Miki WatanabeGCM (渡邉 美樹, Watanabe Miki, born October 5, 1959) is a Japanese entrepreneur and politician. He founded the Watami chain of izakaya restaurants and headed the company until 2011, when he resigned to run in the 2011 Tokyo gubernatorial election. Watanabe's run for the governorship of Tokyo was inspired by Michael Bloomberg's mayorship of New York City.[1] Watanabe came in third with 16.8%, losing to incumbent governor Shintaro Ishihara.
Career
Watanabe got opportunities to appear as a commentator on NHK General TV, NHK Educational TV, Nippon TV and Tokyo Broadcasting TV, raised his name recognition, and was elected to the House of Councillors representing the Liberal Democratic Party in the 2013 election. As of January 2014, he was the wealthiest member of the House of Councillors with reported personal assets of ¥1.76billion.[2] He is a member of the Committee on Economy and Industry, Committee on Oversight of Administration, Special Committee on Reconstruction after the Great East Japan earthquake, and Research Committee on Deflation-Ending Measures and Strengthening Public Finance for Nationals' Life.[3]
Philanthropy
Watanabe founded the School Aid Japan charity in 2001 to build schools and orphanages in Cambodia and Nepal.[4] In Japan, Watanabe purchased an educational corporation which had been in financial difficulties due to the advice of Hirofumi Shimomura, a member of the House of Representatives and one of Shinzo Abe's aides.
Watanabe is a billboard of Seminar companies of LGAT with Ikujiro Nonaka, Jitsuro Terashima and others.[5] Watanabe is giving opportunities of the high school lecture he owns to the presidents of LGAT.[6][7]
Controversy
The Watami group has faced criticism as a "black company" for its harsh treatment of employees,[8] and was voted the worst company in Japan to work for in 2012 and 2013.[9] The 2008 suicide of Mina Mori, a Watami employee who had worked 140 hours of overtime was ruled a case of karōshi (death from overwork) by the Kanagawa Prefecture Labor Standards Office, who also accused the company of numerous labor law violations.[10] In December 2015 Watami reached an out-of-court settlement of ¥130million (equivalent to ¥132.52million in 2019) with the family and Watanabe apologised.[11] In addition, at the nursing home operated by Watanabe, due to carelessness of employees caused by their harsh labor, multiple death accidents occurred.[12]
In 2012, Japanese-language magazine Area reported that Watanabe made a female staffer of its educational corporation his mistress, like "a sexual tool", and abandoned her like garbage with only a notification of mobile e-mail.[13] The educational corporate officer who sympathized with her was fired.[13]
^Koh, Yoree (7 March 2011). "Miki Watanabe, Tokyo's Mayor Bloomberg?". The Wall Street Journal. eISSN1042-9840. ISSN0099-9660. OCLC781541372. Archived from the original on 7 March 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2014. The founder of Watami Inc., operator of a chain of 'izakayas,' or casual pubs, Mr. Watanabe is running in the Tokyo gubernatorial election April 10, attempting to make the jump from business manager to big-time politician. That might be a rare move in Japan, but it echoes the likes of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, the former head of Hyundai Construction, and the comparison is not lost on the slick 51-year-old businessman.
^参院資産公開 平均３７７０万円 [House of Councilors asset disclosure average 37.7 million yen]. NHK (in Japanese). 6 January 2014. Archived from the original on 6 January 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2024. 資産が最も多かったのは、自民党の渡邉美樹氏で１７億５８０万円、次いで、日本維新の会の藤巻健史氏が６億６８７０万円、自民党の木村義雄氏が１億２５７６万円で、資産が１億円を超えているのは５人でした。 [The person with the most assets was Miki Watanabe of the Liberal Democratic Party with 1,705.8 million yen, followed by Kenji Fujimaki of the Japan Restoration Party with 668.7 million yen, and Yoshio Kimura of the Liberal Democratic Party with 125.76 million yen. Five people had assets exceeding 100 million yen.]
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Brasor, Philip (17 June 2012). "Watami under scrutiny after karōshi". Japan Times. ISSN0447-5763. OCLC21225620. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 16 February 2024. On Feb. 14, the Kanagawa Prefecture Labor Standards Office deemed the death of 26-year-old Mina Mori, who committed suicide on June 12, 2008, to be a case of karōshi, or "death from overwork."
^＜入浴中に死亡＞「ワタミの介護」でまたも入浴中事故で死者が！ [<Death while taking a bath> Another person dies due to an accident while taking a bath while taking care of Watami!]. Care Management On-Line News (in Japanese). 9 July 2013. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
^ abワタミ会長 渡邉美樹氏 禁断の「不倫」騒動 [Watami Chairman Miki Watanabe's Forbidden "Affair" Controversy]. AERA (in Japanese). 16 February 2011. ISSN0991-8833. OCLC1052629196. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. 本誌は、その理由について重大な証言を入手した。石田氏から直接、事情を聴いたという学校関係者がこう語るのだ。[...]「実は昨秋から、石田さんは学内のある女性から悩みを打ち明けられていたのです。渡邉理事長と数年にわたって交際してきたのに、『君の中には自分が求めるものがなかった』と、たった一通のメールでフラれたという話でした。自分は単なる"性の道具"だったのかと、彼女は激高していたそうですよ。学校と取引のあったＫ氏という人物も、同じ女性の相談に乗っていた。それでＫ氏が義憤を感じ、石田さんに『教育現場にあるまじき行為だ。常務理事として正すべきでは』と進言していたのです」 [Barron's has obtained important testimony as to why. A school official who heard directly from Mr. Ishida said the following. [...] "Actually, since last fall, Ishida-san had been confiding in her concerns with a woman on campus. Even though she had been dating President Watanabe for several years, she said, 'I didn't find what I was looking for in you.' It was said that she was dumped after just one e-mail. She was furious, thinking that she was just a "sex tool". [...] There was also a person named Mr. K, who had business dealings with the school. Mr. K felt a sense of righteous indignation and advised Mr. Ishida, 'This behavior is unbelievable in the educational field. As the executive director, you should correct this.'"]
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