Hiroaki Niihara

Residency Dates: May 4–8, 2026

With a career spanning over 40 years, primarily at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (now the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), Hiroaki Niihara played a leading role in formulating Japan’s growth and distribution policies, including “Abenomics” and “New Capitalism,” under the Abe and Kishida administrations. He served as director general of the Bureau of Economic and Industrial Policy and as cabinet secretary, advising the prime minister.

Since retiring in 2024, Niihara has continued his work across the domains of academia, business and policy, serving as senior research fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies, special adviser at NTT Data Institute of Management Research, executive fellow at Harvard Business School and visiting professor at Waseda Business School.

He has garnered attention for his explanations of the Japanese model in the fields of organizational economics, creativity and innovation. His book “A Study of Japan’s Leading Companies: The Fundamentals of Corporate Management—Six Conditions” became a bestseller and won the fourth Nikkei BP Biz Tech Book Award. His academic works on organizational economics include “Frontiers in Organizational Economics and Japanese Corporate Structures.” His wife is the actress Momoko Kikuchi.