Company Profile
Operation details
Company Profile
Ichiryu Associates, Inc.
Addresses
  • Iidabasi Masumoto Bldg. 3F, 1-21　Ageba-cho, Sinjyuku-ku, Tokyo
    Tel:81-3-3266-7596　Fax:81-3-3266-7172
    Map
URL
http://www.ichiryu.org
Founded
July 7, 2000
Capital
30 million yen
Directors
President＆CEO Yoshio Ichiryu(Former Director-General for Policy Coordination, MITI)
Senior Managing Director Tamotsu Iwasaki(Former Director,Planning and Coordination Department,
Japan Finance Corporation for Small Business)
Director Masahiro Koizumi(Former General Manager of Business Public Relations, The Sumitomo Bank, Ltd. )
Auditor Kanenori Oshikiri(Attorney at Law, Shiroyama Sogo Law Office)
Leadership-Capable Management

SUPPORTING BUSINESS LEADERS WHO WELCOME THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE

　Globalization, the IT revolution, structural reform, deregulation, - these are some of the forces blowing across Japan like a gale.
We are discovering that conventional solutions no longer work.
　For some, turmoil and transition are an unhappy ordeal. Others welcome the dynamic opportunities that change creates.
In our experience, successful management is defined by a positive appetite for change and its challengers.
　Established companies as well as entrepreneurs and new ventures are now looking for strategic opportunities in the new Japan.

　Ichiryu Associates, Inc. Provides a full spectrum of consulting services both to established companies and to start-up businesses
and entrepreneurs. Emphasizing the key values of “determination”, “passion” and “trust”, we offer an information network and
management skills of experienced professionals representing a variety of career paths, disciplines and backgrounds.
　Our mission in the largest sense is to increase the competitiveness of Japanese companies and to contribute broadly to the
revitalization of the Japanese economy.
Ichiryu Associates, Inc. Itself is a new venture heading into uncharted waters. We are working within a community of trusted friends
with whom we share a commitment to make a contribution to society.

Career summary

About Yoshio Ichiryu

A MAN OF VISION AND PASSION – A PROFILE OF YOSHIO ICHIRYU

― Witten by Osamu Katayama, economic journalist ―

THE POWER OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND THE COURAGE OF INDIVIDUALS WILL CHANGE JAPANESE SOCIETY.

　Japan’s vitality will arise from the private sector. To reform the closed nature of the Japanese economy, we must move away from the idea of public sector guidance, and instead allow the private sector to lead the way to economic revitalization.
What is required in particular is the creation of start-up companies.
Yoshio Ichiryu, an entrepreneur raised in the public sector, has been active in this field.

　Born in 1946 in Osaka, Ichiryu graduated from the University of Tokyo’s Liberal Arts Department with a degree in International Relations. He then joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1968.
He served as secretary to MITI ministers Kiichi Miyazawa and Kakuei Tanaka, after which he attended
Harvard University (the Kennedy School), where he obtained a Master’s in Public Administration (MPA).
He subsequently served in the International Energy Agency (IEA, located in Paris). In 1993, Ichiryu became director-general
of MITI’s Kinki Regional Bureau of International Trade and Industry, in 1995 director-general for Machinery and Information Industries Policy, and in 1996, director-general for Policy Coordination. In 1998, he resigned from MITI, devoting himself to work in the private sector, in what he calls a “new start.”

　During the time spent at MITI, Ichiryu worked on an advisory basis toward the creation of a system for the support of start-up companies.
It was then that he first realized, perhaps because he saw things from the perspective of the private sector, that MITI’s venture support
measures did not meet the true needs of those they were designed to help.
He experienced firsthand that complicated procedures related to the support measures consumed a tremendous amount of time at the stage
of start-up company creation. Start-ups pressed for time and strapped for money found it impossible to utilize such assistance.

　After reflecting on this situation, in 1999, Ichiryu established the private volunteer group “Venture Community” in Osaka. He selected Osaka as a venture community because he wanted to restore vitality to the city in which he was born and raised. Since November 1999, Venture Community has convened one regular meeting and five subcommittee meetings. Business leaders and academicians volunteer give their time as lecturers, pointing to the breadth of Ichiryu’s network of people that only he could create.

　In July 2000, he founded Ichiryu Associates, Inc., and in November of the same year, initiated a unique investment fund,
First Class (“Ichiryu”) Seed Money Fund, as an “angel” organization for the support of venture companies.
This was the first attempt in Japan of a hands-on angel fund that provides comprehensive support in addition to funding.

　Ichiryu engages in diverse management consulting work, including the role of creating business strategies for major corporations and
serving as a bridge between such corporations and start-up companies. With the help of an intelligent network based on determination,
passion and trust, he continues to steadily expand the scope of his activities. He believes that what will change Japanese society
are the power of the private sector and the courage of individuals.
Osamu Katayama was born in 1940 in Nagoya. He has worked as a journalist, an economic analyst and a visiting professor at Gakushuin Women’s University.
His publications include “Sony will beat Toyota with wisdom”(Bungei Shunju Ltd.), “Four powers for saving companies”(Fuyosha Inc.), “The wisdom of NHK” and “Suntory's sense of smell (Shogakkan Bunko Co. Inc.), “Isn't that interesting” (Shueisha Inc.), “Japanese Business into 21st Century” (British Athlon Co., Inc.), etc.  Such books as “The Sony Rules,”“The Toyota Way,”and“The Honda Tactics”(Shogakkan Bunko Co., Inc.) have been translated and published in China.
Directors
President＆CEO Yoshio Ichiryu
(Former Director-General for Policy Coordination, MITI)
Senior Managing Director Tamotsu Iwasaki
(Former Director,Planning and Coordination Department, Japan Finance Corporation for Small Business)
Director Masahiro Koizumi
(Former General Manager of Business Public Relations, The Sumitomo Bank, Ltd. )
Auditor Kanenori Oshikiri
(Attorney at Law, Shiroyama Sogo Law Office)
Special Advisor Shigeru Iwamoto
(President, Tokyo Keizai University; Former Managing Partner , KPMG Azusa LLC )
Special Advisor       Yoshiyuki Kaneshige
(President, International Emergency Management Organization, Inc.,　；Former Director-General, Security Bureau, National Police Agency)
Special Advisor Youtarou　Sawada
(Vice Chairman , Crisis Management Conference； Former Administrative vice minister, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare)
Special Advisor Isao Shirakawa
(Professor & Dean, Graduate School of Applied Informatics University of Hyogo; Professor Emeritus of Osaka University)
Special Advisor Kastuhiro Nakagawa
(Former Vice Chairman , TOYOTA Motor Corporation;
Former Vice-Minister for International Affairs, MITI)
Special Advisor Yoshifumi Nishikawa
(Former  President, Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd. ;
Former  President, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc.)
Special Advisor Shinji Fukukawa
(Chairman, Jetstar Japan Co., Ltd　；　Former Chairman, TEPIA, Machine Industry Memorial Foundation ； Former Vice-Minister of International Trade and Industry)
Special Advisor Masaru Murai
(Former Chairman,COMPAQ)
Special Advisor Gorou Watanabe
(Special Advisor, Mori Building Co.,Ltd;
Former vice president ,MITSUI & CO.,Ltd)
Advisor Masahiko Uotani
President, BrandVision.inc；
Former President, Coca-Cola(Japan)Company,Limited
Advisor Shuichiro　Enomoto
( Former Senior Managing Director , Cosmo Oil Co., Ltd. )
Advisor Masanori Sato
( Former Administrative Director ,KPMG AZUSA  LLC )
Advisor Takashi Sugii
(Sugii Law Office, Attorney at law, Former Director-General, Ministry of Finance)
Advisor

Tomohiko Tsuburaya
(Former Director-General of the Fifth Bureau, Board of Audit of Japan)
Advisor Tetsuya Nishikawa
Former　Chief Cabinet Secretary assistant；
Former　Minister's Secretariat of Ministry of Defense
Advisor Yoshio Nitta
(Chairman, TOKYO M&A Co,Ltd.)
Advisor Kouji Honda
(Former Agency Head , Ministry of Agriculture,Forestry and Fisheries of Japan)
Advisor Masaru Wada (Professor, International University of Health and Welfare; Former Director-General, Ministry of Health and Welfare)
Registered Partners Network

Widening our Personal Network

Our intelligent information network is comprised of professionals and experts who are the top of their fields in Japan.
The network consists of an advisory board and special consulting group as well as Registered Partners Network.
Network Partners maintain the highest standards of the professionalism, working collaboratively on specific projects.

Name

Occupation(former occupation)

Specialized Field
Sadao Ohtake President, RMS Japan, Inc. (Former President & COO, PASCO CORPORATION) Business reproduction, consulting for merger and acquisition, supporting initial public offering(IPO)for IT venture, consulting for IT business management (IT security, providing contents on web-sites through mobile devices etc.)
Masatoshi　Go President,　TNP Partners Corporation (Former Chairman, Japan Venture Capital Association President) Assistance of venture business through collaboration between the public organizations and private enterprises mainly in Kanagawa prefecture.
William H. Saito President, Intecur Inc. 1. Consulting for Japanese companies to challenge oversees market: To extract the real strength of their technology and to indicate their business direction to operate globally. 2. Consulting for oversees companies to enter into the Japanese market To do market research and to select the best business partner and to localize their business strategy in each area.
Shoji Shiraisi Managing Director of G Strategic Vision Co,.Ltd. (Former Partner of Bain&Company Japan, Inc.) Integrated business consulting among Starategy,Technology, Business Architecture and Human Resources.
Teruyuki Saegusa President, Saegusa circulation research (former Chairman & President, Hanshin department store) Consulting for managemet of circulation
Katsunori Sugimoto President,　Sugimoto Patent Office Consulting for IP(intellectual property) disputes.
Junji Nakamura Chairman,J’sAvenue,Inc. (former president,Tecmo,Ltd.) Management,buisiness and technical consulting for entertainment software.
Yoshinori Nire President, Nire Consulting Co. (Former LPG Manager, Exxon group in Japan) Consulting for improving company's achievement by restructuring.
Noriaki Hashimoto President, Interoptic Inc. IT Analyst, Journalist IT risk management
Hitoshi Funahashi CEO, ICMG Co., Ltd. (Former executive manager, Recruit Co.,Ltd.) Consulting for intellectual property rights
Shuji Honjo President, Honjo Office IT business
Shunsuke Yamaguchi Entrepreneur, Kahorido Ltd. Editorial Advisor, monthly magazine "ENTRE", published by Recruit Co.,Ltd. Feasibility & industrialized study for medium & small-sized enterprises and venture companies. Back up for sales promotion