Announcement of a Book Reading Event: 'The Man Who Invested in the Russo-Japanese War: The Diary of a Jewish Banker' by Norishige Tabata

Shosukabu.com Inc. (Headquarters: Nerima-ku, Tokyo; Chairman and Representative Director: Yutaka Yamanaka; hereinafter 'the Company') will hold a book reading event themed on 'The Man Who Invested in the Russo-Japanese War: The Diary of a Jewish Banker' (authored by Norishige Tabata), co-hosted with the Nerima Political Study Group and the Civil Affairs Division 8 Monitoring Committee.

According to Shinchosha Publishing's introduction, this book reveals why Jacob Schiff, a leading investment banker on Wall Street, supported Japan, an emerging nation in the Far East, through his life story, his motivations for supporting Japan, and his 'Diary of Stay in Japan' written during his visit to receive a decoration. It is said that Schiff's support covered approximately 40% of the enormous war funds needed for the Russo-Japanese War, demonstrating that an international finance perspective is indispensable when discussing Japan's victory.

A major feature of this book is that it re-examines war history not only from military and diplomatic perspectives but also from the aspects of finance and international networks. The core arguments of the book include how Japan raised war funds that were several times its national budget, why Schiff supported Japan instead of Russia, and how Meiji-era Japan was viewed through the eyes of a Jewish banker. This book teaches us that behind modern Japan's victory was the support of international finance, not just domestic efforts.

Book URL: https://x.gd/NCtNF

Author Profile

Norishige Tabata

Born in Hokkaido in 1949. Graduated from the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Saitama University and completed the program at the Institute of Journalism, University of Tokyo. After working for a publishing company, he has been engaged in researching the achievements of Japanese living abroad and foreigners living in or visiting Japan, re-examining modern Japanese history through the discovery of overseas materials.

Event Overview

Theme: Book Reading Event on 'The Man Who Invested in the Russo-Japanese War: The Diary of a Jewish Banker'

Organizer: Shosukabu.com Inc.

Co-organizers: Nerima Political Study Group, Civil Affairs Division 8 Monitoring Committee

Date: Late June 2026 (tentative)

Format: Online via Zoom

Fee: Free (advance registration required)

Application Method: Please send an email to info@shosukabu.com with the subject line 'Request to Participate in the Book Reading Event on The Man Who Invested in the Russo-Japanese War'.

■ Lecturer Profile

Yutaka Yamanaka

Born in December 1976, an activist investor representing the '76 generation', art collector, philanthropist, political activity sponsor, election consultant, policy advisor, social activist, and Akita dog enthusiast. Internationally recognized as a 'technologically savvy activist investor', 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, which develops GPGPUs and semiconductors related to artificial intelligence, as an investment target. He executed an investment of over 2 billion yen, ultimately achieving a return of over 100 times, making him the first Japanese person to become a billionaire purely as an investor.

Graduated as valedictorian from the Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo. Holds a Master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School (Financial Engineering) and studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is a co-representative member of Investment Brothers LLC, co-founder and Chairman of the Board 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, Taiwanese battery manufacturers, and others, making him a truly global investor.

Based on his own childhood struggles with dyslexia and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), he established 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).

Founder and representative of the political organization 'The Association for Establishing a Constitutional Court in Japan', head of the 'Yamanaka Hoya Political and Economic Academy', founder and representative of the political organization 'The Association for Realizing a Tax-Free Nation in Japan', founder and representative of the political organization 'The Association for Early Restart of Nuclear Power Plants in Japan', founder and representative of the political organization 'Renewable Energy Interest Monitoring Committee', founder and representative of 'The Association Opposing the Reduced Consumption Tax Rate on Foodstuffs', and founder and representative of 'The Association for Realizing Constitutional Amendment Aiming for a Unicameral System'.

Born in 1976 in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, as one of the grandchildren of Shigeru Yamanaka, the founder of Hoya Glass (now HOYA Corporation, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Standard Market, securities code 7741), a high-end crystal glass manufacturer. He grew up in Shakujii-dai, Nerima-ku. Excelling academically from an early age, he graduated from Oizumi Bunka Kindergarten, Ochanomizu University Elementary School, private Musashi Junior and Senior High School, and the Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo as valedictorian.

During his childhood, he grew up in a cultural environment, receiving souvenirs from school trips from Takashi Matsumoto, who later became the guitarist for B'z, who lived as a high school student at the time in a company housing complex of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company in front of his home. At Oizumi Bunka Kindergarten, he was classmates with Yukinori Suzuki (elder brother of House of Representatives member Takako Suzuki, who returned to Hokkaido in preparation for his father's candidacy for the House of Representatives), who was a secretary to House of Representatives member Muneo Suzuki. 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 by the age of ten, he was already engaging in political activities on controversial topics. His classmates at Ochanomizu University Elementary School included lawyer Takehiko Sorimachi (Tokyo Legal Mind K.K.), physician Keishi Kuroda (Director of Sugiyama Obstetrics and Gynecology Marunouchi Clinic), as well as Keiko Takahashi (career bureaucrat at the Ministry of Finance, currently Cabinet Councilor in charge of Customs), Professor Kaori Hanyu of Sophia University (family law researcher), and NHK announcer Ai Tsukahara. Growing up surrounded by such accomplished women, he continues to have a strong awareness of issues related to improving women's social status.

His investment skills were famous even during his university days; he invested several million yen received as an inter vivos gift from his grandmother during his childhood and turned it into several hundred million yen by the time he graduated from university. During his time at the Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo, he was already famous in the seminar of Kazuo Ueda, the current Governor of the Bank of Japan, earning the nickname 'the stockbroker of the Ueda seminar' and, due to his diverse academic interests, 'the Heisei-era Hiraga Gennai'.

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

During his liberal arts studies, he read all the published papers of Masahiko Aoki, the proponent of comparative institutional analysis, and Professor Avner Greif (Stanford University Department of Economics), an economic historian from Israel who was already an emerging scholar at the time.

He passed the graduate school entrance exam for the Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo with excellent grades, near the top. He was strongly recruited by Hideo Hayakawa (former Bank of Japan board member and Director of the Research and Statistics Department), a senior alumnus of the Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo, to join the central bank. However, he moved to the United States immediately after graduating from university, completed the Master's program in Financial Engineering at Columbia University Graduate School, and earned a Master's degree. He also 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), and worked as a life science researcher and physician.