opportunities when brought back to the company.
What advice do you have for women in business?
It starts with identifying your goal and being confident. You need to be passionate about that goal, love what you’re doing, and be good at what you’re doing. But you don’t need to be perfect. That’s a trap women sometimes fall into. Build out a network and use it. You will never succeed if you feel you just need to be excellent to move ahead, because you will hit a certain ceiling. Now, 30-plus years into my career, that’s the recipe I feel has worked for me.
When I started my journey in pharmaceuticals, I wanted to become the first female leader of a purpose-driven multinational company in Japan. Funnily enough, that was my objective. In 2019, I came here and that aspiration came true. So, I hope I’m proof that what I’m saying can work.
If You Build It, They Will Come
MGM’s Osaka integrated resort project, to be built adjacent to the Expo 2025 site, will be a catalyst for international hires and could spur change in immigration policy.
MGM’s Osaka integrated resort project will be a catalyst for international hires and could spur change in immigration policy.
In April 2025, two big things happened on a small island in Osaka Bay. One was the opening of Expo 2025, Osaka, Kansai, an international exhibition expected to draw 28 million people over six months. The other was a groundbreaking ceremony for a $10 billion integrated resort (IR) that will host Japan’s first official casino and employ thousands. It was an unlikely new chapter for Yumeshima, a man-made island fashioned from waste, but it represents Japan’s confidence that it can overcome its demographic crisis and diversify its workforce to take on large projects.
Dreaming Big in a Shrinking Country
Births in Japan continue to set record lows, stoking fears of social collapse. Based on the aging population and record-low fertility rate, one demographer has even predicted that in about 700 years, Japan will have only one child left. Yet in 2024, the workforce reached 67.8 million—the highest level since 1953—bolstered by increased employment of women and elderly people. However, many of these are part-time roles, so total hours worked have not significantly grown. The national unemployment rate is only 2.5 percent, reflecting worker shortages.
This poses a challenge for MGM Osaka, an IR project that has been 15 years in the making since the idea for such resorts in Japan was officially floated more than 25 years ago. Politics dragged out the decision-making process, and the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the application process for hopeful municipalities. The Japanese government finally approved Osaka as the first IR host city in 2023, nine years after Yumeshima, or “Dream Island,” was proposed as the site.
When completed in 2030, MGM Osaka will have two hotels, some 2,500 rooms, a 3,500-seat theater, a convention center spread across 730,000 square feet, as well as shops and restaurants. The casino alone will house some 470 tables for poker and baccarat, in addition to 6,400 electronic tables for slots and other games.
To serve the nearly 20 million visitors expected to visit the resort each year, MGM Osaka will require an army of more than 15,000 workers, including dealers, pit bosses, and casino managers—jobs that don’t officially exist in Japan.
Navigating Japan’s Tightening Labor Market
“While our first priority is to hire locally and develop talent in the Kansai region, there are some highly specialized roles, such as experienced casino dealers, that may require us to look internationally,” said Jiro Kawakami, vice president and chief of staff at MGM Resorts Japan, one of the major shareholders of MGM Osaka. “In those cases, we bring in individuals who can share knowledge and help train and mentor others, with the long-term goal of building sustainable local capabilities.”
Navigating Japan’s regulatory framework for foreign labor, including visa regulations, can be complex—particularly for service-sector roles, explained Kawakami, who also serves as ACCJ vice president for Kansai. He adds that integration programs will be important to help international hires succeed in Japan’s unique business and social environment. On the domestic front, MGM will collaborate with local partners to train and upskill talent as they become familiar with large-scale integrated resort operations.
The hospitality and tourism industries in Japan often use on-the-job training programs to develop employees, but there is a growing move to create and implement tourism-focused degree programs at accredited universities in Japan, Kawakami added.
“Over the years, the Government of Japan has done a tremendous job of promoting tourism as a key industry,” he noted. “Going forward, the government, together with the private sector, should focus on making the hospitality and tourism industries more attractive to workers. Post-Covid, the focus has been on long hours and low wages. However, the industry is strong at promoting merit-based development opportunities vs. other industries, as well as diversity and inclusion initiatives.”
The casino project is large enough to serve as a catalyst for change in Japan’s overall employment practices. MGM Resorts Japan and Orix Corporation each hold a 40 percent stake in Osaka IR, with the remainder owned by local investors, including prominent brands such as Panasonic, Kansai Electric, and JR West. There are proposals to further develop the area with additional attractions, such as a water and amusement park, shopping centers, and possibly a Formula 1 racing circuit. These plans aim to leverage the infrastructure and global attention garnered by Expo 2025 to establish Yumeshima as a premier destination for both domestic and international visitors.
A Must: Overseas Workers
Some travelers to Japan decide to work here. In October 2024, the country had a record-high 2.3 million foreign workers, up 12.4 percent from a year earlier. According to a projection by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the country will need at least 6.88 million foreign workers by 2040 to meet its growth targets.
Currently, industries seeing strong demand for international hires include IT, fintech, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and manufacturing—especially high-tech and automotive—according to Andrew Sipus, managing director of executive search at specialized recruitment agency Robert Half Japan. Employers are looking for technology and digital skills, financial expertise, multinational leadership and project management, as well as language and culture skills.
Sipus agrees that the Japanese government should focus on key areas for recruiting. He recommends streamlining visa and immigration procedures, especially for highly skilled professionals and their families, and investing in cross-cultural training and integration programs—not just for foreigners, but for Japanese employers and teams, too. Japan should also incentivize innovation and global hiring through tax breaks or grants for companies that build diverse teams, support infrastructure and living conditions that attract and retain international talent, and revise labor laws to support more flexible working styles, which are essential in attracting global professionals.
“Japan’s aging and shrinking population poses a fundamental challenge to sustained economic growth,” said Sipus. “Diversifying the workforce—across gender, nationality, and age—is not just a matter of inclusion; it’s a strategic imperative. Diverse teams are better equipped to adapt, innovate, and respond to the needs of global markets. Without embracing workforce diversity, Japan risks losing its edge in key industries and missing out on future growth opportunities.”
Shooting for the Stars with AUW
As the world changes, the future may depend on empowering women and amplifying their voices. The Asian University for Women‘s April fundraiser helps make education possible.
As the world changes, the future may depend on empowering women and amplifying their voices.
Asian University for Women (AUW) graduation ceremony
Growing up in a small village in Bangladesh, Rimu Byadya witnessed firsthand how a person’s background often dictates their destiny.
“It was an unspoken truth, woven into the very fabric of our community,” she told The ACCJ Journal. “Children of farmers grew up to become farmers. Daughters of families with limited means were often married off early, their dreams fading away before they ever had a chance to blossom. The weight of tradition and circumstance shaped the paths of many, leaving little room for dreams to take flight.”
Determined to attend college and inspired by her mother’s generosity in the face of poverty, Byadya set her sights on the Asian University for Women (AUW).
“Watching my mother, I learned that true wealth lies not in what we have but in what we are willing to share. From a young age, I understood that kindness, no matter how small, has the power to change lives.”
AUW, based in the Bangladeshi port city of Chittagong, welcomed its first class of 130 students in 2008. Today, more than 1,700 students from 15 countries representing 35 ethnicities across Asia and the Middle East are enrolled. AUW plays an important role in bringing inclusive and equitable education opportunities to more people, one of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The path to Chittagong, however, was an uphill one. Byadya was met with skepticism and disapproval by some in her community. Neighbors questioned her mother and father, asking: “What’s the point of spending money on a girl’s education? There is no return—better to save for a wedding.”
But her parents had a different vision. “Though they themselves had been unable to pursue higher education beyond high school due to poverty, they were determined to give their three daughters the opportunities they never had,” Byadya explained. “They bore the brunt of societal pressure, standing firm against criticism and ensuring that I could chase my dreams. Their unwavering support gave me the strength to push forward.”
AUW Experience
Upon arriving in the city, Byadya found new challenges. “It was daunting,” she recalls. “I had to navigate an unfamiliar environment, adjust to a different way of life, and prove myself in a place where few expected me to succeed. There was always the underlying notion that I was stepping beyond the bounds of what was traditionally acceptable.”
But her education, she reminded herself, was not just about personal success but about breaking barriers for generations to come. “With every challenge, I grew stronger, proving that investing in a girl’s education is not a loss—it is a transformation.”
At AUW, Byadya found herself surrounded by strong, ambitious women from diverse backgrounds, each with their own struggles and aspirations. “Their stories inspired me to challenge limitations, to dream bigger, and to believe in the power of change. The university was more than just an academic institution—it was a space of empowerment, where I learned that my voice mattered.”
Rimu Byadya shares insights from her journey in public health at the first in-person Global Model WHO, jointly organized by the World Health Organization and the World Federation of United Nations Associations and held October 29–November 1, 2024, at the WHO headquarters in Geneva.
Today, Byadya works to create healthier communities and empower others—especially young girls—through knowledge and access to care. It’s a journey that began during her first year at AUW, when she spent two weeks in a remote village as part of a group of 10 students conducting interviews with 120 mothers of young children.
“Our goal was to understand maternal diets and infant feeding practices,” she recalls. “When we returned to AUW and analyzed the data, we observed significant gaps in both maternal diets and infant feeding.”
The group then worked with their professor to design a small-scale intervention and secure funding. They recruited and trained four community health workers with whom they visited the village every weekend to deliver vital information on maternal nutrition and infant feeding practices.
The experience, Byadya said, was life-changing. “It solidified my passion for public health. The following year, I chose public health as my major. It set me on a path that I continue to walk with determination and purpose.”
After graduating from AUW in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in public health, she joined the Young Professionals Program offered by the global development organization BRAC, formerly known by its long-form name, the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee. She worked with Ebola survivors in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and also led a team of 5,000 health workers to provide essential healthcare to 10 million people in rural Bangladesh.
Byadya was then awarded the prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship by the University of Oxford to pursue a master of science degree in international health and tropical medicine, a program which she completed.
Since 2022, she has been a technical officer with the World Health Organization in Geneva. But her connection to AUW remains strong.
“The AUW community and network is more than just a professional connection—it is a family,” she said. “From the moment I stepped into AUW, I felt supported by a network of mentors, peers, and alumni who genuinely cared about my growth and success. Even now, whenever I need guidance, inspiration, or even just a reminder that I belong to a strong community of changemakers, I know I can turn to AUW. The friendships, mentorship, and unwavering encouragement from this network continue to fuel my journey.”
More than 350 students from diverse backgrounds unite at Global Model WHO 2024 to simulate the World Health Assembly. Rimu Byadya (far right) shares the stage with Mike Ryan (center right), executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme.
Corporate Support
Ensuring that women have the opportunity to chase their dreams and change their communities as Byadya did requires the collective support of individuals and companies around the world.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, there were about 122 million girls around the world not enrolled in school as of 2024. And in poorer countries, girls are more likely than boys not to complete their education.
This is why the work of AUW is so important—work that is funded by support foundations in Denmark, the United Kingdom, the United States, Hong Kong, and Japan, as well as other organizations.
On April 10, the AUW Japan Support Committee will host its 14th annual fundraiser gala at Tokyo American Club. Titled Shooting for the Stars, the event will feature astronaut Naoko Yamazaki—just the second Japanese woman to fly in space—and Priyanka Shrestha, an inspiring AUW alumna who will share her story, just as Byadya did here.
Among the companies that regularly support AUW and the gala is Morrison Foerster. The US-based law firm established the Morrison & Foerster Foundation in 1986 to support children, education, the arts, healthcare, nutrition, and disaster relief, among other important causes. A percentage of all revenue that comes in to the firm—before it gets paid out to the partners—goes to the foundation each year. In 2023, the Morrison & Foerster Foundation’s charitable donations totaled more than $4.4 million.
AUW is one of the many organizations supported by the Morrison & Foerster Foundation. The firm has been a consistent supporter of AUW for years, and donated a significant amount of money over a five-year period in the name of a former Tokyo office manager who passed away from cancer.
Dale Caldwell, a lawyer at Morrison Foerster and member of the foundation board for more than a decade, said he is proud to support AUW “because you’re impacting not only one person’s life but also the life of a community.”
The Morrison & Foester Foundation became connected with AUW, he explained, through former Goldman Sachs vice-chair Kathy Matsui, who is a founder and current Co-chair of the AUW Japan Support Committee. “It lined up quite well with our objectives,” Caldwell noted.
Matsui concurs with Caldwell’s reasoning. “Numerous studies have shown that the return on a dollar is higher for educating women than for men because women are more likely to pass on education to their children and the rest of the community,” she told The ACCJ Journal.
The 13th annual fundraising event at Tokyo American Club in 2024.
Another familiar name in the Tokyo community supporting AUW is Yan Fan, cofounder of Code Chrysalis, a Tokyo-based coding boot camp with roots in Silicon Valley that has empowering women in tech careers as one of its goals.
“If we want to see change happen, we need to uplift the other half of the population—and I think that’s so important for Southeast Asia, and Asia in general,” said Fan, who was born in China and moved to the United States with her family at age three.
“We need to make sure that women are also heard and that they are given opportunities,” she added. “The work that I’ve always done has been about empowerment, trying to help people find better opportunities, trying to unleash people’s talents that maybe they didn’t know they had. I thought AUW was just so aligned with what I have been doing in terms of my career. And the return on investment—for getting these women college educations—is very high.”
Helping women unleash their talents is also a priority for Matsui, who co-launched MPower Partners—Japan’s first global venture capital fund focused on environmental, social, and governance—in 2021, after retiring from Goldman Sachs. One of her MPower cofounders, Miwa Seki, also co-chairs the AUW Japan Support Committee alongside Ali Buford and Catherine Sasanuma.
“My other passion is getting more women into the economy,” said Matsui. “While female economic participation has risen in the past decade from a low base, there is still scope to promote more women in leadership positions. It’s difficult for any country to run a marathon with just one leg, so empowering women is imperative to economic and business growth in every country.”
Those interested in contributing to this important mission are encouraged to attend the April 10 gala and explore opportunities to support AUW, either personally or through their organization. In addition to the insightful stories shared during the evening, attendees will have a chance to win prizes such as lunch with legendary architect Kengo Kuma and a dinner party with British Ambassador to Japan Julia Longbottom at the UK Ambassador’s Residence.
Why It Matters
Returning to Byadya’s journey, a 15-year-old girl watching her female friends and classmates being married off—their futures decided for them—eventually found a way to pursue her dream of doing something more through AUW. And today, she is able to help others and make a profound difference in their lives and communities.
Looking back, Byadya said that her time on campus was more than just an education.
“It was a revolution in my mind. It gave me the confidence to stand up for what I believe in and to advocate for a world where no girl has to justify her right to learn. The lessons I learned there continue to shape my path, guiding me to empower others and create a future where education is a force for liberation and transformation.”
To young women who dream of pursuing education and helping their communities, Byadya has this advice. “Never forget your roots, because they are what make you unique. Do not question whether you can or cannot achieve something—just strive for what you believe in with unwavering determination. The world may tell you that you are not enough, that your dreams are too big—but never let those voices define you. Your dreams matter, your voice matters, and your actions have the power to create change. Keep pushing forward, keep believing, and never stop fighting for the future you deserve.”
Rimu Byadya (center right) and fellow young professionals with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (center left).
AUW 14th Annual Fundraising Event
Shooting for the Stars
April 10, 2025 • 6:30–9:30 p.m. • Tokyo American Club
Tickets: ¥8,500–15,000
Transforming Treatment
The annual HxD Pitch Day brought together five innovative start-ups that are bringing healthcare innovation to a changing world.
ACCJ Healthcare x Digital Pitch Day again shines the spotlight on innovation
Osaka’s Nakanoshima Qross, a new international hub for healthcare innovation, welcomed the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) on November 1 as host of the annual Healthcare x Digital (HxD) Pitch Day.
Led by the ACCJ Kansai Chapter and the Healthcare Committee, the HxD platform brings together innovators from multidisciplinary backgrounds to collaborate and develop ideas alongside some of the world’s leading healthcare and pharmaceutical companies.
Simone Thomsen, president and representative director of Eli Lilly Japan K.K. and an ACCJ governor, kicked off the event by addressing healthcare challenges amplified by Japan’s aging population and rising costs.
Digitalization, she noted, is key to overcoming barriers in healthcare. She emphasized the Kansai region’s burgeoning ecosystem of start-ups and the importance of fostering partnerships for sustainable solutions—something at the heart of this year’s theme, Transforming Healthcare: Collaborating in a Changing World.
“Led by the ACCJ Kansai Chapter and the Healthcare Committee, the HxD platform brings together innovators from multidisciplinary backgrounds to collaborate and develop ideas alongside some of the world’s leading healthcare and pharmaceutical companies.”
Following Thomsen’s remarks, Dr. Yoshiki Sawa, chairman of the Organization for Advanced Healthcare Innovation at Nakanoshima Qross, delivered the keynote address.
A renowned cardiac surgeon and innovator, Sawa shared insights into cutting-edge research at Nakanoshima Qross, including the development of iPS cell-derived cardiac patches for regenerative medicine. He highlighted the unique collaboration opportunities provided by the center, where research, development, and medical applications coexist under one roof.
A roundtable discussion followed with panelists Kunihiro Ohyama of Microsoft Japan, Dr. Junji Fukumori of Osaka Keisatsu Hospital, Taro Tanaka from Osaka Prefecture, and Koji Deguchi from Kobe City. Topics included the role of public–private partnerships in fostering innovation, the importance of global collaboration, and strategies for addressing healthcare inequities.
Tanaka, the director of Osaka’s Smart City Strategy Division, shared how the city is leveraging digital health initiatives, while Ohyama, Microsoft Japan’s healthcare industry lead, discussed the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things in healthcare, among other themes that were raised.
Game Changers
The heart of HxD Pitch Day was the competition in which five innovative start-ups presented their solutions to transform healthcare. Competing this year were:
- Bipsee Inc.
- Elcyo Co., Ltd.
- ImmuniT Research, Inc.
- Pittan Inc.
- Seven Point One Inc.
Judging were industry experts, including EY Strategy & Consulting’s Christian Boettcher, Eli Lilly Japan’s Yasuhiko Iida and Miyu Harada, Innovation Dojo Japan’s Joshua Flannery, and AstraZeneca’s Torsten Kanisch and Mari Ogihara, who is also the community manager for the i2.JP open innovation initiative. Their expertise provided valuable feedback to the start-ups. Bipsee, Pittan, and Seven Point One received honors.
Bipsee, winner of the HxD Award, impressed judges with its mental health therapy based on virtual reality (VR). Chief Operating Officer Kohei Kamikihara explained how VR could alleviate the burden of cognitive behavioral therapy on clinicians and patients by offering an immersive, self-guided alternative. The company’s eight-week program helps patients intuitively learn coping mechanisms for depression, thereby reducing relapse rates, Kamikihara said.
Elcyo Co., Ltd. presented its groundbreaking Elcyo Lens, an autofocus glasses system integrating liquid crystal lens technology and AI. The glasses dynamically adjust prescriptions in real-time, reducing eye strain caused by digital devices. Chief Executive Officer Sunri Lee noted that the glasses are not just tools for vision correction but guardians of eye health. Set to launch in 2025, the product aims to transform vision care.
ImmuniT Research, Inc. unveiled its advanced immune system quantification technology, focusing on its Th7R cell marker, which aids in cancer immunotherapy. By providing precise data for personalized treatment, ImmuniT is redefining how clinicians approach immune-related diseases. The company has a vision to revolutionize cancer treatment and realize a society of longevity, said Chief Scientific Officer Akio Ametani.
Recipient of the Microsoft Award, Seven Point One Inc. pitched AlzWIN, their AI-powered dementia screening solution that utilizes verbal fluency. The solution looks to empower individuals through early dementia diagnosis and management.
SelectUSA
The SelectUSA Award went to Pittan Inc., which showcased Nutrifull, a system that analyzes sweat composition to visualize health and nutritional status. Designed to enable more people to accurately monitor their health status on a regular basis, Nutrifull aims to extend life expectancy by preventing lifestyle-related diseases.
HxD’s connection to the SelectUSA Investment Summit, a US government program designed to attract and support international business investments in the United States, is a standout aspect of the competition. The tie-up is supported by the Commercial Service office in Japan and began last spring, when US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel attended Pitch Day on April 17 and saw Anaut Inc. punch its ticket to June’s SelectUSA Summit in National Harbor, Maryland. The company won for its clinical AI software that enables precision mapping of the human body during surgery.
With its win this year, Pittan Inc. secured the opportunity to win a trip to Maryland for the next summit, to be held from May 11 to 14, where it will gain exposure to US investors and partners. The SelectUSA collaboration underscores the ACCJ’s commitment to fostering global opportunities for Japanese start-ups.
Building Bridges
Kanisch from AstraZeneca remarked on the ingenuity of the start-ups, highlighting the potential for Japan to lead in digital health innovation. He also shared his excitement at seeing ambitious ideas taking shape through HxD.
Following the awards ceremony, the event closed with a networking session, offering participants the chance to forge partnerships that could shape the future of healthcare in Japan—and globally.
HxD Pitch Day demonstrated the power of collaboration in addressing healthcare challenges. By bringing together diverse stakeholders, the event not only showcased Japan’s potential as a global healthcare innovation hub but also fostered connections with international markets.
As Thomsen from Eli Lilly Japan concluded in her opening remarks: “This world is changing. We have a true VUCA [volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity] world where there is a lot of instability.”
And while noting societal challenges such as the increase in aging populations, which is impacting healthcare systems, especially in Japan, she also highlighted the opportunities.
“Digitalization and technology will help us to accelerate [innovative solutions] further,” she said. “This is why, today, we wanted to come together, and what better venue could we think of than the new Nakanoshima Qross, which really is an international hub for healthcare innovation.”