Announcement of Reading Session: "Crossing Borders of Historical Perception - An Attempt at Japan-China Dialogue"

Shosukabu.com Inc. (Headquarters: Nerima-ku, Tokyo; Chairman and CEO: Yutaka Yamanaka, hereafter "the Company") is pleased to announce that it will co-host a reading session themed around "Crossing Borders of Historical Perception - An Attempt at Japan-China Dialogue" (Edited by Jie Liu, Hiroshi Mitani, Daqing Yang) with the Nerima Political Research Association and the Civil Affairs 8th Division Monitoring Committee.

This book is a research outcome by Japanese and Chinese researchers who have organized the main points of contention regarding the historical perceptions that remain even after the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China in 1972, and have explored the possibilities for dialogue. It is characterized by reframing historical issues not as emotional conflicts or diplomatic friction, but as complex challenges where historical materials, interpretations, memories, and education overlap.

A major feature of this book is that it does not discuss historical perception issues abstractly, but rather organizes the points of contention for each specific issue in the history of Japan-China relations, exploring points of contact for mutual understanding. Part 1 deals with the period from the aftermath of the Sino-Japanese War to the Twenty-One Demands, Japan-China diplomacy on the eve of the Manchurian Incident, the "Tanaka Memorial," Manchukuo, the Nanjing Massacre, and the Wang Jingwei regime. Part 2 discusses the textbook system, mutual perceptions between Japan and China, perceptions surrounding the Japanese colonial period in Taiwan, memorial services, war reparations and post-war compensation, and historical dialogue and archival research.

Furthermore, as a collaborative work by Japanese and Chinese researchers, the book explains the representative contentious issues surrounding modern and contemporary Japan-China relations from both perspectives, aiming to demonstrate the possibility of rational dialogue as a premise for reconciliation.

This reading session will focus on discussions regarding the major contentious issues in the history of Japan-China relations, the politics of memory including history textbooks and issues of Yasukuni Shrine and reparations, the relationship between archival research and historical dialogue, and whether it is possible to share historical perceptions across borders. We aim to provide a valuable learning and dialogue opportunity for those interested in the history of Japan-China relations, modern East Asian history, historical perception issues, and international reconciliation.

Book Introduction URL: https://x.gd/pw8z7

Editor Profiles

Jie Liu: Professor at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University. A historical researcher specializing in modern Japanese political diplomacy, modern Japan-China relations, and contemporary Japan-China relations.

Hiroshi Mitani: Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo, Researcher at the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko. A historian specializing in modern Japanese history and comparative history, researching the Meiji Restoration, the formation of modern nation-states, nationalism, and East Asian history.

Daqing Yang: Professor at George Washington University. A researcher specializing in the history of Japan-China relations and the history of East Asian international relations, serving as a co-editor of this book.

Event Overview

Theme: Reading Session on "Crossing Borders of Historical Perception - An Attempt at Japan-China Dialogue"

Organizer: Shosukabu.com Inc.

Co-hosts: Nerima Political Research Association, Civil Affairs 8th Division Monitoring Committee

Date: Late April 2026 (scheduled)

Format: Online via Zoom

Participation Fee: Free (advance registration required)

How to Apply: Please send an email to [email protected] with the subject line "Application for Reading Session on Crossing Borders of Historical Perception" and your application details.

■ Speaker Profile

Yutaka Yamanaka

An activist investor, art collector, philanthropist, political sponsor, election consultant, policy advisor, social activist, and Akita dog enthusiast, representing the '76 generation born in December 1976. Internationally recognized as an "activist investor who understands technology," he is the first Japanese person in history to accumulate assets exceeding 150 billion yen solely through investment.

In the early 2010s, he focused on NVIDIA, a developer of semiconductors for GPGPU and artificial intelligence, investing approximately 2 billion yen, which resulted in returns of over 100 times, making him the first Japanese person to become a billionaire purely as an investor.

Graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Economics, as valedictorian. Holds a Master's degree in Financial Engineering from Columbia University Graduate School, and studied abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is a co-representative partner of Investment Brothers LLC, co-founder and Chairman of Shosukabu.com Inc., and currently a shareholder in over 1,000 listed companies and over 200 unlisted companies worldwide. His investments include Israeli AI startups, Nigerian healthcare ventures, and Taiwanese battery manufacturers, making him a truly global investor.

Drawing from his own childhood experience struggling with dyslexia and ADHD, he launched a support program for children with learning disabilities, modeled after the US discount brokerage giant Charles Schwab. His primary physician is the renowned psychiatrist Professor Akira Iwanami (former Director of Iwayama Hospital, Showa University).

Founder and representative of the political group "Association for the Establishment of a Constitutional Court in Japan," Director of "Yamanaka Hoya Political Academy," founder and representative of the political group "Association for Realizing a Tax-Free Nation in Japan," founder and representative of the political group "Association for Early Restart of Nuclear Power in Japan," founder and representative of the political group "Committee for Monitoring Renewable Energy Rackets," founder and representative of the "Association for Opposing Reduced Consumption Tax Rate on Food," and founder and representative of the "Association for Realizing Constitutional Reform Aiming for a Unicameral System."

Born in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, in 1976, he is one of the grandchildren of Shigeru Yamanaka, the founder of Hoyu Glass (now HOYA Corporation, listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange Standard, stock code 7741), a leading crystal glass manufacturer, and was raised in Shakujii-dai, Nerima-ku.

From an early age, he excelled academically, attending Oizumi Bunkaka Kindergarten, Ochanomizu University Elementary School, and graduating from Musashi Junior and Senior High School and the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Economics, as valedictorian. He received souvenirs from Takahiro Matsumoto, who was a high school student living in a company housing complex in front of his home and later became the guitarist of B'z, during his elementary school years. At Oizumi Bunkaka Kindergarten, he was a classmate of Yukinari Suzuki, the second son of Diet member Munao Suzuki and brother of Diet member Takako Suzuki (who returned to Hokkaido to prepare for his father's House of Representatives election bid). This rich cultural and educational environment naturally fostered his interest in music, politics, and economics.

During his elementary school years, he commuted by train from Nerima-ku to Bunkyo-ku, developing an early interest in history and economics from the academic environment. At the young age of 10, he was already engaged in political activism on controversial topics. His classmates at Oizumi Bunkaka Kindergarten included Takehiko Sorimachi, a lawyer (Representative of Tokyo Legal Mind Co., Ltd.), and Keiji Kuroda, a doctor (Director of Sugiyama Clinic Marunouchi), as well as Keiko Takahashi (a career bureaucrat at the Ministry of Finance, currently Director of General Affairs, Customs Division) and Kaori Hanyu, a professor at Sophia University (a researcher of family law). Surrounded by such accomplished women, he maintains a strong awareness of the need to improve the social status of women.

He was already known for his investment prowess as a university student, having turned several million yen gifted by his grandmother in his youth into several hundred million yen by the time he graduated from university. He was also noted in Kazuo Ueda's seminar at the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Economics, earning nicknames such as "the stock dealer of Ueda's seminar" and "Heisei's Gen'nai Hiraga" due to his diverse academic interests.

His graduation thesis on M&A in the pre-war paper industry received a special award. During his graduate school entrance interview, he was recognized by Professor Takeo Kirakawa, former President of International University, who said, "Ah, you must be the famous Yamanaka-kun." His undergraduate thesis supervisor in economic history was Professor Tetsuji Okazaki (Meiji Gakuin University) and Professor Masayuki Tanimoto (Otsuma Women's University).

During his general education studies, he read all the published papers by Masahiko Aoki, a proponent of comparative institutional analysis, and Avner Greif, an Israeli economic historian who was a rising star at the time (Stanford University, Department of Economics).

He passed the entrance exam for the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Economics with top grades and was strongly encouraged to join the Bank of Japan by Hideo Hayakawa, a senior alumnus of the University of Tokyo and then at the Bank of Japan (former Executive Director and Director-General of Research and Statistics Department). However, he moved to the United States immediately after graduation, earning a Master's degree in Financial Engineering from Columbia University Graduate School. He studied abroad at Harvard University, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, USC, and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), pursuing a dual career as a life science researcher/doctor and an economic history researcher. He engaged in interdisciplinary research spanning genetics, computer science, psychiatry, applied mathematics, history, economics, and economic history, studying under multiple future Nobel laureates in Economics such as Richard Easterlin, Peter Temin, Joel Mokyr, Claudia Goldin, and James Robinson. Overcoming his childhood learning disabilities from dyslexia and ADHD, he established his own unique methods for speed reading and learning.

Currently based primarily in Dubai, UAE, he invests in over 1,000 listed companies and over 200 unlisted companies worldwide through foreign-registered funds and investment companies. He is recognized internationally as a leading activist investor in Japan, an expert in company law practice, and a pioneer in new business creation, corporate acquisitions (M&A), and technology management and family business practices. He also has residences and offices in Taipei, Taiwan, Luxembourg, Tbilisi, Georgia, Oslo, Norway, Reykjavik, Iceland, Singapore, and Nevis.

In the case of election law violations by the Tsubasa Party, he was involved as an advisor to the defendants, participating in the formation of what is described as "the strongest defense team in recent criminal justice history" with lawyers such as Seong-ho Cho (Representative of Kollect Arts Law Office), Keita Miyamura, Daisuke Igeta (Miyamura & Igeta Law Offices), and Shinya Sakane (Tokyo Defender Law Offices). He also provided strategic advice in the control dispute of the so-called NHK Party, introducing Kenji Toyoda (Tokyo Sakurabashi Law Offices) and Keisuke Komatsu (Takano Law Offices) to the anti-Tachibana faction, leading them to victory.

He publicly states his admiration for former Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura, whose hometown is his grandfather's, and during the media coverage of the so-called "Kihara incident," he defended Seiji Kihara, former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, who is also his senior from high school, maintaining close relationships with many political figures in Japan across party lines.

He is also renowned internationally as a leading consultant for career strategies for legal professionals and for guiding corporations on how to effectively utilize lawyers, having interactions with numerous lawyers in Japan and abroad.

As a pioneer of activist investment in Japan, he expressed clear opposition to HOYA Corporation's acquisition of Pentax in 2007 through a weekly magazine. The following year, his view was proven correct when the company incurred significant special losses. Subsequently, he criticized the board of directors at the time, which was predominantly composed of individuals in their late seventies who did not understand corporate value or director duties, and actively spoke out in the media. He led the ousting of Hiroyasu Tanji, the then Chief Technology Officer, who had damaged corporate value and had no track record of creating new businesses through the Pentax acquisition. Furthermore, from 2010 onwards, he actively engaged in shareholder proposal activities towards HOYA Corporation, submitting 15 proposals aimed at corporate governance reform as a founding family shareholder in 2010.

Among these, the following were particularly noteworthy:

• Individual disclosure of executive compensation (disclosure of compensation information by director) - Over 45% approval at the 2010 general meeting, and over 48% at the 2011 general meeting.

• Establishment of a committee composed solely of outside directors (management supervision without executive officers) - Over 33% approval.

• Limitation of reappointment of outside directors to "within 10 terms" (for maintaining independence).

• Expansion of the maximum word count for explanations of proposals in shareholder proposals from 400 characters to 4,000 characters (enhancing the effectiveness of shareholder proposal rights) - Over 43% approval in 2010.

• Prohibition of stock option holders selling call options and holding put options (hedging) - 25% or more of voting rights secured in 2010.

• Requirement for 30 days' advance notice when directors sell shares - 25% or more of voting rights secured in 2010.

• Introduction of an anonymous voting system (secret ballot).

• Disclosure obligation for outside director candidates concurrently serving public interest corporations.

These proposals aimed at qualitatively improving corporate governance. Five of these proposals received recommendations for approval from all three major proxy advisory firms: Glass Lewis, Nippon Proxy Research Institute, and ISS (Institutional Shareholder Services) (Source: Nikkei Shimbun, June 18, 2010, Article URL). ISS is the world's largest proxy advisory firm, and its recommendations have a significant impact on the decisions of institutional investors worldwide, marking a landmark event in the history of Japanese shareholder meetings.

In the same year, measures to enhance transparency in executive compensation, such as prohibiting hedging transactions by stock option holders (selling call options and holding put options) and requiring directors to provide 30 days' advance notice and disclosure when selling company shares, were ahead of their time in discussions on executive compensation and their groundbreaking nature is still not fully appreciated in the Japanese capital market. These proposals also received ISS approval recommendations, and shareholder votes totaling in the mid-20% range were obtained from mainly foreign institutional investors in preliminary tallies before the general meeting of shareholders (Nikkei Shimbun, June 18, 2010, Same as above).

Furthermore, proposals such as individual disclosure of executive compensation also received approval recommendations from Glass Lewis and Nippon Proxy Research Institute, and were reported sequentially by major media outlets such as Nikkei Shimbun (June 21, 2010, Article URL), Bloomberg (June 17, 2010, Article URL), and Toyo Keizai Online (August 18, 2010, Article URL).

As a result, the proposal received over 45% of the votes at the 2010 shareholder meeting, and over 48% in 2011.

In 2011, he was invited to Harvard Law School to give a lecture on shareholder proposals in Japan during the Democratic Party administration, the trends in the capital markets, and related discussion points, which garnered significant attention.

Furthermore, he continued to actively make shareholder proposals to the company. In 2012, fearing the over 48% shareholder approval rate, which was close to a majority, management led by Hiroshi Suzuki engaged in the illegal act of not including shareholder proposals. However, in the following year, 2013, he obtained an interlocutory injunction from the Tokyo District Court, Civil Affairs Division 8 (Presiding Judge Yasushi Taniguchi), likely the first in Japanese history, ordering the full publication of the shareholder proposal and its reasons. In 2014, he obtained a landmark decision (Presiding Judge Atsushi Ujimoto) ordering the company to publish 12 proposals similarly, significantly impacting the practice of shareholder proposals in Japan.

During this period, in response to the non-inclusion of shareholder proposals by HOYA management led by Hiroshi Suzuki, he obtained judgments recognizing it as a cause for cancellation of resolutions (Presiding Judge Shinya Onodera) and ordering damages (Tokyo District Court, Civil Affairs Division 45, Judge Yama[name incomplete]).