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Opinion

C-suite the last frontier for foreigners eyeing Japan Inc.

Increase in background diversity of leadership is a hopeful sign

| Japan
Mitsubishi Chemical's next CEO Jean-Marc Gilson, right on the screen, and outgoing Hitoshi Ochi at the press conference on Oct. 23: Gilson's appointment stands as an anomaly. (Photo by Arisa Moriyama)

Nobuko Kobayashi is a partner with EY Strategy and Consulting Co., Ltd., Strategy and Transactions -- EY-Parthenon.

When Japan's top chemical company Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings appointed Belgian-born Jean-Marc Gilson as next CEO in October, it marked the first time a foreign national had been chosen to lead a blue-chip Mitsubishi group company.

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