Akira Kawamoto

Mr. Kawamoto co-founded the Aspirant Group in 2012. Prior to founding, Mr. Kawamoto spent over thirty years at the Ministry of Economic, Trade and Industry from 1981-2012. During his tenure, he has held prominent positions within the ministry and the government, as well as international organizations regarding economic policies where he has accumulated expertise on economic trends both inside and outside of Japan and perspectives on various industries. He has also established an extensive cross-sectional network within the industry, government and academia. From 1995, Mr. Kawamoto served as a member of a regulatory reform project for 4 years at the OECD in Paris. Upon return, he directed various and important governmental policies such as the White Paper on Trade, liberalization of the electric power industry, planning of the Science and Technology Basic Plan and the National Commission on Social Security. In 2009, he was appointed as Deputy Director General, Minister’s Secretariat (Industry Policy Bureau/Economic and Social Policies), and seconded to ETIC in 2010 as Executive Senior Managing Director where he gained experience in corporate turnaround. From April 2013, Mr. Kawamoto lectures a course at Keio University Faculty of Economics as Professor. He is also a Board Director at Future, Inc. as well as at Onward Holdings, Inc., and has published a number of books, including “Why Japan cannot carry out reform?”(April, 2013, Nikkei Publishing Inc.), “Regulatory Reform” (Chuko Shinsho). Mr. Kawamoto holds a B.A. in Law from the University of Tokyo and a M.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford.