Message from Top Management

Staring from Regions

Hiroshi Fukudome
Representative Director, President and Executive Officer

CHANGE Group was established in April 2003 with the mission of "Change People, Change Business, Change Japan," and has spent over 20 years investing in projects aimed at transforming Japan.

At the time of establishment, the Nikkei Average was below 8,000 yen, and it was said to be a "crisis of the Japanese economy." By the end of 2025, the Nikkei Average has soared and is hovering around 50,000 yen, but we do not consider the Japanese economy to be in a situation that can be viewed optimistically.

Looking ahead to the future, CHANGE Group (hereinafter, simply "we") faces three major changes in the external environment. None of these changes are the kind that will have a positive effect if we simply go with the flow.

(1) Shift from deflation to inflation
(2) Acceleration of population decline and supply constraints
(3) Rapid development and spread of AI (artificial intelligence)

Responding to these economic, social, and technological changes will be a major theme of "Change Japan." In order to maintain our country's proud traditions and culture and protect what must not be changed, it is necessary to respond "proactively" to such major changes in the external environment.
Now, we would like to share our vision of how we will respond proactively. We believe that urban areas, centered around Tokyo, have the ability and foundation to respond relatively smoothly to the aforementioned changes in the external environment. This is evident from global city rankings, which show that Japan's urban areas are competitive. The problem lies in the regional areas. The interdependence between urban and regional areas is clear when considering food supply and land conservation, and the decline of regions means the decline of the entire country. Therefore, the target of Change Japan through our business is the regions.
The Japanese government also regards regional revitalization and regional future strategies as the core of its policies, and we aim to become a complementary force for the government and an outsourcee of national policies. The challenges of regions recognized by the central government are very diverse, and various ministries consisting of "1 Cabinet Office, 11 Ministries, and 3 Government Agencies" execute projects in many policy areas, and our business focuses on how to effectively support the implementation of policies promoted by these ministries. For example, defense and disaster prevention may be considered as the central government's responsibility, not private sector's work, but we thoroughly consider "What is needed for the government to function more effectively," "Is there anything we can support," and "Can we leave a better society for the future by collaborating with the government," and we make decisions and take action.

Stating such a grand policy may be too vast to imagine, but when distilling the challenges faced by regions, it is extremely simple and boils down to "lack of management resources." Management resources are broadly divided into people, goods, money, and information, and in regions, it is necessary to establish a new model different from centralization to realize the distribution and circulation of each resource. We will become a hub and collaborate with various players to build a new system to resolve the lack of management resources.