Join us for the latest in our regular quarterly webinar on business and current affairs, Japan Macro Salon with Jesper and Bill in which The Japan Society’s chairman Bill Emmott teams 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 open with a conversation about the latest trends that have caught their attention, and then welcome a special guest to focus on a topic of the moment. All the while, they will be interacting with questions from the audience. These webinars are run in association with The Japan Society.

For the fourth Macro Salon of 2024, Jesper and Bill will be joined by Tobias Harris, founder and principal of Japan Foresight, a Japan-focused political risk advisory firm. They will discuss about Japanese and global politics, including the likely Lower House election in Japan.

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

Speaker Bios

Tobias Harris
Tobias Harris is the founder and principal of Japan Foresight, a Japan-focused political risk advisory firm. He is an expert on Japanese politics, and worked in 2006-2007 on the staff of Keiichiro Asao, at that time a member of the upper house of the Japanese Diet and shadow foreign minister for the Democratic Party of Japan, for whom he conducted research on foreign policy and Japan’s relations with the United States. He is also the Fellow for Economy, Trade, and Business at Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA.

He has written about Japanese politics for publications including the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Affairs and regularly provides on-air analysis for CNBC, Bloomberg, and other networks. His biography The Iconoclast: Shinzo Abe and the New Japan was published by Hurst in 2020 and is reviewed by Bill Emmott for The Japan Society Review here.

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.

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.