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Not claimed by Hiroshi Mikitani

Hiroshi Mikitani has not joined FLAPSS and has not endorsed it. This page is a reference record assembled from published interviews and public remarks. Every answer below is a direct quotation with the source and date shown next to it.

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HM

Hiroshi Mikitani

Founder, chairman and chief executive of Rakuten

Japan · b. 1965

Technology

About

Founded the Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten in 1997 after working at the Industrial Bank of Japan. In 2010 he mandated English as Rakuten's official internal working language, a policy he calls “Englishnization.”

reference

2 answers

Question What is one of the best investments you have made — of money, time, or energy? Money & investment read 41 other answers →
In Rakuten's case, adjustment certainly took time. At first, meetings often felt awkward. The first board meeting after the Englishization decision took four hours to complete – double the normal duration. But whenever executives asked if they could say certain things in Japanese, I told them no. I knew that the challenge would pay off – and it has.
Recorded Mikitani's own essay, bylined “By Hiroshi Mikitani: Founder and CEO of Rakuten”, Toyo Keizai source ↗

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