Japan (Region)

At the time of this writing, the Rugby World Cup qualifying pool is in place. After the opening ceremony, we watched the opening match between Japan and Russia, the match between New Zealand and South Africa, in which the top contenders suddenly clashed, and the match between Japan and Ireland, which was reported in Japan and abroad as “Shizuoka’s Shock”.

I thought a little about the transformation of group sports into professional leagues. The trigger was the concept of a professional league revealed by Mr. Kiyomiya, who became the vice president of the Japan Rugby Union, and the news of Mercari’s transformation of J1 Kashima Antlers into a subsidiary of J1 Soccer announced on July 30.

In my last column, I discussed whether the move toward a consumption tax hike and the Tokyo Olympics would be a trigger to improve the cashless ratio. With the implementation of the consumption tax hike approaching, at last, this time I would like to focus on recent developments other than the consumption tax hike that will affect the future of payments.

If I were to become a new member of society in the age of Reiwa, what would I do? I thought about it for a moment. Although he spent about 30 years each in the Showa and Heisei periods, he certainly had the experience of becoming a new member of society full of hope and anxiety a long time ago.

In my last column, I talked about who could play a leading role in the near future if a payment revolution were to occur in Japan in which the cashless ratio would increase sharply. At the time of writing (3/12), there are almost 200 days left until the consumption tax hike from October, and almost 500 days until the Tokyo Olympics. It is hoped that one event will trigger a significant increase in the cashless ratio.

The other day, I had the opportunity to listen to Mr. Nakanishi, Chairman of Nippon Keidanren at the Foreign Correspondents’ Association 20 About a minute Society 5.0. It was a place to talk about it and hold a question-and-answer session. The first thing that impressed me was Mr. Nakanishi’s ability to respond in English rather than the content.

Stratus’ fiscal year begins in March. Right now, from December last year to this month, we are in the process of making final adjustments to our FY20 business plan, that is, our sales targets and budgets. Although the planning process of Japanese subsidiaries of foreign-affiliated companies differs depending on the history of each company and the position of the Japanese corporation in the world, I feel that there are many things in common in that they basically draw up plans aimed at sales growth and profit margin improvement over time.

Last week, I went on a business trip to the United States, Meetings to share and discuss business conditions are held regularly on a quarterly basis. In addition to that, December is also a forum to discuss the budget of the plan for the next fiscal year and major measures. Boston in December is often below zero, and it’s very cold, but when it comes to the budget for the next fiscal year, the debate will be even more intense than in a typical quarter.

I am writing this blog at Boston’s Logan Airport. Yesterday I went to see a Red Sox baseball game for the first time in more than 10 years. A Taiwanese manager who grew up in Japan and is a staff member at Stratus HQ booked a great seat at Fenway Park.

As a continuation from my previous column, the field of payments, as well as many other industrial fields, is experiencing a wave of internationalization and technological innovation, and many experts seem to think that a major change that can be called a payment revolution is taking place.