Familiar faces dominate Japan's company boardrooms

Extent of corporate inbreeding should raise eyebrows

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20210630 Tokyo skyline small.jpg

Tokyo's skyline, pictured in December 2020: the same roster of high society guests are repeatedly invited to the same parties given by different hosts. © Getty Images

Stephen Givens is a corporate lawyer based in Tokyo.

A statistical analysis of outside directors at Japanese listed companies confirms what the eye sees -- the same old faces keep reappearing in multiple and overlapping boards like Wally in the Where's Wally series.

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