The Driving Force of "Love" that Transcends All Barriers

I understand that your previous career at a bank was focused on real estate securitization and that you had been in the business for more than 20 years.

At the bank where I previously worked, I was in charge of corporate sales at the first branch, but was transferred to the Financial Products Development Division at the next branch, where I was engaged in the derivatives and securitization business. I was then assigned as a founding member of the Real Estate Securitization Team that was formed in April 1999. Since the birth of J-REITs in 2000, I have also been involved in REIT operations. After that, I worked in the examination (10 years) and front office, both in the real estate securitization business, so I was in charge of the real estate securitization business for the latter 23 years of my banking career.

As for why I became interested in real estate securities in the first place, the impetus goes back to when I was a student. When I was in college in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we were in the midst of a bubble economy and land prices were abnormally high. I majored in urban planning and soaring land prices was one of my themes of study. A professor at my university wrote a book on the subject, and I was so inspired by his unique idea that land prices can be appropriately priced by using the framework of "securitization of real estate" practiced in the U.S. that I actually decided to write my graduation thesis on the "securitization of real estate in Japan." At that time, real estate securitization was not yet familiar in Japan, but I realized that finance was the axis for turning real estate into a financial product, and I became interested in the world of finance and thus I applied to work at a bank.

After joining the bank, I kept putting forward that I wanted to be involved in securities and real estate securitization, so I was transferred to the Real Estate Securitization Team when it was launched, and from then until I left the bank, I was involved in the real estate securitization business.

How did you join Hoshino Resort Asset Management after leaving your previous job?

I was looking after the Hoshino Resorts REIT account before it went public 10 years ago, and I still involved with their account until I left the bank, so I joined the company through that connection.

Over the past 10 years, I have had many opportunities to come into contact not only with the people at Hoshino Resort Asset Management, but also with the people at Hoshino Resorts, and in doing so, I have felt their passion for their work. I also got the impression that they are wonderful people, with broad-minded and a positive attitude to absorb various things. From that time on, I was delighted to be able to work with these people, and I wanted to work with stronger ties with them. Then, after leaving the bank, I was considering a second career when they approached me and joined the company.

What else attracted you to the company?

I believe that we have created a new form in the REIT market. Traditional REITs are based on leasing real estate, such as office, residential, and commercial properties, to third parties. On the other hand, in the case of Hoshino Resorts, the assets handled are business properties that the group uses itself. I call this “CRE-type REIT,” and the first was Hoshino Resorts REIT. This challenging corporate culture was very strong in my opinion at the time, and it created a windfall in the REIT industry, which has since given birth to many CRE-type REITs.

Are there any differences from your previous job?

Since December 2022, I have been in charge of the Finance & Accounting Division. The Finance Department is also involved in banking, and I had experience in that work, the work of the Accounting Department was new to me. In addition, I had been in the REIT business for more than 20 years during my work at the bank, so I was familiar with loan operations and had some confidence working with them, but I found that the REIT industry has a wide range of financing methods, including investment corporation bonds and public offerings, and that previously I was only involved in a very small part of the industry. However, thanks to the people in the REIT industry that I was close with, I have many friends, which is an asset for me, and with the help of everyone around me, I am expanding my new knowledge.

The Accounting Department is naturally expected to be accurate as it is involved in closing accounts and taxation, but at the same time, it gathers numbers for the entire company. Since it is necessary to read the actual situation from the figures, we communicate closely with each internal department, the sponsor's related departments, and experts to understand the background events and lead the company's management.

What are some of the challenges you are facing in your new environment?

Recently, green finance and sustainable finance have become important financing methods, and we are working to establish new financing methods and improve the sophistication of our management and operations. In addition, since the risks associated with rising yen interest rates have recently come under close scrutiny, we are closely monitoring developments in the financial markets and other REITs, and are also adopting new interest rate hedging methods to achieve stable financing.

The current market environment is changing at an alarming pace, but I believe that Hoshino Resorts REIT's reason to exist in society is to embrace change and differentiate itself from other companies. Ten years ago, Hoshino Resorts REIT broke new ground in the REIT industry by taking on new initiatives, and we would like to accelerate our growth potential by continuing to build on these new challenges.

I understand that you yourself enjoy travelling.

Yes, that's right. I have always loved to travel, and looking back over the past two years, I have traveled every two months, mostly on family trips. Since taking charge of the Hoshino Resorts account ten years ago, I have been making use of their hotels in my private life. What impressed me was when I stayed at "KAI Kinugawa." At "KAI Kinugawa" you go up from the parking lot to the inn by a slope elevator. I was impressed by the extraordinary presentation even before I arrived at the inn, but I gave my name upon boarding the slope elevator and when was greeted at the entrance, I was called by name, even though I had not yet checked in. I was struck by the hospitality filled with passion that I had felt from the people at Hoshino Resorts through my work. Since then, I have used many of the accommodation facilities, experiencing them from a user's perspective what I had heard about the management through my due diligence activities. The Hoshino Resorts that I had come to know through my work and the Hoshino Resorts that I had been attracted to as a guest overlapped more and more, and I became a fan of Hoshino Resorts. I also experienced firsthand the meaning of the phrase I had often heard, that "Japan's tourism industry is an industry we can be proud of to the world.”

And while enjoying my hobbies, I sensed their growth potential and superiority as an industry.

When I was in my previous position, I heard a presentation by an overseas IR operator where he said "Japan's tourism potential is very high." He talked about the multiple World Heritage sites that can be accessed on a one day trip from either Tokyo or Osaka, and also the many traditional industries and natural sightseeing opportunities in the surrounding regions, adding that Japan's tourism industry should still grow more than Japanese people realize. These words remained strongly in my mind. Shortly after that event, I was involved in the listing of Hoshino Resorts REIT, so I had a sense of the momentum in the tourism industry, but I knew that experiencing it for myself would give me a different sense of what it was really like.

Do you tend to look at your private trips from a professional perspective?

I do not know myself whether travel is play or work for me, and it is hard for me to tell the boundary between the two (laughs). Perhaps the origin of this thinking is that when I was younger, my boss at the time told me, "For actual inspections, look at income with the eyes of an amateur and expenses with the eyes of a professional," which left a lasting impression on me. For example, if it is a residential property, from the perspective of a resident, you would take a close look at whether the station is close by and how convenient the shopping area is. If it is a hotel, you would experience how it is like to spend time as a guest by actually walking around the area and availing of the services offered. I was taught to feel it as a user, in other words, from a layman's perspective. He said that the value is determined by whether you yourself are excited about the subject property. So I had to install a "layman's" perspective in my work, in other words, I had to install a sense of one’s private life. I deliberately look at things with from a layman's perspective even when at work. Since I have been doing this for more than 20 years, the habit of changing viewpoints naturally, both on and off the job, must have become ingrained in my body. Perhaps the fact that there are no barriers between work and my private life suits me.

What is your outlook for the future from your position in charge of finance and accounting?

As I mentioned earlier, I believe that the tourism industry will become a key industry in Japan in the future. It is an industry in which Japan can appeal to the world with its uniqueness, and I believe it is also a way for Japan to survive despite having a declining birthrate and an aging population. To work with this, the Group must improve its operational capabilities and make Japan's tourism industry more attractive. From a larger perspective, we need more investors to help us increase our global competitiveness in the tourism industry. I have experience not only in REIT operations but also in non-recourse loans and equity, so in addition to REIT finance, I would like to work with our sponsor, Hoshino Resorts, in a broader way and consider different schemes from the current ones to help boost the tourism industry and Hoshino Resorts' growth. I would like to contribute to the growth of the tourism industry and Hoshino Resorts. Also, as already disclosed, Hoshino Resorts is planning to expand overseas, so we would like to find the best scheme. Not only do I aim to make Hoshino Resorts even bigger, but through Hoshino Resorts, I want to do my best to help make Japan one of the world's leading tourism nations.