Chairman Matsumoto Brings A to Z of Osaka-Kansai and 2025 Expo
Many business people both from the Japanese side and the U.S. make a toast for the Chicago-Osaka relationship at the welcome reception for Chairman Masayoshi Matsumoto.
The World Business Chicago welcomed Masayoshi Matsumoto, Chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation, and hosted a welcome reception on October 5 at the Ivy Room, an event space right in the heart of Chicago's River North neighborhood. Many business people both from the Japanese side and the U.S. attended the networking event.
Kimiyo Naka, Chair of the Osaka Committee in the Chicago Sister Cities International, emceed and introduced the background of Chairman Matsumoto. He is also Chairman and CEO of the Sumitomo Electric Industries, Deputy Chairman of the Japan Association for 2025 World Exposition, and Chairman of the Osaka Marathon Organizing Committee. He was going to participate in a signing of the Sister Marathon Partnership between Osaka Marathon and Chicago Marathon which was held on October 8. It was one of his purposes to visit Chicago.
Michael Fassnacht, CEO of the World Business Chicago
In his welcome remarks, Michael Fassnacht, CEO of the World Business Chicago and Chief Marketing Officer for the City of Chicago, said Chairman Matsumoto was a key person in Osaka-Chicago relations 50 years ago. He welcomed a prosperous economic relationship between Osaka/Kansai and the Chicago region with the leadership of Chairman Matsumoto.
Jeffrey Smith, President of the Nidec OKK USA Corporation
In his greeting remarks, Jeffrey Smith, President of the Nidec OKK USA Corporation, called Osaka his second hometown. He lived there for 10 years and enjoyed his life in Osaka.
He mentioned the number of bridges in Chicago and Osaka. Chicago has at least 308 while Osaka has 808, which means a lot. He said the reason why he brought up the number of the bridge is “Because this sister-city program is actually a bridge for the betterment of both cities, and I hope that we all can strengthen this bridge of connection between our two great cities.”
Jun Yanagi, Consul General of Japan in Chicago
Jun Yanagi, Consul General of Japan in Chicago, welcomed Chairman Matsumoto’s visit to strengthen the relationship between Chicago and Kansai and said his Consulate office wanted to treat him with Japanese sake tasting.
Sake tasting tables were set by four sake distributors, and he said, “Sake is the national alcohol of Japan, so to appreciate sake, you will know more about Japan’s history and regions. Once you taste sake, I’m sure you will be excited to serve sake at your home and corporate events.”
Presentation by Chairman Matsumoto:
Masayoshi Matsumoto, Chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation
When Matsumoto arrived at O’Hare Airport in 1973, he said he was overwhelmed by the gigantic airport and the majesty of the Sears Tower. “I shivered with excitement and was thinking I’m going to be a top salesman in the U.S.,” he remembered. During a half-century of his hard work, his ambition was fully realized. He said, “As the Chairman, I hope the Kansai Economic Federation can accelerate the business bridge between Chicago and Osaka, exactly the number one bridge in Osaka.”
At his presentation, Matsumoto spoke about:
1. Kansai Region: An Overview
2. Activities of the Kansai Economic Federation
3. Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan
1. Kansai Region: An Overview
1-1. Kansai is located in the western part of Japan and consists of six out of 48 prefectures. They are Osaka, Kyodo, Hyogo, Shiga, Nara, and Wakayama. In a broader sense, four more prefectures, Fukui, Tottori, Mie, and Tokushima, are included.
1-2. Kansai’s Cultural Attractiveness and Livability
Japan’s capital was in the Kansai area until the middle of the 19th century; therefore, the area is a cluster of cultural Heritage. Kansai has 56% of the National Treasures, 24% of the World Heritages, 47% of the Important Cultural Assets, and 18% of the National Parks in Japan.
According to the Global Livability Index 2023, Osaka is ranked 10th in the world, a very easy place to live.
1-3. The economic Scale of Kansai is over $800 billion as large as the state of Illinois, and compatible with the economy of the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Switzerland.
1-4. Kansai’s share of GDP in Japan was 19.3% when the Japan World Expo was held in 1970. However, the share has declined by 15.3% in 2019.
The role of the Kansai Economic Federation is to revitalize the economy in the Kansai area.
1-5. Potentiality of Osaka, Kansai Region
. Umekita 2nd Project will open in the summer of 2014. It is a place to realize prosperous future lifestyles through the integration of “green” and “innovation.”
. Keihanna Science City has been developed for over 30 years. The science city is located on the Keihanna hill across the borders of Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara Prefecture, the city aims at becoming the center of new industries and culture. It has more than 150 research facilities where nearly 12,000 researchers and staff are working. About 250,000 people have already been living in the City.
. The Kansai Economic Federation hopes that Osaka-Kansai’s potential will be fully realized through spring-driven balls such as the opening of Umekita and Expo 2025.
2. Activities of Kansai Economic Federation
2-1. The Kansai Economic Federation was established in 1946, one year after WWII, and has 77 years of history and experience. It is located in Nakanoshima, center of the Osaka City, and operates with an annual budget of 1 billion JPY and 100 employees. It has a membership of 1,300, mostly large companies in the Kansai area.
2-2. Mission of the Kansai Economic Federation
With a constant awareness of the Kansai Region as a whole, we conduct highly original research activities based on active discussions among business people and aim to develop the Japanese economy from Kansai through policy proposals to the government and practical actions based on these activities.
2-3. Appointed 15th Chairman of the Board in 2017
Matsumoto was elected as the 15th Chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation in June 2017, and his urgent job was attracting World Expo 2025 to Osaka, Kansai. The Federation successfully won the bid to host the Expo in November 2018.
The Federation has a long history of exchange, especially, in Asian countries. It established the ABC (Asia Business Creation) Platform in April 2019 and signed written economic cooperation between Osaka and ASEAN countries to be able to prosper together.
Matsumoto said this could be applied between Osaka and Chicago through the marathon project and private business relations as examples. “Chicago and Osaka must sure to prosper together,” he emphasized.
2-4. Announcement of “Kansai Vision 2030” in December 2019
. The Kansai Economic Federation formulated and announced “Kansai Vision 2030” in December 2019, a vision of what Kansai should be in 2030.
. Concept of the Vision 2030; Kansai is a pioneer region with the spirit of the first penguin, which dives headfirst into uncharted water to lead a group for survival.
2-5. Embodies the “spirit of First Penguin”
The 2030 Vision consists of seven Arrows, ABC Platform, Innovation, Decentralization and integration, Multi Stakeholder Capitalism, Diversity, Sports, and DX. The third and fourth are especially important.
2-6. Transportation and logistics infrastructure
The Federation has been working to strengthen Kansai’s wide area network, transportation, and logistics infrastructure including three airports in Kansai. Details are:
. New Highway Project
. Extension of Hokuriku Shinkansen to Osaka
. Kansai International Airport T1 Renovation, Grand Open will be in spring 2025
3. Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai Japan
3-1. Expo Outline
. Official Name: Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan
. Exposition Period: from April 13 to October 13, 2025 (184 days)
. Theme: Designing Future Society for Our Lives
. Sub-theme: Saving Lives, Empowering Lives, and Connecting Lives
. Concept: People’s Living Lab, a laboratory for a future society
. Participation: 153 countries/local communities and eight international organizations are expected to participate.
3-2. Location of the Expo Site
Yume Shima (Island of Green) in Osaka, Kansai
3-3. Feature Building: World’s Largest Wooden Ring
Images of the Wooden Ring in the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan (from Matsumoto’s presentation)
. A wooden building of two kilo-meters in circumference and 600 meters in diameter is to be constructed at the site, and now it is under construction.
3-4. Future Society Showcase Project
Many newest technologies will be presented.
. Utilize cutting-edge technologies for the maintenance, operation, and exhibition of the Expo site.
. Smart Mobility Expo - EV buses for transporting visitors
. Virtual Expo - Virtual venue “Flying Yumeshima” (Flying Cars)
. Art Expo - Water Plaza Water Show
(Source: Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition)
3-5. Official character “MYAKU-MYAKU”
“MYAKU-MYAKU” literally means the sound of pulses, but it indicates the sound of our lives and the continuous emergence of new heritage such as wisdom, knowledge, industry, technology, culture, and so on. MYAKU-MYAKU also draws our excitement, having wishes and dreams. “The Expo character MYAKU-MYAKU has become quite popular and is playing along boosting excitement,” Matsumoto said.
(from Matsumoto’s presentation)
3-6. He concluded his presentation by saying, “We look forward to seeing you in Osaka! See you at the 2025 Expo site in Osaka!”
Q&A
Chairman Matsumoto took a question after his presentation, and Chicago Shimpo asked about the delay that foreign participating countries have not started to build their pavilion yet.
Matsumoto said, “I’m number 2 in the Expo 2025. As far I know there is no problem,” and explained the question.
The environment for building the site of the 2025 Expo has changed drastically due to the Ukraine war and others, and as a result, cost of building materials jumped skyrocketing. Japan also has very strict working rules which will be in effect from 2024 which would cause labor shortage and higher cost.
Despite these unexpected hurdles, Matsumoto said that Japan has alternative ideas such as Type A, B, and C to offer exhibit spaces to the countries which do not have enough budget to cover the increased costs. Taking into account the lead time, Japan also has an idea to offer Type X, which is like a box, so the countries with less budget can use the box to reorganize to make their own pavilions.
“So as a result, I don’t think we have a severe problem with the opening on April 13th of 2025,” Matsumoto said.
After Chairman Matsumoto’s response to the question, Kimiyo Naka made a toast for the 50th anniversary partnership between Chicago and Osaka. “For another 50 years, Cheers!” she raised her glass.
On the podium, Tona Palomino of the Breakthru Beverage Group, Dila Lee of the Wine Connection, Jun-Jun Vichaikul of the Konbini & Kanpai, and Michael John Simkin of the Omurasaki, greeted the participants.
American Rice metamorphoses into Japanese Sake
One of the sake-tasting tables was set by Wine and Sake expert Michael John Simkin. His sake recommendation was the Uka brand made by American rice brewed in Fukushima, Japan. The Uka brand, Black Label Organic Junmai Daiginjo, Dry Organic Junmai Daiginjo, and Sparkling Sake Organic Junmai Daiginjo, is literally a marriage of the U.S. and Japan.
The American rice is Organic Kokuho Rose produced by the Koda Farm in California, and then transformed into high-quality sake at the Ninki Shuzo in Fukushima as if a caterpillar metamorphoses into a beautiful butterfly. The brand name Uka is meaning in exactly transformation or metamorphosis.
But why are Koda rice and Fukushima a matter of sake? Simkin told a whole story.
Q: Why did you become interested in Japanese sake?
Simkin: I was in the wine business, and my wife is Japanese from Saitama, so I drank sake casually.
One night in 2003, I was at a Japanese networking party in New Jersey and met a brewer from Niigata. He just finished an MBA course and was thinking of starting a sake import company. So he asked me to help him.
For two years, I was going back and forth to Niigata and became an importer with him. It is called the Niigata Sake Selections. I helped facilitate the U.S. market entering of 18 sake brands from 11 breweries in Niigata Prefecture. That’s how I started in the sake business.
It was 2019, when Ross Koda, the third generation of the Koda farm, contacted me. His grandfather immigrated to the U.S. in 1908, and his hometown was Fukushima Prefecture. So Ross wanted to have a culturally familiar connection with Fukushima, and his idea was to bring Koda rice to make sake there. So we had a reason to do this business. We ship Koda rice to Nihonmatsu where our brewer Ninki Shuzo is located.
According to Simkin, Yujin Yusa, President of the Ninki Shuzo, left the Okunomatsu Shuzo, which has over 600 years of sake-making history, and entrusted it to his brother Joji Usa. And then Yujin Yusa established the Ninki Shuzo to create his own sake. In that background, Ninki Shuzo would be the best match for Ross Koda’s wishes, so Simkin, Ross, and Yujin overcame any difficulty and made the organic Uka brand.
Simkin: I was having dinner in Tokyo with Yujin san, my friend Kenji Ichishima from Ichishima Shuzo, also another person from a brewery. We were drinking the Uka sake, just brewed nama sake. I asked them, “What do you think? Can you tell the difference between our sake and sake using Japanese rice?” and they said, “No, we cannot tell the difference. It’s equal quality.”
I’ve been working with them for more than 20 years.
Q: Thank you for telling us a good story.
More information about Uka brand is available at https://ukasake.us/jp/
About Michael John Simkin
Michael John Simkin who has been a bridge between the U.S. and sake brewers in Japan.
He holds an Uka brand sake made by American rice brewed in Fukushima, Japan.
Wine and Sake Expert Michael John Simkin, Director of Sales and Marketing at Omurasaki Beverage Company, was born in New York and studied Japanese and East Asian studies at Cornell University and the University of Rochester. He also interned at Aoki Shuzo, Asahi Shuzo, and Ichishima Shuzo in Niigata Prefecture.
Simkin is a certified Level III sake educator for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), an organization for whom he was instrumental in adding sake to the curriculum at the behest of the Niigata Sake Brewers’ Association and Niigata Prefectural Government.
Simkin, who regards himself as Japanese at heart spiritually and philosophically, has been a business bridge between the U.S. and Japan for more than 20 years.