Event report | 30.09.2026

MaterialMatters

When Japan’s regional materials
become global brands

From the regions to the world: can Japanese materials build a brand that earns ¥10 billion globally? About 150 leaders from materials and apparel companies, investors, financial institutions and media came together to debate it.

30Sep2026

14:00–17:00

Shibuya PARCO DG Building, 18F, Tokyo
Co-hosted by Lingble × DG Daiwa Ventures / Supported by Senken Shimbun and J-GIC

Watch the recording (2h06m)See the photosThe event has ended. The recording (free, on request) and photos are online.

Group photo of Material Matters 2026 speakers and guests at Shibuya PARCO DG Building — 30 September 2026, Dragon Gate, Shibuya PARCO DG Building 18F.

Attendance

About 150 guests

Mainly leaders of materials and apparel companies, with investors, financial institutions, local government and media. Invitation-only, to keep the discussion focused.

Special Talk

Former Minister of Finance Katsunobu Kato

Member of the House of Representatives Katsunobu Kato gave a special talk on regional manufacturing and the Japanese economy, and his hopes for this initiative.

Shopify × Lingble

Shopify Japan on stage

Ken Kayama, Head of Sales at Shopify Japan, joined Fireside 2. Keep your Shopify store — and take it global with Lingble.

Recording

The full recording is available — free, on request.

Two keynotes, two fireside chats, the special talk and closing remarks — 2 hours 6 minutes, uncut, in Japanese with English subtitles. Leave your name and email to play it here; we also send you the link.

What is in the recording

0:02:20Keynote 1Why Material Matters, why nowYoshio Nakamura (Senken Shimbun)
0:15:00Fireside 1Turning regional makers into global brandsMasataka Kaji / Masataka Hosoo / Sadahisa Suzuki / Yasuhiko Kusunoki
0:55:00Keynote 2How AI shortens the road to a global brandMahoto Harada (Lingble)
1:11:00Fireside 2How AI changes brands and commerceYujiro Numata / Jun Munakata / Takanobu Kono / Ken Kayama (Shopify Japan)
1:47:50Special TalkSpecial talkKatsunobu Kato (Member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Finance)
1:58:50ClosingClosing remarksYuta Sanada (DG Daiwa Ventures)

About

Beyond “a good material”.

Japan’s textile and materials industry is admired worldwide for its technology and quality, yet it faces a shrinking home market, a shortage of successors and the decline of its production regions.

What is needed now is more than supplying materials: building brands that consumers around the world choose, reaching global markets directly from the regions, and evolving into a high-value industry that earns foreign revenue.

AI could accelerate that change — from product development and brand-building to marketing, overseas expansion and customer experience.

“Material Matters” carries two meanings:
materials can change the future,
and it is time to rethink
what materials are worth.

Four Questions

The four questions we debated

What does it take to build a ¥10 billion global brand from a Japanese region?

Can Japan’s materials industry evolve from supplying materials to earning foreign revenue through its own brands?

Will AI democratise global brand-building, once only possible for large corporations?

When AI — not people — chooses and buys products, how do brands and e-commerce change?

Program

Programme

From the problem, to regional makers’ experience, to how AI changes building — and buying. Each session can be played from the recording above once you have requested access.

14:00–14:15Keynote 1

Why Material Matters, why now

Japan’s textile and materials industry has world-class technology and quality, yet faces a shrinking home market, labour shortages and declining production regions. From Senken Shimbun’s long view of the industry: what is happening, and why we need to talk about building global brands from regional materials.

SpeakerYoshio Nakamura (Senken Shimbun)

14:15–14:45Fireside 1

Turning regional makers into global brands

Owning a material the world values is not the same as building a brand the world chooses. Four leaders who took regional craft to markets at home and abroad discuss what turns materials and technique into brand value, the real walls of going overseas, and the conditions for a ¥10 billion global brand from a Japanese region.

ModeratorMahoto Harada (Lingble)

PanelistsMasataka Kaji (Kaji Group) / Masataka Hosoo (HOSOO) / Sadahisa Suzuki (Japan Blue) / Yasuhiko Kusunoki (KUSKA)

14:55–15:10Keynote 2

How AI shortens the road to a global brand

How far can AI lower the cost of building a global brand? Walking through the path from brand foundations to community, market validation and global e-commerce — and how AI changes both the people who build brands and the people (and agents) who buy.

SpeakerMahoto Harada (Lingble)

15:10–15:40Fireside 2

How AI changes brands and commerce

— from people buying to AI buying —

Is AI an efficiency tool, or a game-changer for the brand business itself? When AI agents discover, compare and buy on consumers’ behalf, who must brands be chosen by, and how? The future of brands, marketing, e-commerce and global commerce.

ModeratorMahoto Harada (Lingble)

PanelistsYujiro Numata (CEREAL TALK / Tsuchiya Kaban) / Jun Munakata (Innova) / Takanobu Kono (XA Holdings) / Ken Kayama (Shopify Japan)

15:40–15:50Special Talk

Special talk

SpeakerKatsunobu Kato (Member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Finance)

15:50–16:00Closing

Closing remarks

SpeakerYuta Sanada (DG Daiwa Ventures)

16:00–17:00Networking

Networking

Speakers, materials and apparel companies, regional businesses, financial institutions, local government, investors and technology companies in one room.

Speakers

Katsunobu Kato

Member of the House of Representatives; former Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Financial Services

Born 1955. Graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1979 and joined the Ministry of Finance. First elected to the House of Representatives in 2003 (Okayama). Has served as Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, Chief Cabinet Secretary and Chairperson of the LDP General Council, and from October 2024 as Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Financial Services. Spoke on the potential of Japan’s regional materials industry from his experience in both regional industry and finance.

Official site ↗

Masataka Kaji

President, Kaji Group

Born 1968 in Kanazawa. Joined the family business, Kaji Group, in 1997 after working at a trading company. Anticipating falling demand for its then-core pantyhose and printer-ribbon tape, he led the shift to high-value textiles and became president in 2010. Runs the brands KAJIF, TO&FRO and K3B, and in 2025 opened the industrial-tourism site KAJI FACTORY PARK.

Kaji Group ↗

Masataka Hosoo

President, HOSOO

Born into the Hosoo family, Nishijin weavers since 1688. After a music career and work at a major jeweller, he joined HOSOO in 2008 and took Nishijin-based textiles global, supplying Dior, Chanel and Hermès stores and five-star hotels such as The Ritz-Carlton. Director’s Fellow at the MIT Media Lab (2016), author of a book on Japanese aesthetics (2021), and named to the BoF 500 in 2024.

HOSOO ↗

Sadahisa Suzuki

CSO, Japan Blue

Began his fashion career at a major apparel company in 2000. Joined a private-equity fund in 2022 and became president of Japan Blue in March 2024, then CSO in September 2026. Leads the company’s vision of becoming a global denim maison from Japan, based in Kojima, Okayama — the home of Japanese jeans.

Japan Blue ↗

Yasuhiko Kusunoki

President, KUSKA

Born in Tango, Kyoto. Returned from Tokyo at 30 to the family weaving business and launched the brand KUSKA (now kuska fabric) in 2010, developing hand-woven products. Flagship at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo, with stockists in Japan and abroad including a Royal Warrant holder on Savile Row. Also runs THE TANGO, a web magazine on the Tango region.

KUSKA ↗

Yujiro Numata

CEREAL TALK; Executive Vice President, Tsuchiya Kaban

Joined Tsuchiya Kaban in 2009, working on e-commerce, digital advertising and social media before spinning out the leather brand objcts.io in 2018. Became a director when the business was transferred back to Tsuchiya Kaban in 2022, overseeing digital, strategy and startup investment. Shares retail-tech news through the CEREAL TALK newsletter and podcast.

Tsuchiya Kaban ↗CEREAL TALK ↗

Jun Munakata

President & CEO, Innova

University of Tokyo; Wharton MBA. Worked at Fujitsu on North American operations and pricing, then launched logistics at Rakuten and social media marketing at Nexpas before founding Innova in 2011. Has analysed management and marketing challenges for more than 5,000 companies over 15 years, and has written several books on content marketing.

Innova ↗

Takanobu Kono

CEO, XA Holdings

Born 1982 in Tokyo’s shitamachi, into a family descended from 15 generations of karakuri puppet makers. Founded the e-commerce branding agency FRACTA in 2013, became a director of Tsuchiya Kaban in 2018 and was Shopify Japan’s first evangelist. Sold FRACTA in 2021 and founded XA Holdings in 2024, advocating the idea of a “Brand OS”.

XA Holdings ↗

Ken Kayama

Head of Sales, Japan, Shopify Japan

Studied in the US from high school through university, playing baseball. At Rakuten he worked on merchant sales and e-commerce consulting, new business and business development in the US, Korea and China. Joined Shopify Japan in 2021 as its first Shopify Plus sales lead, supporting major Japanese companies with e-commerce replatforming, OMO, cross-border and global expansion, and has led the Japan sales team since 2024.

Shopify ↗LinkedIn ↗

Mahoto Harada

CEO, Lingble Pte. Ltd.

Founder of Lingble, which helps brands in Japan and worldwide grow global e-commerce and overseas business — bringing together storefronts, payments, logistics, customer care, data and digital marketing. Winner of IVS LAUNCHPAD SEED 2025.

Lingble ↗

Yuta Sanada

Head of Domestic Investment, DG Daiwa Ventures; Representative Director, Japan Global Startup Investment Council (J-GIC)

Started at Daiwa Securities SMBC in investment banking for the financial sector, then led IPOs for many internet startups, eight of which listed. Joined DG Daiwa Ventures in October 2016, investing in deep tech — blockchain, AI, XR — and internet services.

DG Daiwa Ventures ↗

Yoshio Nakamura

Reporter, Senken Shimbun

Joined Senken Shimbun in 2000 as a reporter in Osaka, covering mass retail, jeans and casualwear, specialty stores and shopping centres, then textiles and materials from 2011 — synthetic fibres, Japan’s textile regions and textile startups. Based at the Tokyo head office since 2023.

Senken Shimbun ↗

Titles are as of the event. Bios are Lingble’s English translations of the profiles provided by each speaker.

Gallery

On the day

The hall as doors open, with the Material Matters title on screen

Keynote by Yoshio Nakamura of Senken Shimbun

Fireside 1: turning regional makers into global brands

Mahoto Harada’s keynote, “Japan has the Material”

Keynote slide: an AI you can entrust with your overseas business

Ken Kayama of Shopify Japan speaking in Fireside 2

Fireside 2 speakers: how AI changes brands and commerce

Shopify × Lingble

Keep your Shopify store. Take it global.

Ken Kayama, Head of Sales at Shopify Japan, joined Fireside 2.

A Shopify store built for your home market can go global without a rebuild. Lingble handles languages, currencies, tax and duties, international shipping and multilingual customer care — and with Shopify + Lingble Link + Tsuro-san (Lingble Lite), your own team can take the wheel.

Take an existing Shopify store worldwide →Build a global Shopify store from scratch →

Details

Event details

DateWednesday, 30 September 2026Programme 14:00–16:00 / Networking 16:00–17:00 (JST)

VenueShibuya PARCO DG Building, 18F15-1 Udagawacho, Shibuya, Tokyo

AttendanceAbout 150Pre-registration, by approval / free of charge

Recording2h06m, free on requestWatch the recording

Who was in the room

Who came

Leaders of textile, materials, apparel and fashion companies
Makers rooted in Japan’s regions and production areas
Companies planning overseas expansion or a global brand
Regional banks and credit unions supporting local businesses
Local government and regional-industry support
Trading companies and distributors
VCs, CVCs and investors
AI, e-commerce, digital and marketing professionals

Organizers

Hosts and supporters

Co-hosts

Lingble Pte. Ltd.A technology company helping brands grow global e-commerce and overseas business — storefronts, payments, logistics, customer care, data and digital marketing.

DG Daiwa VenturesA venture capital firm formed by Daiwa Securities Group and Digital Garage, investing in and supporting startups in Japan and abroad.

Supported by

Senken ShimbunA trade newspaper covering fashion business, textiles, apparel, retail and materials.

Japan Global Startup Investment Council (J-GIC)An association promoting investment in startups that aim for global markets.

Turning regional materials, technique and craft into brands the world chooses.

Whether you were in the room or watched the recording — your next step can start with a free diagnosis.

Get a free Global EC Diagnosis See the Growth Accelerators Talk to us

Co-hosted by Lingble Pte. Ltd. / DG Daiwa Ventures. Supported by Senken Shimbun / J-GIC.

Titles are as of the event. Photos and video taken at the venue are used for the hosts’ and supporters’ communications; to request removal of a photo, please contact us.

日本語版はこちら →