Hiromasa Yonekura, incoming chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), is known as a business leader of international caliber, having personal connections with business leaders at home and abroad. But his sparse connections with those in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan cast doubt over whether he will be able to make his presence felt as "the prime minister of the business world." The key point is to what extent he can establish close relationships with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and the DPJ.
Yonekura, 72, chairman of Sumitomo Chemical Co., joined the firm in 1960 and mainly worked in the international and corporate planning departments. During his presidency from 2000 to 2009, he aggressively promoted overseas projects and transformed Sumitomo Chemical into an international corporation. The projects include the construction of one of the world's largest oil refinery and petrochemical plants in Saudi Arabia in a joint venture with state-owned Saudi Arabian firm Saudi Aramco. He has been involved in activities as a business leader since he was a young man. For instance, when then Chairman Toshiwo Doko led a mission of the Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), the predecessor of Nippon Keidanren, to Europe in the 1970s, he participated in the mission as a policy staffer.
Between 2004 and 2008, after he assumed the Sumitomo Chemical presidency, he entered the center stage of the business world as a Keidanren vice chairman.
During his term as vice chairman, he also assumed several important posts, including the chair of the Committee on Promotion of Economic Partnerships, announcing aggressive proposals on economic partnership agreements with other Asian countries. As vice chairman, Yone-kura supported two chairmen, Hiroshi Okuda and Fujio Mitarai. Later, he assumed the current post of the chairman of the Board of Councillors, the No. 2 post in Keidanren. The board is an advisory organ to the Keidanren chairman.
In November, he assumed the chairmanship of the Japan-U.S. Business Council, which organizes the Japan-U.S. Businessmen's Conference. Fluent in English, some people even say Yonekura can outdebate native English speakers in negotiations. He has a range of personal connections, including top executives of major U.S. and European chemical firms, and government heavyweights in the Middle East.
However, there are doubts over the strength of his political connections, which are vital for a Keidanren chief.
Among key figures in the three ruling coalition parties, he is said to be on good terms with Shizuka Kamei, leader of the People's New Party and state minister in charge of financial services, who was his classmate at Tokyo University. But he has few connections with the other two parties, especially the DPJ, according to a source in the business community.
Although incumbent Chairman Mitarai says, "Sumitomo Chemical is a sufficiently large corporation," its consolidated net sales have been far smaller than those of Toyota Motor Corp. or Nippon Steel Corp., which have produced a number of past Keidanren chiefs. Because of this, some business leaders say the firm's fundamental power will be tested when Yonekura tries to exercise leadership over other Keidanren member corporations.
Here's an example of him speaking English:
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