Tokyo Weekender - November 2017

Words by Matthew Hernon
One of Japan's most hotly anticipated movie
releases of 2017, March Comes in Like a Lion,
features a teenager calmly defeating seasoned
pros at shogi. The lead character's impressive
skills, however, were nothing in comparison to
a 14-year-old boy named Sota Fujii, who recently became
a nationwide sensation after winning 29 shogi games in a
row, breaking a record that stood for 30 years. Having won
the heart of the nation, Fujii will probably go down as the
standout Japanese teen of the year, though there have been
many others who've caught our attention. Here's a look at
some of our favorites, in the areas of business, sports and
entertainment.
THE START-UP KIDS
At elementary school, Rika Shiiki had about 13 career goals.
Not wanting to give up on any, she decided to start her own
business so she could work on them one by one. Last year,
the then 18-year-old was the youngest name in the media,
advertising and marketing section of Forbes' 30 Under 30
Asia, a list that celebrates the region's brightest young entrepreneurs,
innovators and game changers. A year on and
her company, JCJK, is preparing for an initial public offering
(IPO). "We are a marketing organization made up of junior
high and high school girls around the country who arrange
questionnaires and partake in round table discussions,"
Shiiki recently told Weekender. "2017 has been a tough year,
but also an exciting one as we have expanded the business
and are planning to go public."
GNEX is another company with big ambitions. Founded
by Yoichiro Mikami during his early teens, it’s a digital
marketing firm providing, amongst other things, SaaS push
notification services from the web directly to users’ terminals.
Over the past six and a half years, the organization has
continued to grow and now boasts more than 5,000 clients.
"At high school I felt I reached a limit in terms of what I
32 | NOVEMBER 2017 | TOKYO WEEKENDER