Japan Macro Salon with Jesper and Bill

Date
Wednesday 14 January 2026
Time
12.00 - 1.00pm (BST)
8.00 - 9.00pm (JST)

Check the time in your location

Booking Details
Free - On Zoom
Please register for the webinar in advance from the link below. After registering, you will receive a automated confirmation email with meeting access details (please check your spam folder if you don't receive any emails).

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Join us for the latest in our regular quarterly webinar on business and current affairs, Japan Macro Salon with Jesper and Bill. In these our Honorary Vice Chair Bill Emmott teams up with Jesper Koll, longtime Tokyo resident and one of the most keenly watched economists and investment strategists in that town, to discuss what's new in the Japanese economy, business, financial markets and more. 
 
Each quarter, Jesper and Bill open with a conversation about the latest trends that have caught their attention, and then welcome a special guest to focus on a topic of the moment. All the while, they will be interacting with questions from the audience. These webinars are run in association with Asia Society Japan. 

For the January edition of Macro Salon, Jesper and Bill will be joined by Japanese business leader Takeshi Niinami, former Chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai). The discussion will focus on Japan’s role in the global economy, sustainability challenges and key themes shaping the Davos agenda.

Takeshi Niinami is a Japanese business leader and former Chairman of Suntory Holdings. He has served as a senior economic adviser to the Japanese Prime Minister on the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy and was Chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Jesper Koll has been researching and investing in Japan since becoming a resident in 1986. Over the past two decades, Jesper has been consistently recognized as one of the top Japan strategists/economists, having worked as Chief Strategist and Head of Research for U.S. investment banks J.P. Morgan and Merrill Lynch. He currently serves as Expert Director for the Monex Group and the Japan Catalyst Fund (Japan’s 1st retail investor based corporate engagement/activist fund). His analysis and insights have earned him a position on several Japanese government and corporate advisory committees, including Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike’s Advisory Board. Jesper serves as Board Director of OIST, the Okinawa Institute for Science and Technology and is a Founder and Board Director of the Asia Society Japan and heads their Policy Committee. He is one of the few non-Japanese members of the Keizai Doyukai, the Japan Association of Corporate Executives; and serves on the board of several Japan-based start-ups. He has written three books in Japanese and, in 2021, created the acclaimed video/pod-cast series Japan - Capitalism that works. Jesper is an economist, angel-investor, patron; and yes, a Japan Optimist. 

Bill Emmott is an independent writer, lecturer and consultant on international affairs. He is a Visiting Fellow of Tokyo College, University of Tokyo’s interdisciplinary research institute, and was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford in 2017-18. He is also a trustee of the Chester Beatty museum in Dublin, a non-executive director of the Irish Times, and Senior Advisor, Geopolitics, for Montrose Associates. He was previously Editor-in-Chief of The Economist (1993-2006) and has written nine books on Japan, the first of which was The Sun Also Sets: Why Japan Will Not Be Number One (1989). He contributes regularly to the Mainichi Shimbun and Nikkei Business. His book on the future role of women in Japan’s economy, politics and society, was published in Japanese by Nikkei in 2019 and released in English as Japan’s Far More Female Future by Oxford University Press in 2020. Bill was Chairman of The Japan Society (2019-2024) and is now Honorary Vice-Chair.

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Explore our series of webinars with leading experts in politics, economy and media. More details on upcoming events and past webinar videos HERE.