We are delighted to inaugurate a new regular quarterly webinar in our series on business and current affairs, Japan Macro Salon with Jesper and Bill. Each quarter, The Japan Society’s chairman Bill Emmott will team up with Jesper Koll, longtime Tokyo resident and one of the most keenly watched economists and investment strategists in that town, to discuss what's new in the Japanese economy, business, financial markets and more. Each quarter, Jesper and Bill will open with a conversation about the latest trends that have caught their attention, whether it be the yen, GDP growth, corporate battles, new reforms or something else entirely, and then will welcome a special guest each time to focus on a topic of the moment. All the while, they will be interacting with questions from the audience. These webinars will be run in association with The Japan Society.

We are delighted to welcome as our first guest for these events, Yumiko Murakami of MPower Partners. Former head of OECD Tokyo and member of Prime Minister Kishida's panel on "the new Form of Capitalism", Yumiko's views on the current situation in Japan are particularly valuable.

This event will be conducted online and is open to the public. Registration is required.

Speaker Bios

Jesper Koll
Jesper Koll has been researching and investing in Japan since becoming a resident in 1986. Over the past two decades, Jesper has been consistently recognized as one of the top Japan strategists/economists, having worked as Chief Strategist and Head of Research for U.S. investment banks J.P. Morgan and Merrill Lynch. He currently serves as Expert Director for the Monex Group and the Japan Catalyst Fund (Japan’s 1st retail investor based corporate engagement/activist fund). His analysis and insights have earned him a position on several Japanese government and corporate advisory committees, including Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike’s Advisory Board. Jesper serves as Board Director of OIST, the Okinawa Institute for Science and Technology and is a Founder and Board Director of the Asia Society Japan and heads their Policy Committee. He is one of the few non-Japanese members of the Keizai Doyukai, the Japan Association of Corporate Executives; and serves on the board of several Japan-based start-ups. He has written three books in Japanese and, in 2021, created the acclaimed video/pod-cast series Japan - Capitalism that works. Jesper is an economist, angel-investor, patron; and yes, a Japan Optimist.

Yumiko Murakami
Yumiko Murakami is the former head of the OECD Tokyo Centre. Prior to the OECD, she worked for 20 years in the global financial industry, mostly as a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs in New York, London and Tokyo. She is a leading authority on a wide range of economic policy issues such as corporate governance, tax guidelines, diversity, education, trade and innovation. She sits on several Government advisory panels, including Prime Minister Kishida’s panel on “the New Form of Capitalism”. Yumiko has an MBA from Harvard Business School, MA from Stanford University and BA from Sophia University.

Bill Emmott
Bill Emmott is an independent writer, lecturer and consultant on international affairs. He is a Fellow of Tokyo College, University of Tokyo’s new interdisciplinary research institute, and was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford in 2017-18. He also chairs the boards of Trinity College Dublin’s Long Room Hub Research Institute for the Arts & Humanities, and of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. 

He was previously the Editor-in-Chief of The Economist (1993-2006) and has written eight books on Japan, the first of which was The Sun Also Sets: Why Japan Will Not Be Number One (1989). His latest was Japan's Far More Female Future, which was published in Japanese by Nikkei in 2019 and in English by Oxford University ress in 2020. He has also published books about Italy, the future of the West and the lessons of the 20th Century, has narrated and co-written a documentary film about Italy, Girlfriend in a Coma (2013) and was executive producer of a film about Europe, The Great European Disaster Movie (2015).

In 2016 the Japanese government awarded him the “Order of the Rising Sun: Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon” for services to UK-Japan relations.

Bill Emmott was chairman of the trustees of the London Library from 2009-15; was group economic adviser for Stonehage Fleming in 2011-15; and served on All Nippon Airways’ UK Advisory Panel until 2016 and Swiss Re’s panel of advisers from 2006-19. He is a member of the Global Advisory Board of the University of Tokyo; and a member of the senior advisory panel of Critical Resource, a consultancy.

Born in 1956, Bill is married to Carol. They live in Oxford and Dublin with their three dogs. Bill has been a member of the Japan Society since 2005 and an individual benefactor since 2013, as well as having frequently addressed society events as a speaker since the early 1990s.