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Pioneer in Active Aging Business in Japan
In 1999, Murata established the Smart Senior Consortium assembling 35 leading US and Japanese companies around the vision of “Smart Senior Society.” This Consortium accelerated the growth of active aging business in Japan. Among his noteworthy accomplishments, Murata introduced Curves, the world’s largest fitness chain for women, to Japan and helped it to become one of the largest fitness chains in Japan. Murata contributed the development of NTT DoCoMo’s Raku-Raku phone, the world’s best-selling senior-friendly mobile phone.
He is also responsible for creating the first college-linked retirement community in Japan, located in Kobe in collaboration with Kansai University, and he contributed to establishing a “College-linked Learning Program” for seniors in collaboration with Chiba University and Kashiwa City. Other recent clients include Toyota Motor, Dentsu, AXA Financial Life Insurance, JTB, Tokyo Electric Power, Panasonic, and Mitsui Fudosan..
Interdisciplinary & International Collaborations
From 1992 to 2002, Murata created 13 multidisciplinary consortia with over 494 companies to incubate emerging businesses in various fields. Murata serves as Professor at Smart Ageing International Research Center (SAIRC) at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. Headed by Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, SAIRC is a “3-Inter” (Interdisciplinary, International, and Intergenerational) institute based on research in brain imaging, aging mechanisms, and human development.
Murata also serves as a Visiting Professor at Kansai University and is a Fellow of The World Demographic & Ageing Forum (Switzerland). He is a member of Advisory Board of ThirdAge, Inc. (U.S.). and of the International Mature Marketing Network.
Opinion Leader on Global Aging Issues
Murata is the author of several books, including The Business of Aging: 10 Successful Strategies for a Diverse Market, Seven Paradigm Shifts in Thinking about the Business of Aging, and Retirement Moratorium: What Will the Not-Retired Boomers Change? They have been cited as “must read books” by more than 30 leading publications including Nikkei, Yomiuri, and Japan Industry News. Murata is the translator of Mature Mind: Positive Power of the Aging Brain by Dr. Gene Cohen, and The Myth of Alzheimer’s: What You Aren’t Being Told about Today’s Most Dreaded Diagnosis by Dr. Peter Whitehouse.
Murata is a regular contributor on the topic of business of aging to five business journals in Japan. He is also a frequent commentator to many leading media, including Nikkei, Yomiuri, Asahi, Mainichi, Japan Industry News, Newsweek Japan, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, New York Times, Dow Jones, Silver Industry News, TV Tokyo and NHK.
Murata is a frequently speaker at international conferences such as the Reinventing Retirement Conference in London sponsored by AARP; the World Aging & Demographic Congress in Switzerland; SICEX (Silver Industry Conference & Exhibition) sponsored by the Singapore Government; and The Silver Market Phenomenon: Business Opportunities and Responsibilities in the Ageing Society, United Nations University, sponsored by the German Institute for Japanese Studies.
Murata holds a Master’s degree of Engineering from Tohoku University Graduate School of Engineering, and a MBA from Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (French Nationale Grand Ecole) in Paris. Murata speaks fluent English, French, and Japanese.
Hiroyuki Murata Official Site
http://muratainc.com/e/index.html
Smart Ageing International Research Center, Tohoku University
http://www.idac.tohoku.ac.jp/en/organization/smart_aging/index.html
Entertainment & Smart Ageing Platform
http://www.idac.tohoku.ac.jp/dep/entsa/English_index.html |
