Recently, voices of concern have been heard about Japan's "brains" being drained overseas. Exa Innovation Studio representative Kentaro Kata is certainly one such person. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo and joined the Ministry of Transport. After that, he changed jobs from the government to a private consulting company. After moving to Paris, he started a company that supported Japanese companies' overseas expansion and new business development, and is one of the businessmen who travels around the world.

From his high school days, he aspired to become a national civil servant.

Born and raised in Kamakura, he went to Eiko Gakuen Junior and Senior High School, a preparatory school known as one of the three Kanagawa schools, which is ranked in the top 1996 nationally in terms of admissions to the University of Tokyo every year. After that, he entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo and joined the Ministry of Transport (currently the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) in XNUMX. Mr. Kata says that he had wanted to become a national civil servant since high school, saying, ``My grandfather was an official at the former Ministry of the Interior, and after that he worked for the Ministry of Construction and the National Highway Corporation, and he was the person who laid the foundation for today's infrastructure in Japan. I think that Eiko Gakuen's teachings, ``Men For Others, With Others,'' may have had that much of an impact on my life. "This word has been imprinted on me many times," he says with a laugh.

“Men For Others, With Others” is a phrase from the Bible that says, “If you want to be powerful among you, be the servant of all; This is connected to the idea of ​​``be a servant, not to be served, but to serve,'' and is exactly the attitude that Mr. Fang says is for the sake of Japan's national interests and public interest.

From the University of Tokyo to a bureaucrat. “What should we do about Japan?” is hidden in our hearts.

“I joined the Ministry of Transport in 1996 and was assigned to the International Aviation Division.After being involved in Japan-U.S. aviation negotiations and APEC, I was transferred to the Environmental Policy Division at the time the Kyoto Protocol was signed.There, I worked on CO2 We considered proposals for greening the automobile tax system by adjusting automobile-related taxes according to the engine displacement.

Although awareness of environmental measures around the world is increasing today, there were still few ambitious measures in place at the time. For this reason, proposals from other ministries and agencies were not accepted, and he says he had a hard time changing his mindset.

``At that time, I was on a business trip to France, and I had the opportunity to talk to the head of the automobile section at a French government office, and when I talked about the idea of ​​adjusting automobile taxes according to CO2 emissions, he said, ``That's a very good idea, but...'' It's still not accepted in France.In Japan, there was a concept of measures for the poor even before environmental measures, and if we raise taxes on old cars that have poor fuel efficiency and emissions, we will raise taxes on poor people. It is very impressive that the world is now competing to improve automobile fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions, but back then it was more about economic measures than environmental measures. I realized that in order to do this, we first need to change our mindset."

Four years after joining the ministry, he had the opportunity to participate in the country's study abroad program, and spent two years at Cambridge Graduate School in the UK, earning degrees in international law and an MBA. A group of outstanding minds who played a central role in various countries around the world had gathered there, and it was not only a great source of inspiration for Mr. Fang, but also had a great influence on the way he worked afterwards. talk.

“When I returned to Japan two years later, the Ministry of Transport had changed to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and at the same time organizational changes had taken place, so my job content had also changed. I was constantly making changes and downsizing.I was worried that I would not be able to grow even though I was in my 2s, so I started thinking about changing jobs to Boston Consulting, a globally expanding management consulting company.・I had an interview for a group (BCG), and I was surprised and moved when the first interviewer suddenly asked me what Japan should do.I thought it was an interview, but I was accepted. I received a message from you.”

At that time, he was selected to be the Chief of the Law and Regulations Section in the General Affairs Division of the Minister's Secretariat, a role that is considered the star of young career bureaucrats. Since it was a prestigious position that had passed through the ranks of past vice-ministers and other high-ranking officials, I decided to postpone my career change for a while and accept the appointment. He was involved in the enactment of laws such as the privatization of the Eidan Subway, and once his work had settled down, he decided to retire from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and change jobs to BCG as originally planned. He has just decided to move on to the second stage, from the public sector to the private sector.

From bureaucrats to private companies. experiencing my first setback

``When I joined BCG, the job I was given was to construct and verify data-based hypotheses for management issues in various industries.This was the beginning of my frustration.I was confused by the job content, which was completely different from that of a government office. However, I was overwhelmed by how talented these newly graduated employees were, using all kinds of tools and creativity to analyze data and come up with interesting hypotheses that I couldn't think of on my own. There were days when I felt disappointed in myself."

At the time, there weren't many people at BCG who had been bureaucrats, and Mr. Kata, who was appalled by the difference between him and other young employees, said that at some point he even started thinking about quitting the company. When I discussed this with the head of BCG Japan at the time, he told me, ``People who used to be bureaucrats are late bloomers, so don't rush and just take your time. You'll definitely improve later.'' He believed in those words, and as he worked on his daily projects, he came to realize the meaning of those words.

``When I was promoted from consultant to project leader, the scope of my work and responsibilities changed significantly, and I went from focusing on research and data analysis to interacting with clients to identify management issues and designing and managing projects. From there, I showed my true potential (lol). By leveraging my skills from my time as an official and working on big strategy planning and management, which I am good at, I gained confidence and was promoted to principal."

Around this time, his French girlfriend, who he met at Cambridge and later became his wife, came to Japan to work at a research institute in Japan, but she ended up returning to France a few years later. decided to transfer to BCG's Paris office.

Supporting the overseas expansion of Japanese companies and working hard to promote the Japanese brand

When I moved my base to Paris, social networks began to spread throughout the world, and the way I used the Internet changed dramatically. At the same time, Mr. Kata's desire to focus on supporting Japanese companies' overseas expansion and alliance building began to diverge. Determined to do his best for Japanese companies, he left BCG after seven years and started Exa Partners in 7, based in Tokyo and Paris.

In 2016, the name ``Exa Partners'' was changed to the current ``Exa Innovation Studio'' as the business expanded. Based in Los Angeles, Paris, and Tokyo, he works on new business development, data-based product development and marketing, and research and analysis of cutting-edge innovations overseas.

``To give an example of the kind of work I do, for example, in 2012-2013, a major Japanese IT startup acquired logistics companies in the United States and France, and at that time I looked for candidate companies, We conducted internal investigations into business conditions, technology, etc., and supported deals, including persuading the company's president, to find out where the seeds of innovation were, such as Japanese companies expanding overseas and considering new businesses. We are supporting you.” In addition to these projects, Mr. Kata is also responsible for promoting Japan, focusing on Japanese culture and tourism. He also talked about his desire to strengthen that aspect in the future.

``When I returned to Japan and took a taxi through the Marunouchi and Ginza areas, I saw many of the world's top brands lined up.However, there were hardly any Japanese brands among them.Japan has its own unique strengths. We believe that Japan is one of the most attractive countries in the world in terms of its unique lifestyle, cuisine, culture, and historical buildings. I want to increase the power of Japan's brand by attracting people to Japan.All Japanese people warmly support Japanese athletes who are active in the world.That is wonderful, but I would like to see famous athletes from around the world play in Japan. We want Japan to become a country that people want to work in. To achieve this, we need to create places and environments that are unique to Japan, where the world's top athletes, artists, scientists, and craftsmen want to work. "I wish Japan's tourism and industrial policies would aim to make Japan a second home. It's such an attractive and wonderful country," he says, even more passionately than when talking about his business.

Mr. Kata, who also serves as a tourism representative for Tokyo and Kyoto, uses his personal connections and ideas to think about Japan no matter where he is in the world, and to discuss various ways to make Japan a more attractive country. I meet people in various fields and travel all over the world.

After my interview with Mr. Bang, I was keenly aware that Mr. Bang's ``brain'' was not leaked to the world, but was utilized for the benefit of Japan and contributed to its development. We also hope that the distribution of Japanese aesthetic sense and traditional Japanese culture to the world, which Premium Japan has always cherished, will be a step towards Japan's future.

Kentaro Kata

After graduating from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo in 1996, he joined the Ministry of Transport (currently the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism). He holds an LLM and an MBA from Cambridge University, UK. After working at Boston Consulting Group (3 years in Tokyo and 4 years in Paris), he co-founded Exa Innovation Studio in Paris. Based in Japan, Europe and the US, he works on launching new businesses and supporting Japanese companies' expansion into Europe and the US. He has been living in Paris since 2006 (he lives with his French wife and three children). Born in Kamakura.

Mio Shimamura

Representative, publisher and editor-in-chief of Premium Japan. After working at a foreign advertising agency, he held positions in charge of marketing and PR at top brands such as Walt Disney, Harry Winston, and Tiffany & Co. In 2013, he founded Russo Co., Ltd. He handles PR for various top brands. Because his parents' home was an environment that taught Japanese culture such as tea ceremony and kimono dressing, he acquired the business rights to Premium Japan in 2017 and established Premium Japan Co., Ltd. in 2018.