Japan's fiscal stimulus and monetary easing policies has boosted stock prices and increased exports with the Nikkei reaching a fresh 15-year high. However, the country's largest economic challenges remain demography and poor corporate governance. Workforce expansion and improved oversight of corporate decision-making are key to maintaining consumer demand and attracting investment. For the first time in history, the government will relax immigration policy to augment Japan's shrinking and rapidly aging workforce and introduce a corporate governance code. However, ethnocentric sentiments are entrenched in Japanese society. Will the government bow to public pressure to reverse the new policy, or will the need to revive the economy lead to the introduction of a more liberal immigration scheme? How would independent directors improve oversight? What would be the impact on the Japanese economy and the success of Abenomics?

Moderator: Kotaro Tamura
Speakers: Koichi Hamada, John Koudounis, Kathy Matsui, Tatsuo Yamasaki