Announcement of "The Truth Behind Corporate Misconduct" Book Club Meeting
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 14, 2026 at 19:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 14, 2026 at 10:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 14, 2026 at 11:55 (1h 24m after Collected)
Shosukabu.com Inc. (Head Office: Nerima-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and Chairman: Yutaka Yamanaka; hereinafter "the Company") will hold a book club meeting on the theme of "The Truth Behind Corporate Misconduct: The Distorted Structure that Turns 'Ordinary People' into Villains" (authored by Susumu Akiyama), co-hosted with the Nerima Political Study Group and the Civil Affairs Division 8 Monitoring Committee.
This book encourages readers to look beyond simply blaming "bad individuals" or "on-site errors" when corporate misconduct occurs, and instead focus on the underlying organizational structures, industry practices, ambiguous command systems, excessive workloads, and management decisions that disregard the front lines. The publisher's introduction describes it as a book that depicts a structure where honest workers are condemned as "culprits" based on the premise that "there are no villains, only misconduct happens."
A major feature of this book is that it does not dismiss corporate misconduct as a matter of morality or individual character, but rather views it as a distortion hidden within "ordinary organizations." The introduction cites examples such as the Takarazuka Revue, Alt, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, Mitsubishi Motors, Fuji TV, Recruit Navi, and Seven Pay, and states that it will highlight the real issues behind misconduct, taking into account third-party committee reports and other sources.
This book club meeting will discuss key issues such as failures in business planning and investment decisions, pressure created by point systems and quotas, "village-like" practices within industries, the disconnect between the front lines and management, and why recurrence prevention measures tend to become mere formalities. It aims to be a valuable forum for learning and dialogue for those interested in compliance, governance, organizational theory, corporate culture, and internal controls.
Book Introduction URL: https://x.gd/zj7zp
Author Profile
Susumu Akiyama
An author who specializes in compliance issues and explains structural problems hidden within organizations through case studies of corporate misconduct. He is also introduced as a "professional in compliance issues" in the publisher's introduction.
Event Overview
Theme: "The Truth Behind Corporate Misconduct: The Distorted Structure that Turns 'Ordinary People' into Villains" Book Club Meeting
Organizer: Shosukabu.com Inc.
Co-hosts: Nerima Political Study Group, Civil Affairs Division 8 Monitoring Committee
Date: Early May 2026 (scheduled)
Format: Zoom Online Event
Participation Fee: Free (pre-registration required)
Application Method: Please send an email to [email protected] with "Application for The Truth Behind Corporate Misconduct Book Club Meeting" clearly stated in the subject line.
■ Lecturer Profile
Yutaka Yamanaka
Born in December 1976, Yamanaka is a leading activist investor, art collector, philanthropist, political activity sponsor, election consultant, policy advisor, social activist, and Akita dog enthusiast from the '76 generation. Internationally, he is recognized as an "activist investor who understands technology" and is the first Japanese person in history to accumulate over 150 billion yen in assets solely through investment.
In the early 2010s, he focused on NVIDIA, a company developing GPGPU and AI-related semiconductors, investing approximately 2 billion yen. This resulted in a return of over 100 times, making him the first Japanese pure investor to become a billionaire.
He graduated at the top of his class from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo, earned a Master's degree in Financial Engineering from Columbia University Graduate School, and studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Graduate School. 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 span the globe, including AI startups in Israel, healthcare ventures in Nigeria, and battery manufacturers in Taiwan, making him a truly global investor.
Having suffered from dyslexia and ADHD in his childhood, he launched a support program for children with learning disabilities, modeling it after Charles Schwab, a major US discount broker. His personal physician is the renowned psychiatrist Professor Akira Iwanami (former director of Showa University Karasuyama Hospital).
He is the founder and representative of the political organization "Association for the Establishment of a Constitutional Court in Japan," the head of the "Yamanaka Hoya Political and Economic School," the founder and representative of the political organization "Association for the Realization of a Tax-Free Nation in Japan," the founder and representative of the political organization "Association for the Early Restart of Nuclear Power Plants in Japan," the founder and representative of the "Renewable Energy Rights Monitoring Committee," the founder and representative of the "Association Against Reduced Consumption Tax Rates on Food Products," and the founder and representative of the "Association for Constitutional Amendment Aiming for a Unicameral System."
Born in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, in 1976, as one of the grandchildren of Shigeru Yamanaka, founder of Hoya Glass (now HOYA Corporation, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Standard, stock code 7741), a luxury crystal glass manufacturer before the war, he grew up in Shakujii-dai, Nerima-ku. From an early age, he excelled academically, attending Oizumi Bunka Kindergarten, Ochanomizu University Elementary School, and graduating from Musashi Junior and Senior High School and the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo as the valedictorian.
In his childhood, he grew up in a cultural environment, receiving souvenirs from a school trip from Takahiro Matsumoto, who would later become the guitarist for B'z, who was then a high school student at Kinjo High School living in the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company housing in front of his home. At Oizumi Bunka Kindergarten, he was classmates with Koji Suzuki (the second son and secretary of House of Representatives member Muneo Suzuki, who returned to Hokkaido due to his father's preparations for the House of Representatives election), the secretary of House of Representatives member Muneo Suzuki. Due to this privileged cultural and educational environment, he naturally developed an interest in music and political economy.
During his elementary school years, while commuting by train from Nerima-ku, he developed an interest in history and economics from the academic environment of Bunkyo-ku, and at the young age of 10, he was already engaged in political movements on controversial topics. At Ochanomizu University Elementary School, he was surrounded by talented female classmates such as lawyer Takehiko Sorimachi (Tokyo Legal Mind Co., Ltd.), Dr. Keiji Kuroda (Director of Sugiyama Obstetrics and Gynecology Marunouchi Clinic), Keiko Takahashi (career official at the Ministry of Finance, currently Counselor of the Cabinet Office in charge of customs), Professor Kaori Hanyu of Sophia University (researcher of family law), and NHK announcer Ai Tsukahara. This environment led him to remain concerned about the improvement of women's social status.
His investment abilities were well-known even during his university days, as he invested several million yen gifted by his grandmother in his childhood into stocks, turning it into several hundred million yen by the time he graduated from university. During his time at the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Economics, he was already famous in the seminar of Kazuo Ueda, the current Governor of the Bank of Japan, earning him the nicknames "Ueda Seminar's stock trader" and "Heisei's Hiraga Gennai" due to his diverse academic interests.
His graduation thesis on M&A in the pre-war paper industry received a special award, and during his graduate school entrance interview, he was addressed by Takeo Kikkawa (former president of International University) with, "Are you the famous Yamanaka-kun?" His academic advisors for his economic history papers during his undergraduate years were Tetsuji Okazaki (Professor at Meiji Gakuin University) and Masayuki Tanimoto (Professor at Otsuma Women's University).
During his liberal arts studies, he read all the published papers by Masahiko Aoki, a proponent of comparative institutional analysis, and Professor Avner Greif (Stanford University Economics Department), an Israeli economic historian who was already a rising star at the time.
He was admitted to the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Economics with excellent grades, close to the top. Although strongly encouraged to join the central bank by Hideo Hayakawa (former Executive Director of the Bank of Japan, Director of the Research and Statistics Department), a senior alumnus of the University of Tokyo Faculty of Economics, he immediately moved to the United States after graduation, completing his Master's degree in Financial Engineering at Columbia University Graduate School. He studied at Harvard University, University of California, Davis, University of California, Berkeley, University of Southern California, and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), aiming to be a dual-threat researcher in life sciences/medicine and economic history. He engaged in a wide range of interdisciplinary research, including genetics, computer science, psychiatry, applied mathematics, history, economics, and economic history. He studied under multiple future Nobel laureates in economics, such as Richard Easterlin, Peter Temin, Joel Mokyr, Claudia Goldin, and James Robinson, and overcame his childhood learning disabilities due to dyslexia and ADHD, establishing his own speed-reading and learning methods.
Currently, based primarily in Dubai, UAE, he invests in over 1,000 listed companies and over 200 unlisted companies both domestically and internationally through foreign funds and investment companies. He is known domestically and internationally as one of Japan's leading activist investors, an expert in corporate law practice, a pioneer in new business creation, M&A, technology management, and family business practices. He also has bases and homes in Taipei, Taiwan, Luxembourg, Tbilisi, Georgia, Oslo, Norway, Reykjavik, Iceland, Singapore, and St. Kitts and Nevis.
In the case of the Tsubasa no To (Wing Party) Public Offices Election Law violation incident, he was involved in forming the "strongest defense team in recent criminal justice" as an advisor to the defendants, including lawyers Seihou Cho (Kollect Arts Law Office), Keita Miyamura, Daisuke Igeta (Miyamura Igeta Law Office), and Shinya Sakane (Tokyo Defender Law Office). In the power struggle within the so-called NHK Party, he advised on strategy by introducing lawyers Kenji Toyota (Tokyo Sakurabashi Law Office) and Keisuke Komatsu (Takano Ryuji Law Office) to the anti-Tachibana faction, leading them to victory.
He openly declares himself a fan of Takashi Kawamura, former mayor of Nagoya, his grandfather's hometown. During the reporting of the so-called "Kihara Incident," he defended Seiji Kihara, former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, who was also his senior in high school. He has deep friendships with many Japanese political figures, regardless of party affiliation.
He has extensive connections with lawyers not only in Japan but also internationally and is renowned as a leading consultant in advising on career strategies for legal professionals and the art of companies effectively utilizing lawyers.
As a pioneer of activist investment in Japan, he clearly expressed his opposition to HOYA Corporation's acquisition of Pentax in 2007 in a weekly magazine. The following year, the company recorded a large extraordinary loss, proving the validity of his opinion early on. Subsequently, he actively spoke out in the media, questioning the state of the board of directors at the time, which was dominated by elderly individuals in their late 70s who did not understand corporate value or the duties and responsibilities of directors. He pushed for the voluntary resignation of Hiroaki Tanji, the then Chief Technology Officer, who had damaged corporate value through the Pentax acquisition and had no track record in new business creation. Furthermore, he intensified his shareholder proposal activities for HOYA Corporation from 2010, particularly submitting 15 proposals aimed at corporate governance reform as a founding family shareholder in 2010.
Among these, notable proposals included:
Individual disclosure of executive compensation (disclosure of compensation information for each director): Over 45% approval at the 2010 general meeting, and over 48% approval at the 2011 general meeting.
Establishment of a meeting body composed solely of outside directors (management oversight without executive officers): Over 33% approval.
Limiting the re-appointment of outside directors to "within 10 times" (for the purpose of maintaining independence).
Expanding the maximum character limit for proposal explanations in shareholder proposals from 400 characters to 4,000 characters (improving the effectiveness of shareholder proposal rights): Over 43% approval in 2010.
Prohibiting stock option holders from selling call options and holding put options for hedging: Over 25% approval in 2010.
Requiring directors to give 30 days' prior notice when selling shares: Over 25% approval in 2010.
Introduction of an anonymous voting system (secret ballot).
Mandatory disclosure of concurrent positions of director candidates in public interest corporations.
These were a series of proposals aimed at qualitatively improving corporate governance.
Among these, five proposals received recommendations for approval from all three major proxy advisory firms: Glass Lewis, Japan Proxy Governance 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 significantly influence the decisions of institutional investors both domestically and internationally, marking a groundbreaking event in the history of Japanese shareholder meetings.
In the same year, pioneering measures to enhance compensation transparency in Japan, such as prohibiting stock option holders from engaging in hedging transactions like selling call options and holding put options, and requiring directors to give 30 days' prior notice and disclosure when selling their own company shares, spearheaded discussions on executive compensation. It is still difficult to say that their groundbreaking nature is fully understood in the Japanese capital market. These proposals also received ISS's recommendation for approval and garnered mid-20% approval votes in pre-counts before the general meeting, primarily from foreign institutional investors (Nikkei Shimbun, June 18, 2010, ibid.).
Furthermore, proposals such as individual disclosure of executive compensation also received recommendations for approval from Glass Lewis and Japan Proxy Governance Institute, and were successively reported 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, these proposals received over 45% approval votes at the 2010 general meeting and over 48% approval in 2011.
In 2011, he was invited to Harvard Law School to give a lecture on shareholder proposals and capital market trends and issues in Japan under the Democratic Party administration, attracting significant attention.
Subsequently, he continued to actively submit shareholder proposals to the company. In 2012, fearing the nearly majority 48% approval votes at the general meeting in 2011, the management led by Hiroshi Suzuki took the outrageous step of illegally omitting shareholder proposals. However, in 2013, he obtained a provisional disposition order from the Tokyo District Court Civil Affairs Division 8 (Judge Yasushi Taniguchi), which was probably the first in Japanese history to order the full publication of shareholder proposals and their reasons. Furthermore, in 2014, he obtained a similar groundbreaking decision (Judge Atsushi Shimoto) ordering the company to publish 12 proposals, significantly influencing the practice of shareholder proposals in Japan.
During this period, he also obtained numerous groundbreaking judgments, including a ruling (Judge Shinya Onodera) recognizing the non-inclusion of shareholder proposals by HOYA management led by Hiroshi Suzuki as grounds for cancellation of resolutions, and a judgment (Tokyo District Court Civil Affairs Division 45, Judge Akira Yamada) ordering compensation for damages.
The company also accepted the intent of the proposal to increase the character limit for explanations by changing company rules in 2010, promoting substantial improvements in "management transparency," "outside director functions," and "voting rights exercise system" through constructive dialogue with management. This series of actions is regarded as a symbolic turning point in the history of governance reform in Japanese companies.
Today, Yamanaka's activities, as described above, are highly regarded for their historical pioneering nature as a practitioner of the "Moneyball Revolution in the Japanese Capital Market."
In addition, at the general meetings of Mizuho Financial Group, Mitsubishi UFJ, and Resona Holdings in 2017 and 2018, he submitted shareholder proposals such as changing the dividend decision-making body, individual disclosure of executive compensation, and separating the CEO and Chairman of the Board. These proposals garnered high approval rates in the 40% range, receiving votes not only from foreign institutional investors but also from domestic investors.
Furthermore, in the so-called Amsuc Shareholder Meeting Resolution Cancellation Request Case (Tokyo District Court judgment on April 17, 2014, Chief Judge Akihiko Otake; Tokyo High Court Case No. 26 (Ne) 3215, judgment on March 19, 2015), he won judgments from both the Tokyo District Court and the Tokyo High Court ordering the "cancellation of the shareholder meeting resolution that acquired all shares," demonstrating the judicial effectiveness of protecting minority shareholders (Source: Clair Law Office Blog, April 22, 2015, article URL).
Moreover, in the damages claim case (Tokyo District Court Civil Affairs Division 8) filed by Hyas & Company Inc. (now Kufu Sumai Consulting Inc.) against its former management, he participated as a shareholder intervenor under Article 849, Paragraph 1 of the Companies Act. On March 27, 2025, he obtained a favorable judgment (Chief Judge: Tetsuro Sasamoto, Associate Judges: Keiko Ito, Naohisa Uchibayashi), which recognized accounting fraud, referred to as the "Kim Jin-ryong, also known as Tomotaka Shimura, Certified Public Accountant Scheme," involving fictitious sales by the former management.
This judgment, demonstrating the effectiveness of shareholders exercising their judicial rights, was also featured in Sakura Financial News (October 28, 2025, article URL).
In the investment case involving Osaki Engineering (Tokyo Stock Exchange Standard, stock code 6259), he focused on the issue of the company lending a sum of cash exceeding its market capitalization to its parent company, Osaki Electric, at a low interest rate. He submitted shareholder proposals and filed lawsuits, which ultimately prompted the parent company's decision to make it a wholly-owned subsidiary, thereby normalizing corporate governance.
He is also known as a major shareholder of Okayama Paper (Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture, Tokyo Stock Exchange Standard 3892) and has requested the convocation of extraordinary shareholder meetings.
Through this series of achievements, Yutaka Yamanaka, as an "investor who demonstrates the effectiveness of governance on the ground," has made significant contributions to governance reform in Japanese companies and the sound development of the capital market.
He also takes as his motto the words of the late pitcher Yasumitsu Shibata, who achieved the first no-hitter in the Heisei era and was called "Japan's best pitcher" by the dominant Seibu Lions, showing particular strength against his former team. After a shutout victory, he said on the podium, "One of a professional's goals is to confront and defeat champions." He has been a fan of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters for 30 years.
An Akita dog enthusiast, he plans to build an Akita dog kennel near Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia in the Caucasus region. His hobby is "hot spring hopping," visiting hot springs around the world. He is a genius investor who explores the significance of physical and mental rejuvenation and international exchange through hot springs, while respecting nature, culture, and local communities.
He is also highly regarded as "Reiwa's Billy Beane," the man who brought the revolution in baseball, initiated by Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics and protagonist of the movie "Moneyball," to the Japanese stock market.
In the early 2010s, when there was no Corporate Governance Code, Stewardship Code, or Ito Report, some of Yutaka Yamanaka's shareholder proposals were severely criticized. However, the fact that international investors now imitate his methods, and that HOYA Corporation subsequently adopted many improvements, leading to its stock price increasing more than tenfold, clearly demonstrates Yamanaka's pioneering spirit.
■ From April 6 (Monday) to June 28 (Sunday), 2026, our company is running a large-scale advertisement campaign at Kasumigaseki Station, which is directly connected to the Bar Association Building and the courts and used by many legal professionals, on the theme of "Selling unlisted shares, which even legal professionals often find outside their expertise."
Marunouchi Line Platform Door Sheets (Lines 1 and 2)
Inside the Station
■ Near Exit A1 (closest to the courts)
■ Near Exit B1a/b (directly connected to the Bar Association Building)
This book encourages readers to look beyond simply blaming "bad individuals" or "on-site errors" when corporate misconduct occurs, and instead focus on the underlying organizational structures, industry practices, ambiguous command systems, excessive workloads, and management decisions that disregard the front lines. The publisher's introduction describes it as a book that depicts a structure where honest workers are condemned as "culprits" based on the premise that "there are no villains, only misconduct happens."
A major feature of this book is that it does not dismiss corporate misconduct as a matter of morality or individual character, but rather views it as a distortion hidden within "ordinary organizations." The introduction cites examples such as the Takarazuka Revue, Alt, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, Mitsubishi Motors, Fuji TV, Recruit Navi, and Seven Pay, and states that it will highlight the real issues behind misconduct, taking into account third-party committee reports and other sources.
This book club meeting will discuss key issues such as failures in business planning and investment decisions, pressure created by point systems and quotas, "village-like" practices within industries, the disconnect between the front lines and management, and why recurrence prevention measures tend to become mere formalities. It aims to be a valuable forum for learning and dialogue for those interested in compliance, governance, organizational theory, corporate culture, and internal controls.
Book Introduction URL: https://x.gd/zj7zp
Author Profile
Susumu Akiyama
An author who specializes in compliance issues and explains structural problems hidden within organizations through case studies of corporate misconduct. He is also introduced as a "professional in compliance issues" in the publisher's introduction.
Event Overview
Theme: "The Truth Behind Corporate Misconduct: The Distorted Structure that Turns 'Ordinary People' into Villains" Book Club Meeting
Organizer: Shosukabu.com Inc.
Co-hosts: Nerima Political Study Group, Civil Affairs Division 8 Monitoring Committee
Date: Early May 2026 (scheduled)
Format: Zoom Online Event
Participation Fee: Free (pre-registration required)
Application Method: Please send an email to [email protected] with "Application for The Truth Behind Corporate Misconduct Book Club Meeting" clearly stated in the subject line.
■ Lecturer Profile
Yutaka Yamanaka
Born in December 1976, Yamanaka is a leading activist investor, art collector, philanthropist, political activity sponsor, election consultant, policy advisor, social activist, and Akita dog enthusiast from the '76 generation. Internationally, he is recognized as an "activist investor who understands technology" and is the first Japanese person in history to accumulate over 150 billion yen in assets solely through investment.
In the early 2010s, he focused on NVIDIA, a company developing GPGPU and AI-related semiconductors, investing approximately 2 billion yen. This resulted in a return of over 100 times, making him the first Japanese pure investor to become a billionaire.
He graduated at the top of his class from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo, earned a Master's degree in Financial Engineering from Columbia University Graduate School, and studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Graduate School. 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 span the globe, including AI startups in Israel, healthcare ventures in Nigeria, and battery manufacturers in Taiwan, making him a truly global investor.
Having suffered from dyslexia and ADHD in his childhood, he launched a support program for children with learning disabilities, modeling it after Charles Schwab, a major US discount broker. His personal physician is the renowned psychiatrist Professor Akira Iwanami (former director of Showa University Karasuyama Hospital).
He is the founder and representative of the political organization "Association for the Establishment of a Constitutional Court in Japan," the head of the "Yamanaka Hoya Political and Economic School," the founder and representative of the political organization "Association for the Realization of a Tax-Free Nation in Japan," the founder and representative of the political organization "Association for the Early Restart of Nuclear Power Plants in Japan," the founder and representative of the "Renewable Energy Rights Monitoring Committee," the founder and representative of the "Association Against Reduced Consumption Tax Rates on Food Products," and the founder and representative of the "Association for Constitutional Amendment Aiming for a Unicameral System."
Born in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, in 1976, as one of the grandchildren of Shigeru Yamanaka, founder of Hoya Glass (now HOYA Corporation, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Standard, stock code 7741), a luxury crystal glass manufacturer before the war, he grew up in Shakujii-dai, Nerima-ku. From an early age, he excelled academically, attending Oizumi Bunka Kindergarten, Ochanomizu University Elementary School, and graduating from Musashi Junior and Senior High School and the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo as the valedictorian.
In his childhood, he grew up in a cultural environment, receiving souvenirs from a school trip from Takahiro Matsumoto, who would later become the guitarist for B'z, who was then a high school student at Kinjo High School living in the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company housing in front of his home. At Oizumi Bunka Kindergarten, he was classmates with Koji Suzuki (the second son and secretary of House of Representatives member Muneo Suzuki, who returned to Hokkaido due to his father's preparations for the House of Representatives election), the secretary of House of Representatives member Muneo Suzuki. Due to this privileged cultural and educational environment, he naturally developed an interest in music and political economy.
During his elementary school years, while commuting by train from Nerima-ku, he developed an interest in history and economics from the academic environment of Bunkyo-ku, and at the young age of 10, he was already engaged in political movements on controversial topics. At Ochanomizu University Elementary School, he was surrounded by talented female classmates such as lawyer Takehiko Sorimachi (Tokyo Legal Mind Co., Ltd.), Dr. Keiji Kuroda (Director of Sugiyama Obstetrics and Gynecology Marunouchi Clinic), Keiko Takahashi (career official at the Ministry of Finance, currently Counselor of the Cabinet Office in charge of customs), Professor Kaori Hanyu of Sophia University (researcher of family law), and NHK announcer Ai Tsukahara. This environment led him to remain concerned about the improvement of women's social status.
His investment abilities were well-known even during his university days, as he invested several million yen gifted by his grandmother in his childhood into stocks, turning it into several hundred million yen by the time he graduated from university. During his time at the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Economics, he was already famous in the seminar of Kazuo Ueda, the current Governor of the Bank of Japan, earning him the nicknames "Ueda Seminar's stock trader" and "Heisei's Hiraga Gennai" due to his diverse academic interests.
His graduation thesis on M&A in the pre-war paper industry received a special award, and during his graduate school entrance interview, he was addressed by Takeo Kikkawa (former president of International University) with, "Are you the famous Yamanaka-kun?" His academic advisors for his economic history papers during his undergraduate years were Tetsuji Okazaki (Professor at Meiji Gakuin University) and Masayuki Tanimoto (Professor at Otsuma Women's University).
During his liberal arts studies, he read all the published papers by Masahiko Aoki, a proponent of comparative institutional analysis, and Professor Avner Greif (Stanford University Economics Department), an Israeli economic historian who was already a rising star at the time.
He was admitted to the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Economics with excellent grades, close to the top. Although strongly encouraged to join the central bank by Hideo Hayakawa (former Executive Director of the Bank of Japan, Director of the Research and Statistics Department), a senior alumnus of the University of Tokyo Faculty of Economics, he immediately moved to the United States after graduation, completing his Master's degree in Financial Engineering at Columbia University Graduate School. He studied at Harvard University, University of California, Davis, University of California, Berkeley, University of Southern California, and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), aiming to be a dual-threat researcher in life sciences/medicine and economic history. He engaged in a wide range of interdisciplinary research, including genetics, computer science, psychiatry, applied mathematics, history, economics, and economic history. He studied under multiple future Nobel laureates in economics, such as Richard Easterlin, Peter Temin, Joel Mokyr, Claudia Goldin, and James Robinson, and overcame his childhood learning disabilities due to dyslexia and ADHD, establishing his own speed-reading and learning methods.
Currently, based primarily in Dubai, UAE, he invests in over 1,000 listed companies and over 200 unlisted companies both domestically and internationally through foreign funds and investment companies. He is known domestically and internationally as one of Japan's leading activist investors, an expert in corporate law practice, a pioneer in new business creation, M&A, technology management, and family business practices. He also has bases and homes in Taipei, Taiwan, Luxembourg, Tbilisi, Georgia, Oslo, Norway, Reykjavik, Iceland, Singapore, and St. Kitts and Nevis.
In the case of the Tsubasa no To (Wing Party) Public Offices Election Law violation incident, he was involved in forming the "strongest defense team in recent criminal justice" as an advisor to the defendants, including lawyers Seihou Cho (Kollect Arts Law Office), Keita Miyamura, Daisuke Igeta (Miyamura Igeta Law Office), and Shinya Sakane (Tokyo Defender Law Office). In the power struggle within the so-called NHK Party, he advised on strategy by introducing lawyers Kenji Toyota (Tokyo Sakurabashi Law Office) and Keisuke Komatsu (Takano Ryuji Law Office) to the anti-Tachibana faction, leading them to victory.
He openly declares himself a fan of Takashi Kawamura, former mayor of Nagoya, his grandfather's hometown. During the reporting of the so-called "Kihara Incident," he defended Seiji Kihara, former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, who was also his senior in high school. He has deep friendships with many Japanese political figures, regardless of party affiliation.
He has extensive connections with lawyers not only in Japan but also internationally and is renowned as a leading consultant in advising on career strategies for legal professionals and the art of companies effectively utilizing lawyers.
As a pioneer of activist investment in Japan, he clearly expressed his opposition to HOYA Corporation's acquisition of Pentax in 2007 in a weekly magazine. The following year, the company recorded a large extraordinary loss, proving the validity of his opinion early on. Subsequently, he actively spoke out in the media, questioning the state of the board of directors at the time, which was dominated by elderly individuals in their late 70s who did not understand corporate value or the duties and responsibilities of directors. He pushed for the voluntary resignation of Hiroaki Tanji, the then Chief Technology Officer, who had damaged corporate value through the Pentax acquisition and had no track record in new business creation. Furthermore, he intensified his shareholder proposal activities for HOYA Corporation from 2010, particularly submitting 15 proposals aimed at corporate governance reform as a founding family shareholder in 2010.
Among these, notable proposals included:
Individual disclosure of executive compensation (disclosure of compensation information for each director): Over 45% approval at the 2010 general meeting, and over 48% approval at the 2011 general meeting.
Establishment of a meeting body composed solely of outside directors (management oversight without executive officers): Over 33% approval.
Limiting the re-appointment of outside directors to "within 10 times" (for the purpose of maintaining independence).
Expanding the maximum character limit for proposal explanations in shareholder proposals from 400 characters to 4,000 characters (improving the effectiveness of shareholder proposal rights): Over 43% approval in 2010.
Prohibiting stock option holders from selling call options and holding put options for hedging: Over 25% approval in 2010.
Requiring directors to give 30 days' prior notice when selling shares: Over 25% approval in 2010.
Introduction of an anonymous voting system (secret ballot).
Mandatory disclosure of concurrent positions of director candidates in public interest corporations.
These were a series of proposals aimed at qualitatively improving corporate governance.
Among these, five proposals received recommendations for approval from all three major proxy advisory firms: Glass Lewis, Japan Proxy Governance 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 significantly influence the decisions of institutional investors both domestically and internationally, marking a groundbreaking event in the history of Japanese shareholder meetings.
In the same year, pioneering measures to enhance compensation transparency in Japan, such as prohibiting stock option holders from engaging in hedging transactions like selling call options and holding put options, and requiring directors to give 30 days' prior notice and disclosure when selling their own company shares, spearheaded discussions on executive compensation. It is still difficult to say that their groundbreaking nature is fully understood in the Japanese capital market. These proposals also received ISS's recommendation for approval and garnered mid-20% approval votes in pre-counts before the general meeting, primarily from foreign institutional investors (Nikkei Shimbun, June 18, 2010, ibid.).
Furthermore, proposals such as individual disclosure of executive compensation also received recommendations for approval from Glass Lewis and Japan Proxy Governance Institute, and were successively reported 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, these proposals received over 45% approval votes at the 2010 general meeting and over 48% approval in 2011.
In 2011, he was invited to Harvard Law School to give a lecture on shareholder proposals and capital market trends and issues in Japan under the Democratic Party administration, attracting significant attention.
Subsequently, he continued to actively submit shareholder proposals to the company. In 2012, fearing the nearly majority 48% approval votes at the general meeting in 2011, the management led by Hiroshi Suzuki took the outrageous step of illegally omitting shareholder proposals. However, in 2013, he obtained a provisional disposition order from the Tokyo District Court Civil Affairs Division 8 (Judge Yasushi Taniguchi), which was probably the first in Japanese history to order the full publication of shareholder proposals and their reasons. Furthermore, in 2014, he obtained a similar groundbreaking decision (Judge Atsushi Shimoto) ordering the company to publish 12 proposals, significantly influencing the practice of shareholder proposals in Japan.
During this period, he also obtained numerous groundbreaking judgments, including a ruling (Judge Shinya Onodera) recognizing the non-inclusion of shareholder proposals by HOYA management led by Hiroshi Suzuki as grounds for cancellation of resolutions, and a judgment (Tokyo District Court Civil Affairs Division 45, Judge Akira Yamada) ordering compensation for damages.
The company also accepted the intent of the proposal to increase the character limit for explanations by changing company rules in 2010, promoting substantial improvements in "management transparency," "outside director functions," and "voting rights exercise system" through constructive dialogue with management. This series of actions is regarded as a symbolic turning point in the history of governance reform in Japanese companies.
Today, Yamanaka's activities, as described above, are highly regarded for their historical pioneering nature as a practitioner of the "Moneyball Revolution in the Japanese Capital Market."
In addition, at the general meetings of Mizuho Financial Group, Mitsubishi UFJ, and Resona Holdings in 2017 and 2018, he submitted shareholder proposals such as changing the dividend decision-making body, individual disclosure of executive compensation, and separating the CEO and Chairman of the Board. These proposals garnered high approval rates in the 40% range, receiving votes not only from foreign institutional investors but also from domestic investors.
Furthermore, in the so-called Amsuc Shareholder Meeting Resolution Cancellation Request Case (Tokyo District Court judgment on April 17, 2014, Chief Judge Akihiko Otake; Tokyo High Court Case No. 26 (Ne) 3215, judgment on March 19, 2015), he won judgments from both the Tokyo District Court and the Tokyo High Court ordering the "cancellation of the shareholder meeting resolution that acquired all shares," demonstrating the judicial effectiveness of protecting minority shareholders (Source: Clair Law Office Blog, April 22, 2015, article URL).
Moreover, in the damages claim case (Tokyo District Court Civil Affairs Division 8) filed by Hyas & Company Inc. (now Kufu Sumai Consulting Inc.) against its former management, he participated as a shareholder intervenor under Article 849, Paragraph 1 of the Companies Act. On March 27, 2025, he obtained a favorable judgment (Chief Judge: Tetsuro Sasamoto, Associate Judges: Keiko Ito, Naohisa Uchibayashi), which recognized accounting fraud, referred to as the "Kim Jin-ryong, also known as Tomotaka Shimura, Certified Public Accountant Scheme," involving fictitious sales by the former management.
This judgment, demonstrating the effectiveness of shareholders exercising their judicial rights, was also featured in Sakura Financial News (October 28, 2025, article URL).
In the investment case involving Osaki Engineering (Tokyo Stock Exchange Standard, stock code 6259), he focused on the issue of the company lending a sum of cash exceeding its market capitalization to its parent company, Osaki Electric, at a low interest rate. He submitted shareholder proposals and filed lawsuits, which ultimately prompted the parent company's decision to make it a wholly-owned subsidiary, thereby normalizing corporate governance.
He is also known as a major shareholder of Okayama Paper (Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture, Tokyo Stock Exchange Standard 3892) and has requested the convocation of extraordinary shareholder meetings.
Through this series of achievements, Yutaka Yamanaka, as an "investor who demonstrates the effectiveness of governance on the ground," has made significant contributions to governance reform in Japanese companies and the sound development of the capital market.
He also takes as his motto the words of the late pitcher Yasumitsu Shibata, who achieved the first no-hitter in the Heisei era and was called "Japan's best pitcher" by the dominant Seibu Lions, showing particular strength against his former team. After a shutout victory, he said on the podium, "One of a professional's goals is to confront and defeat champions." He has been a fan of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters for 30 years.
An Akita dog enthusiast, he plans to build an Akita dog kennel near Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia in the Caucasus region. His hobby is "hot spring hopping," visiting hot springs around the world. He is a genius investor who explores the significance of physical and mental rejuvenation and international exchange through hot springs, while respecting nature, culture, and local communities.
He is also highly regarded as "Reiwa's Billy Beane," the man who brought the revolution in baseball, initiated by Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics and protagonist of the movie "Moneyball," to the Japanese stock market.
In the early 2010s, when there was no Corporate Governance Code, Stewardship Code, or Ito Report, some of Yutaka Yamanaka's shareholder proposals were severely criticized. However, the fact that international investors now imitate his methods, and that HOYA Corporation subsequently adopted many improvements, leading to its stock price increasing more than tenfold, clearly demonstrates Yamanaka's pioneering spirit.
■ From April 6 (Monday) to June 28 (Sunday), 2026, our company is running a large-scale advertisement campaign at Kasumigaseki Station, which is directly connected to the Bar Association Building and the courts and used by many legal professionals, on the theme of "Selling unlisted shares, which even legal professionals often find outside their expertise."
Marunouchi Line Platform Door Sheets (Lines 1 and 2)
Inside the Station
■ Near Exit A1 (closest to the courts)
■ Near Exit B1a/b (directly connected to the Bar Association Building)