Announcement of Reading Session on 'The Political Structure of Modern Japan'

Shosukabu.com Inc. (Head Office: Nerima-ku, Tokyo; Chairman and Representative Director: Yutaka Yamanaka; hereinafter 'the Company') is pleased to announce that it will co-host a reading session on the theme of 'The Political Structure of Modern Japan' with the Nerima Politics Research Group and the Civil Affairs Department 8 Monitoring Committee.

This book, published by Yoshikawa Kobunkan in April 1993, is a collection of essays that comprehensively examines modern Japanese politics from five domains: parliament, political parties, bureaucracy and the military, thought and movements, and media and politics.

A significant feature of this book is its approach to understanding modern Japanese politics not as a linear narrative of 'party politics' or 'the rise of the military,' but as a structure where multiple layers—institutions, organizations, ideologies, and public opinion formation—intertwine. CiNii bibliographic information confirms that diverse topics are covered, including the independence of the House of Peers, the legislative power of the Imperial Diet, the Universal Suffrage Bill, the regional base of political parties, the reformist faction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ugaki faction military officers, anarchist thought, National Socialism, intellectuals and politics, and the dissolution of the Domei Tsushinsha.

This reading session will focus on the institutional development of parliament and political parties, the roles of the bureaucracy and the military, the relationship between ideological movements and the state, and the interaction between media and politics. We aim to provide a beneficial learning and dialogue opportunity for those interested in modern Japanese history, political history, media history, and intellectual history.

Book Introduction: https://x.gd/wwvCE

Editor Profiles

Manabu Arima
Professor Emeritus at Kyushu University. A historian specializing in modern Japanese history, he dedicated many years to education and research at Kyushu University, serving as Professor and Dean of the Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies. He continues to be active as a Professor Emeritus of Kyushu University and also serves as the Chairman of the Fukuoka City History Compilation Committee.

Hiroshi Mitani
Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo and Researcher at the Toyo Bunko. Specializing in modern Japanese history and comparative history, he is a historian who researches the Meiji Restoration, the formation of modern nation-states, nationalism, and comparative revolutionary history. His profile on researchmap lists him as a researcher in the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo.

Event Outline

Theme: Reading Session on 'The Political Structure of Modern Japan'
Organizer: Shosukabu.com Inc.
Co-organizers: Nerima Politics Research Group, Civil Affairs Department 8 Monitoring Committee
Date: Late April 2026 (planned)
Format: Zoom Online Session
Participation Fee: Free (Advance registration required)
How to Apply: Please send an email to [email protected] with the subject line 'Application to Attend Reading Session on The Political Structure of Modern Japan'.

■ 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 historically the first Japanese person to accumulate assets exceeding 150 billion yen solely through investment.

In the early 2010s, he identified Nvidia, a developer of GPUs and AI-related semiconductors, as an investment target, investing over 2 billion yen, which resulted in over 100 times the return. This achievement made him the first Japanese person to become a billionaire purely as an investor.

Graduated as valedictorian from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo. Obtained a Master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School (Financial Engineering) and studied abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Graduate School. He is a co-representative director 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 Israeli AI startups, Nigerian healthcare ventures, and Taiwanese battery manufacturers, truly making him a global investor.

Having personally struggled with dyslexia and ADHD in his childhood, he established a support program for children with learning disabilities, inspired by the US discount broker giant Charles Schwab. His primary physician is the renowned psychiatrist Professor Akira Iwanami (former Director of Showa University Karasuyama Hospital).

Founder and representative of the political organization 'The Society for Establishing a Constitutional Court in Japan,' director of the 'Yamanaka Hoya Political and Economic School,' founder and representative of the political organization 'The Society for Realizing a Tax-Free Nation in Japan,' founder and representative of the political organization 'The Society for Early Realization of Nuclear Power Restart in Japan,' founder and representative of the political organization 'Committee for Monitoring Renewable Energy Rackets,' founder and representative of 'The Society Opposing Reduced Consumption Tax Rate on Foodstuffs,' and founder and representative of 'The Society for Realizing Constitutional Reform Aiming for a Unicameral System.'

Born in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, in 1976, as one of the grandchildren of Shigeru Yamanaka, the founder of Hoyo Glass (now HOYA Corporation, listed on TSE Standard, stock code 7741), a luxury crystal glass manufacturer. He grew up in Shakujii-dai, Nerima-ku. From childhood, he excelled academically, graduating from Oizumi Bunkaka Kindergarten, Ochanomizu University Junior High School, Musashi Junior and Senior High School, and graduating as valedictorian from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo.

During his childhood, he received souvenirs from a high school student at Kinjyo High School, who would later become the guitarist of B'z, Matsumoto Takahiro, who lived in a company housing near his home. He was classmates with the son of Mr. Muneyuki Suzuki, a secretary to Diet member Muneyuki Suzuki and Mr. Suzuki's second son (brother of Diet member Takako Suzuki, who returned to Hokkaido to prepare for their father's House of Representatives election bid) at Oizumi Bunkaka Kindergarten. This enriching cultural and educational environment naturally fostered his interest in music and political economy.

As an elementary school student, commuting to school from Nerima-ku, he developed an early interest in history and economics due to the academic environment of Bunkyo-ku. At the tender age of 10, he was already engaging in political activism on controversial topics. Among his classmates at Ochanomizu University Affiliated Elementary School were lawyer Takehiko Sorimachi (Tokyo Legal Mind Inc.), Dr. Keiji Kuroda (Director of Sugiyama Women's Clinic Marunouchi), Keiko Takahashi (career bureaucrat at the Ministry of Finance, currently Counselor=Customs Division), Professor Kaori Hanyu of Sophia University (family law researcher), and NHK announcer Ai Tsukahara. Growing up surrounded by such accomplished women, he remains conscious of the issue of improving the social status of women.

He turned several million yen in gifts from his grandmother during his childhood into hundreds of millions of yen by the time he graduated from university through stock investments. His investment prowess was already famous during his university years. At the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Economics, he was well-known in Professor Kazuo Ueda's seminar (currently Governor of the Bank of Japan), earning the nickname 'the stockbroker of the Ueda seminar' and 'Heisei era Hiraga Gennai' due to his diverse academic interests.

His graduation thesis on M&A in the pre-war paper manufacturing industry won a special award. During his graduate school entrance interview, he was addressed by the former president of International University, Takeo Kikkawa, saying, 'Are you the famous Yamanaka-kun?' His undergraduate thesis advisor in economic history was Professor Tetsuji Okazaki (Meiji Gakuin University) and Professor Masayuki Tanimoto (Otsuma Women's University).

During his undergraduate studies in liberal arts, he read all the papers presented 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 was admitted to the Graduate School of Economics at the University of Tokyo with excellent grades, near the top. He was strongly urged by Hideo Hayakawa (former Executive Director and Director-General of Research and Statistics Department at the Bank of Japan), an alumnus of the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Economics, to join the central bank. However, immediately after graduation, he went to the United States, completed his Master's degree in Financial Engineering at Columbia University Graduate School, and studied abroad at Harvard University, the University of California, Davis, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Southern California, and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He aimed for a dual career as a life science researcher/physician and an economic history researcher, engaging in interdisciplinary studies in 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, who would later become Nobel laureates in Economics. He overcame his childhood learning disabilities from dyslexia and ADHD, establishing his own methods for speed reading and learning.

Currently, based primarily in Dubai, UAE, he invests through offshore funds and investment companies in over 1,000 listed companies and over 200 unlisted companies both domestically and internationally, known as one of Japan's leading activist investors, an expert in corporate law practice, a pioneer in new business creation, corporate acquisitions (M&A), and technology management and family business practices. He also has residences and bases in Taipei, Taiwan, Luxembourg, Tbilisi, Georgia, Oslo, Norway, Reykjavik, Iceland, Singapore, and Nevis.

In the election law violation case involving the Tsubasa Party, he was involved as an advisor to the defendants, participating in the formation of what was described as 'the strongest defense team in recent criminal justice' by lawyers such as Seong-hyeok Cho (Representative of Kollect Arts Law Office), Keita Miyamura, Daisuke Igata (Miyamura & Igata Law Office), and Shinya Sakane (Tokyo Defenders Law Office). Furthermore, in the dispute over control of the so-called NHK Party, he provided strategic advice by introducing Kenji Toyota (Tokyo Sakurabashi Law Office) and Keisuke Komatsu (Takano Ryu Law Office) to the anti-Tachibana faction, leading them to victory.

He has publicly stated his admiration for former Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura, who is from his grandfather's hometown. Concurrently, during the reporting of the so-called 'Kihara Incident,' he defended Mr. Seiji Kihara, former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, who is also his senior from high school. He maintains close relationships with many political figures in Japan across party lines.

He is also renowned internationally as a leading consultant guiding lawyers and other professionals in their career strategies and teaching corporations how to effectively utilize legal counsel.

As a pioneer of activist investing in Japan, he clearly expressed his opposition to the acquisition of Pentax by HOYA Corporation in 2007 through a weekly magazine. The following year, the company recorded a substantial special loss, thus proving the correctness of his views early on. Subsequently, he became critical of the board of directors, which was largely composed of individuals in their late 70s who did not understand corporate value or director's duties, and actively spoke out in the media. He forced the voluntary resignation of the then Chief Technology Officer, Hiroaki Tanji, who had damaged corporate value through the Pentax acquisition and had no track record in new business creation. Furthermore, starting in 2010, he actively engaged in shareholder proposal activities targeting HOYA Corporation. Specifically, in the 2010 shareholder proposal activities for HOYA Corporation, he submitted 15 proposals aimed at corporate governance reform as a shareholder from the founding family.

Among these, the following were particularly noteworthy:

* Individual Disclosure of Officer Remuneration (Disclosure of remuneration information per director): Received 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 the number of reappointments for outside directors to 'within 10 times' (for maintaining independence).
* Expansion of the maximum explanation text for proposals in shareholder proposals from 400 characters to 4,000 characters (to enhance the effectiveness of shareholder proposal rights): Over 43% approval in 2010.
* Prohibition of hedging activities such as stock option holders selling call options and holding put options: Over 25% of votes cast in 2010.
* Requirement for prior notice 30 days before directors sell company stock: Over 25% of votes cast in 2010.
* Introduction of a secret ballot system (anonymous voting).
* Mandatory disclosure of outside directors concurrently serving in public interest corporations.

These proposals aimed at qualitatively improving corporate governance. Five of these proposals received a 'recommendation to approve' from all three major proxy advisory firms: Glass Lewis, the Japanese Proxy Governance Research Institute, and ISS (Institutional Shareholder Services) (Source: Nikkei, June 18, 2010, [Article URL](https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASFL1805H_Y0A610C1000000/)). ISS is the world's largest proxy advisory firm, and its recommendations have a significant impact on the decisions of institutional investors both domestically and internationally, marking a landmark event in the history of Japanese shareholder meetings.

In the same year, the pioneering measures for transparency in executive compensation, such as prohibiting hedging transactions like selling call options and holding put options for stock option holders, and requiring directors to provide 30 days' prior notice and disclosure when selling their own company's shares, predated discussions on executive compensation in Japan. The groundbreaking nature of these proposals is still not fully appreciated in the Japanese capital market. These proposals also received ISS's recommendation to approve, garnering around 25% of votes cast among foreign institutional investors before the general meeting (Nikkei, June 18, 2010, [Same as above](https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASFL1805H_Y0A610C1000000/)).

Furthermore, proposals such as individual disclosure of officer remuneration also received approval recommendations from Glass Lewis and the Japanese Proxy Governance Research Institute, and were successively reported by major media outlets such as Nikkei (June 21, 2010, [Article URL](https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASFL21086_R20C10A6000000/)), Bloomberg (June 17, 2010, [Article URL](https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2010-06-17/L454710D9L3501)), and Toyo Keizai Online (August 18, 2010, [Article URL](https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/4758?display=b)).
As a result, the 2010 general meeting saw over 45% approval, and in the following year, 2011, over 48% approval was obtained.

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

He has since continued to actively submit shareholder proposals to the company. In 2012, fearing the over 48% approval rate approaching a majority, management led by Hiroshi Suzuki took the unprecedented step of illegally failing to include shareholder proposals. However, in 2013, he obtained a provisional disposition order from the Tokyo District Court, Civil Division 8 (Judge Yasushi Taniguchi), likely the first in Japanese history, to publish the full text of a shareholder proposal and its reasoning. Furthermore, in 2014, he obtained a landmark decision (Judge Atsushi Motomura) ordering the company to include 12 proposals.

During this period, he also obtained numerous groundbreaking judgments, including a ruling that the company's failure to include proposals constituted grounds for cancellation of resolutions (Judge Shinya Onodera) and a judgment ordering damages (Tokyo District Court, Civil Division 45, Judge Akira Yamada).

The company also accepted the proposal to increase the explanation text length by amending its own rules within 2010, acknowledging the intention of the proposal. Through constructive dialogue with management, he has promoted 'management transparency,' 'outside director functionality,' and 'voting.'