『Departure from Dialogue』Kenichi Yoshida Dialogue Collection Chapter 1: Considering School Education from a Broad Perspective - Book Club Announcement

Minority Share.com Inc. (Headquarters: Nerima-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and Chairman: Yutaka Yamanaka; hereinafter 'the Company') will co-host a book club with the Nerima Political Research Group and the Civil Affairs Section 8 Monitoring Committee, focusing on Chapter 1 of 'Departure from Dialogue - Aiming for Resident-First Principle,' titled 'Considering School Education from a Broad Perspective.'

Chapter 1 features a dialogue with Maria Ayako Noma, discussing the perspective of re-examining school education from the reality of each individual child.

A major characteristic of this chapter is that it addresses educational issues not merely as matters of academic ability or systems, but as challenges related to the entirety of life, including truancy, single-parent households, children's self-esteem, respect for individuality, parent-child relationships, and support systems from schools and administration. It consistently raises the question of whether the current educational system and society itself need to be re-evaluated, rather than viewing children who cannot attend school as 'unadaptable.' The text specifically discusses differences from overseas schools, the uniformity of Japanese schools, the background of truancy becoming a social problem, responses to LGBTQ+ children, and the ideal role of education boards.

The chapter also emphasizes that for children to 'live true to themselves,' not only schools but also families, communities, administration, and society as a whole must act as supporters. The content subtly conveys the resident-first principle: that changing education is not merely about tweaking the school system, but about creating a society where children can have dreams, have their individuality recognized, and learn and grow with peace of mind.

This book club will primarily discuss issues surrounding truancy and single-parent households, children's individuality and self-esteem, the uniformity of school education, understanding diverse children including LGBTQ+, and what is required of educational administration. It aims to be a meaningful place for learning and dialogue for those interested in education, child-rearing, welfare, and community support.

Book URL: https://x.gd/3garfj

Event Overview

Theme: 'Considering School Education from a Broad Perspective' Book Club
Organizer: Minority Share.com Inc.
Co-organizers: Nerima Political Research Group, Civil Affairs Section 8 Monitoring Committee
Date: Early May 2026 (tentative)
Format: Zoom Online
Participation Fee: Free (pre-registration required)
Application Method: Please send an email to [email protected] with 'Participation Request for 'Considering School Education from a Broad Perspective' Book Club' in the subject line.

■ Lecturer Profile

Yutaka Yamanaka

Born in December 1976, Yutaka Yamanaka is a leading activist investor, art collector, philanthropist, political activity sponsor, election consultant, policy advisor, social activist, and Akita dog enthusiast, representing the '76 generation. Internationally recognized as an 'activist investor who understands technology,' he is historically the first Japanese person to achieve asset formation of over 150 billion yen solely through investment.

In the early 2010s, he focused on Nvidia (NVIDIA), which develops GPGPU and artificial intelligence (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 University of Tokyo's Faculty of Economics, earned 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 Minority Share.com Inc., and currently a shareholder in over 1,000 listed companies and over 200 unlisted companies worldwide. His investments are truly global, including AI startups in Israel, healthcare ventures in Nigeria, and battery manufacturers in Taiwan.

Having suffered from dyslexia and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) in his childhood, he launched a support program for children with learning disabilities, modeled 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 principal of 'Yamanaka Hoya Political and Economic Academy,' 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 political organization '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, he grew up in Shakujii-dai, Nerima-ku. From a young age, he excelled academically, attending Oizumi Bunka Kindergarten, Ochanomizu University Elementary School, and graduating from Musashi Junior and Senior High School before graduating at the top of his class from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Economics.

In his childhood, he grew up in a cultural environment, receiving souvenirs from a school trip from Takahiro Matsumoto, who lived in the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company company housing in front of his home and was then a high school student at Kinjo High School, later becoming the guitarist for B'z. 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). This privileged cultural and educational environment naturally led him to develop an interest in music, politics, and economics.

During elementary school, while commuting by train from Nerima-ku, he developed an early interest in history and economics from the academic environment of Bunkyo-ku, and at the tender age of 10, he was already engaged in political activism on controversial topics. He grew up surrounded by talented female classmates at Ochanomizu University Elementary School, including lawyer Takehiko Sorimachi (Tokyo Legal Mind Co., Ltd.), Dr. Keiji Kuroda (Director of Sugiyama Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic Marunouchi), Keiko Takahashi (career official at the Ministry of Finance, currently Counselor of the Minister's Secretariat in charge of Customs), Professor Kaori Hanyu of Sophia University (researcher of family law), and NHK announcer Ai Tsukahara. This experience continues to fuel his concern for the advancement of women's social status.

His investment abilities were well-known even during his university days; 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, known as 'the stock trader of Ueda's seminar' and also earned the nickname 'Heisei's Hiraga Gennai' due to his diverse academic interests.

His graduation thesis on pre-war paper industry M&A received a special award. During his graduate school entrance interview, he was greeted by Takeo Kikkawa, former president of International University, who said, 'Are you the famous Yamanaka-kun?' His academic advisors for his economic history thesis 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's 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 and Director-General of the Research and Statistics Department of the Bank of Japan), a senior alumnus of the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Economics, he immediately went 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), pursuing a dual career as a life science researcher/physician and economic historian, engaging in a wide range of interdisciplinary research including genetics, computer science, psychiatry, applied mathematics, history, economics, and economic history. He studied under renowned economic historians such as Richard Easterlin, Peter Temin, Joel Mokyr, Claudia Goldin, and James Robinson, several of whom later became Nobel laureates in economics. He overcame learning disabilities due to childhood 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 both in Japan and abroad 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 public election law violation case involving the Tsubasa no To party, he was involved in forming 'the strongest defense team in recent criminal justice' as an advisor to the defendants, including lawyers Seihou Cho (representative of 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 Toyoda (Tokyo Sakurabashi Law Office) and Keisuke Komatsu (Takano & Komatsu 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 'Kihara Incident,' he defended Seiji Kihara, former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, who was also his senior in high school. He has deep ties with many Japanese political figures, regardless of party affiliation.

He has extensive connections with numerous lawyers not only in Japan but also internationally, and is renowned as a leading consultant in guiding 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 questioned the state of the board of directors at the time, which was dominated by elderly individuals in their late 70s who lacked understanding of corporate value and directors' duties, and actively spoke out in the media. He pushed for the voluntary resignation of Hiroaki Tanji, the then Chief Technology Officer, who had damaged corporate value with 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, the following proposals attracted attention:

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 board composed solely of outside directors (management oversight without executive officers): Over 33% approval.

Limiting the re-election of outside directors to 'within 10 times' (to maintain independence).

Expanding the character limit for proposal explanations in shareholder proposals from 400 to 4,000 characters (to improve the effectiveness of shareholder proposal rights): Over 43% approval in 2010.

Prohibiting stock option holders from hedging by selling call options and holding put options: Over 25% approval in 2010.

Requiring 30 days' prior notice when directors sell shares: Over 25% approval in 2010.

Introduction of anonymous voting (secret ballot).

Mandatory disclosure of concurrent positions in public interest corporations for director candidates.

These were a series of proposals aimed at qualitatively improving corporate governance.

Five of these proposals received recommendations for approval from all three major proxy advisory firms: Glass Lewis, Japan Proxy Governance 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 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 hedging by selling call options and holding put options, and requiring directors to give 30 days' prior notice and disclosure when selling their company shares, spearheaded discussions on executive compensation. The groundbreaking nature of these measures is still not fully understood in the Japanese capital market. These proposals also received ISS's recommendation for approval, garnering mid-20% approval votes in pre-meeting tallies, 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 the Japan Proxy Governance Research Institute, leading to successive reports 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 the following year, 2011.

In 2011, he was invited to Harvard Law School, where he gave a lecture on shareholder proposals and capital market trends and issues in Japan under the Democratic Party administration, attracting significant attention.

He continued to actively submit shareholder proposals to the company. In 2012, the management, including Hiroshi Suzuki, fearing the nearly majority 48% approval votes at the shareholder meeting in 2011, 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 Section 8 (Judge Yasushi Taniguchi), likely the first in Japanese history, to publish the full text of a shareholder proposal and its reasons. In 2014, he similarly obtained a groundbreaking decision (Judge Atsushi Shimoto) ordering the company to publish 12 proposals, significantly impacting 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, including Hiroshi Suzuki, as grounds for rescission of resolutions, and a ruling (Tokyo District Court Civil Affairs Section 45, Judge Akira Yamada) ordering compensation for damages.

The company itself, in response to the proposal for increasing the explanation character limit, changed its company rules and already accepted the spirit of the proposal in 2010, promoting substantial improvements in 'management transparency,' 'outside director function,' 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, Yutaka 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,' with international investors now imitating his methods. Furthermore, the fact that HOYA Corporation subsequently adopted many of his proposed improvements, leading to a more than tenfold increase in its stock price, clearly demonstrates Yamanaka's pioneering spirit.

In addition, at the shareholder 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 40s, receiving votes not only from foreign institutional investors but also from domestic investors.

Furthermore, in the so-called Amsuc Shareholder Meeting Resolution Rescission Request Case (Tokyo District Court judgment on April 17, 2014, Chief Judge Akihiko Otake; Tokyo High Court Case No. 26 (Ne) No. 3215, judgment on March 19, 2015), he won judgments from both the Tokyo District Court and the Tokyo High Court ordering the 'rescission of the resolution of the shareholder meeting that acquired all shares,' demonstrating the judicial effectiveness of protecting minority shareholders (Source: Clair Law Office Blog, April 22, 2015, article URL).

Moreover, he participated as a shareholder intervenor under Article 849, Paragraph 1 of the Companies Act in the damages claim case (Tokyo District Court Civil Affairs Section 8) filed by Hyas & Company Inc. (now Kufu Sumai Consulting Inc.) against its former management. A winning judgment was obtained on March 27, 2025 (Chief Judge: Tetsuro Sasamoto, Associate Judges: Keiko Ito, Naohisa Uchibayashi), recognizing the fraudulent accounting, known 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' exercise of judicial rights, was also featured in Sakura Financial News (October 28, 2025, article URL).

In the investment case for Osaki Engineering (Tokyo Stock Exchange Standard, stock code 6259), he focused on the issue of the company lending cash exceeding its market capitalization to its parent company, Osaki Electric, at a low interest rate. He submitted shareholder proposals and filed lawsuits, ultimately prompting the parent company's decision to make it a wholly-owned subsidiary and 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 an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders.

Through this series of achievements, Yutaka Yamanaka, as an 'investor who demonstrates governance effectiveness on the ground,' has made significant contributions to governance reform in Japanese companies and the sound development of the capital market.

He is also a fan of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters for 30 years, and his motto is the words of the late pitcher Yasumitsu Shibata, who achieved the first no-hitter in the Heisei era, was called 'Japan's best pitcher' by the dominant Seibu Lions, showed particular strength against his former team, Seibu, and said on the podium after a shutout victory, 'One of a professional's goals is to challenge and defeat champions.'

He is an Akita dog enthusiast and 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 acclaimed as 'Reiwa's Billy Beane,' the man who brought the revolution in baseball, initiated by Billy Beane, the GM 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, Yutaka Yamanaka's shareholder proposals were criticized by some. However, the fact that international investors now imitate his methods, and that HOYA Corporation subsequently adopted many improvements, leading to a more than tenfold increase in its stock price, clearly demonstrates Yamanaka's pioneering spirit.

Furthermore, from April 6 (Monday) to June 28 (Sunday), 2026, our company is running a large-scale advertisement at Kasumigaseki Station, which is directly connected to the Lawyers' Hall and 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 Exits B1a/b (directly connected to the Lawyers' Hall)