Makoto Matsunaga — Chief Executive Officer — Japan, NirjiX
Makoto Matsunaga leads NirjiX in Japan. He advises Japanese boards and the Japan units of global companies on market entry, capability-centre build-out, manufacturing corridor strategy and sales process outsourcing — Tokyo-led advisory paired with owned delivery capacity in India.
About Makoto Matsunaga
Makoto Matsunaga is Chief Executive Officer for Japan at NirjiX and leads the firm's Tokyo desk. His work covers the two directions of the Japan–India corridor: Japanese enterprises building delivery, engineering and manufacturing capacity outside Japan, and global companies establishing or scaling a Japan presence.
He works with boards on the questions Japan's structural constraints now force onto the agenda — a shrinking domestic labour supply, legacy systems reaching end of support, capital-efficiency expectations from shareholders, and the consulting market's shift from advisory-only engagements to accountable, operated programmes.
Engagements are run bilingually: Japanese-language steering governance with Japanese stakeholders, English-language execution with delivery teams, under one accountable scope rather than a hand-off between an adviser and an implementer.
Areas of expertise
- Japan market entry, entity setup and localisation
- Global Capability Centres for Japanese enterprises
- Japan–India manufacturing and supply-chain corridors
- Sales process outsourcing and commercial capacity
- Corporate governance, capital efficiency and DX programmes
How the Japan desk works
- Tokyo-based, bilingual (Japanese/English) engagement leadership
- Cross-border programmes spanning Japan, India, Korea and the wider Asia corridor
- Advisory grounded in primary sources — METI, JETRO, IDC Japan, Teikoku Databank
Published Japan analysis
Research-grounded articles authored and reviewed by the NirjiX Japan desk.
- The Japan–India Business Corridor: What Changes NextHow Japanese enterprises are re-sequencing India from a sales market to a capability, manufacturing and engineering base — and what that means for corridor strategy.
- Why Japanese Enterprises Are Building GCCs in IndiaJapanese corporates were late to the India GCC wave. The ones moving now are designing centres differently — smaller starts, deeper governance, and global mandates from day one.
- Japanese Manufacturing and the India Supply-Chain ShiftChina+1 has moved from strategy deck to capital commitment for Japanese manufacturers. India's role in that shift is component depth, not just final assembly.
- Entering Japan: What Global Companies Get WrongJapan remains one of the highest-value and least-forgiving markets to enter. The failures are rarely about product — they are about trust cycles, localisation depth and partner selection.
- Japan's Consulting Market: Structure, Demand and What Buyers Now ExpectJapan's business consulting market is growing at a high single-digit rate on the back of AI-led, enterprise-wide transformation — but the buying model is changing faster than the market size. What that means for how Japanese boards select advisers.
- Japan's Labour Shortage Is Now an Insolvency Risk — Not an HR ProblemLabour-shortage bankruptcies hit a record 441 cases in FY2025 and foreign employment reached a record 2.57 million. A workforce strategy for Japanese companies that treats capacity, not recruitment, as the unit of planning.
- Japan's DX Gap: Legacy Systems, the IT Talent Shortfall and How to Actually Close ItMETI projects a shortfall of up to about 790,000 IT professionals by 2030 while ERP end-of-support deadlines force legacy modernisation. A delivery model for Japanese enterprises that cannot hire their way out.
- Capital Efficiency Pressure in Japan: Governance Reform, Go-Private Deals and the Operating ResponseTokyo Stock Exchange reform has made capital efficiency a board obligation, and record delistings show the market is repricing companies that cannot answer. What Japanese management teams must change operationally, not just in disclosure.
- Inbound Investment in Japan: What the FDI Data Says and How to Enter Without Losing Three YearsJapan's FDI stock reached a record ¥53.3 trillion and greenfield investment a record US$31.6 billion. The capital is arriving — the failure mode is now operational, not strategic.