Event Report: JX Live! 2023

The event aimed to widely disseminate JANE’s policy message for revitalizing the Japanese economy and to further strengthen the communities that share JANE’s vision.
Approximately 400 people attended the event, which consisted of three Roundtables, JX Awards Ceremony & Party, and a Special Dinner.

[2023] Click here for the special event website (*Japanese only).

JX Live! started with a movie clip featuring JX’s key policy message, “Let’s bring people, knowledge, and money from around the world to Japan”.
Mr. Mickey Mikitani, Representative Director of JANE extended his greetings, which followed a video message from H.E. Mr. Rahm Emanuel, Ambassador of the United States of America to Japan expressing warm encouragement to business and economy of Japan.

[Roundtables]
It was very first time to have roundtable talks at JANE’s event. Instead of conventional panel discussions, the speakers sat in a circle at the center of the podium. The roundtables were aptly named “JX Live!” as the audience was able to watch the energetic cutting-edge policy discussions sitting around the speakers. The recordings of the talks are now available to stream on PIVOT’s YouTube Channel (*Japanese only), a business media outlet with over 600,000 registered users.

The theme of roundtable 1 discussion was: “Japan Transformation – How could Japan be an innovation giant that attracts people, knowledge, and money.” Business leaders and politicians offered their perspectives on measures needed to improve Japan’s global competitiveness and revive its economic power. Many speakers pointed out that the urgent need to expand opportunities for women to play an active role, among other things. They also discussed tax incentives for talented foreign personnel, and deregulation in the DX and AI fields. Above all, they all agreed that having Animal spirits to expand overseas and confidence in the potential of Japanese companies and the economy is most important to fundamentally transform Japan through innovation.

Speakers: 
Mr. Yasutoshi Nishimura, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry
Ms. Rui Matsukawa, Member of the House of Councillors
Ms. Kathy Matsui, General Partner of MPower Partners Fund L.P.
Mr. David Chao, Co-founder and General Partner of DCM
Mr. Susumu Fujita, Vice Representative Director of JANE / Representative Director of CyberAgent, Inc.

MC: 
Mr. Mickey Mikitani, Representative Director of JANE / Chairman and CEO of Rakuten Group, Inc.


 
  
 
The theme of the roundtable 2 was“What data technology will change the world? – Japan’s AI and web3 Strategy”.Since the release of ChatGPT last November, interest in data technology has been rapidly growing in terms of how it will bring about changes in our society and businesses.
In Japan, the negative aspects of new technologies have sometimes been overemphasized, failing to grasp their potential and economic impact. As it was pointed out in the session, there have been many cases of good Japanese technologies that have failed to be deployed on a global scale. In light of this past situation, the session showed expectations for the global strategy that Japan should take and the potential of AI-native children.

Speakers: 
Mr. Masaaki Taira, Member of the House of Representatives
Ms. Miku Hirano, CEO& Founder of Cinnamon, Inc.
Mr. Joichi Ito, Chief architect, Co-founder and Board Member of Digital Garage, Inc.
Mr. Yuki Uchiyama, Executive Officer of JANE / Group CEO of Hottolink Inc. 

MC: 
Mr. Hasen Kuniyama, PIVOT, Inc.
 





The theme of last roundtable 3 was “Revitalizing Japan through Green Transformation (GX): GX as Japan’s New Growth Strategy”. In the face of the global threat of climate change, JANE launched a special working group (WG) last year and released a policy proposal, “JANE Carbon Neutral Vision” in April. In this session, Mr. Koichiro Yoshida, WG’s chairperson, Director of JANE and Mr. Yohei Joguchi, WG’s vice-chairperson led a discussion on the government strategy that is necessary to accelerate GX through the power of the private sector, especially how to allocate the Japanese government’s GX budget of 150 trillion yen over 10 years, a scale unparalleled in the world. The discussion was very straight forward that is very suited to conclude “JX Live! 2023″.

Speakers: 
Ms. Miki Yamada, State Minister of the Environment
Mr. Masahiko Shibayama, Member of the House of Representatives
Ms. Mari Yoshitaka, Visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo
Mr. Yohei Joguchi, CEO of ENECHANGE Ltd.
Mr. Koichiro Yoshida, Director of JANE / CEO of Cloudworks, Inc.

MC: 
Mr. Ryuichiro Takeshita, PIVOT, Inc.








[JX Awards Award Ceremony & Party]
The party started with a wonderful performance by DJ IZOH, 2012 DMC World Champion. At the beginning of the party, the “JX Awards 2023 Award Ceremony” was held, in which JANE presented awards to entrepreneurs who will lead the future. A new program, “Company PR Time” by 10 member companies of JANE, was also a great success.


[JX Awards2023 Award Ceremony]
The five members of the selection committee, who are active on the front lines of business voted to select one Grand Prize winner and three Selection Committee Members’ Special Awards winners of the JX Awards 2023. At the awards ceremony, JX Awards2023 selection committee members presented congratulatory messages and trophies to the winners.
Mr. Mickey Mikitani, the chairman of the selection committee, summarized the selection process, and Ms. Akemi Tsunagawa, the winner of the Selection Committee’s Special Award, gave her comments on behalf of the award winners. Ms. Tsunagawa had picked up her child from nursery school just before the award ceremony, so she appeared on stage with her son, and the audience was amused by his adorable appearance.

      ☆JX Awards2023 Winners

      ☆JX Awards2023 Selection Committee


[Company PR Time]
Ten member companies of JANE (limited to those under the age of 45), which were selected through a preliminary application process, were given 90 seconds to promote their companies and businesses. This program was a great success.
 
Speakers:
Mr. Keita Takeuchi, President of valuesfusion Co,. ltd.
Mr. Masaaki Fujiwara, Evangelist of Works Applications Co., Ltd
Mr. Rei Hayakawa, President and CEO of ONE COMPATH Co., LTD.
Mr. Hiroshi Yamada, President and CEO of Gaccom, Inc.
Mr. Yuhei Ori, Representative Director and CEO of inglow, Inc.
Mr. Takenobu Ohinata, President & CEO of Mitsuwa Sangyo Co., Ltd.
Mr. Shingo Marubayashi, Member of the Board and COO of Media Opus Plus , Inc.
Mr. Katsuo Syou, Representative Director of SOFTSU Co., Ltd.
Mr. Tomoki Akutsu, President & CEO of TOUCH TO GO Co., Ltd.
Mr. Naoto Ushimaru, Representative Director of deex Co., Ltd.


[Special Dinner]
The special dinner was offered at the TOKYO STUDIO on the 51st floor of Andaz Tokyo for the purpose of networking between the sponsors, the session speakers, and JANE’s board of directors.
The dinner started with a special talk session on the theme of “How to nurture young people who will lead the future?” featuring distinguished guests including Ms. Mariko Hayashi, Chancellor of Nihon University, Mr. Katsuhiko Hibino, President of Tokyo University of the Arts, and Dr. Akira Yoshino, Nobel Prize laureate and Honorary Fellow of Asahi Kasei Corporation.
In the end of the dinner, Mr. Yasutoshi Nishimura, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, gave words of encouragement, saying, “Supporting young people, that is the role of JANE”.


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