Hiroaki Nakanishi, a former executive chairman of conglomerate Hitachi Ltd. and a former chairman of Japan's most powerful business lobby who was known for his efforts to revamp long-standing customs in corporate Japan, has died, Hitachi said Thursday. He was 75.
Nakanishi last month stepped down as the 14th chief of the Japan Business Federation, also known as Keidanren, to focus on treatment for lymphoma. He died of the disease on Sunday, the company said.
Nakanishi had been hospitalized in July 2020 due to a relapse of the condition, but continued working, attending Keidanren and other meetings online, including as a private-sector member of the government's Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy.
Hitachi said in a statement Nakanishi had exercised his leadership for 20 years and devoted himself not only to the management of the Hitachi group but also to the development of Japanese industry and its cooperation with international society.
"I'm heartbroken," said current Keidanren chief Masakazu Tokura in a press conference, adding that the news came as a surprise since they had planned to dine together next Friday.
Tokura said he had shared Nakanishi's position in trying to establish sustainable capitalism.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato also paid his respects to Nakanishi, saying in a press conference that the former Keidanren chief's ideas were "reflected in the Cabinet's important policies."
Nakanishi became Hitachi president in 2010 and helped it recover from huge losses incurred in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. He went on to assume the post of chairman in 2014 and left the post in May this year.
Nakanishi led efforts to put Hitachi's focus on core areas such as social infrastructure and strengthen its overseas business. In 2018, he met with then British Prime Minister Theresa May to seek London's support for a project to build a nuclear power plant in Britain, where Hitachi is also known for its railway business.
Reformer Nakanishi succeeded Sadayuki Sakakibara as Keidanren chief in May 2018, starting what was to become a four-year term that was later marred by his battle with the blood cancer.
Under Nakanishi's leadership, the business federation scrapped in October 2018 its decades-old guidelines for the corporate hiring of new university graduates to allow more flexibility in recruitment amid increasing competition with foreign firms operating in Japan for young, talented workers.
The guidelines stipulated that Keidanren member companies could begin holding job orientation sessions in March for third-year students and start applicant screening processes, including job interviews, in June of the same year when the students are in their fourth year.
Formal job offers are given from October so new recruits can start working in April the following year after graduating in March. In Japan, many companies start their business years in April.
Nakanishi also loosened membership requirements in November 2018 in an effort to encourage more startups to join the federation in order to reinvigorate the business lobby, long dominated by large companies.
In 2019, Nakanishi took months off from work to undergo treatment. Doctors declared him in remission in November that year, but his tumor marker levels spiked again in the summer of 2020.
The native of Yokohama, near Tokyo, Nakanishi joined Hitachi in 1970 after graduating from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Engineering. He earned a master's degree in computer engineering from Stanford University in 1979.
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