About OpenPolicy
OpenPolicy is a consulting firm specializing in policy and regulation in Japan. We support businesses in policy and regulatory affairs and public-sector organizations in policy development and project delivery.
The economist Joseph Schumpeter defined innovation as “new combinations”. Innovation changes society through new combinations of technologies and business models, and we support rulemaking at the frontier where it takes place.
For businesses, we provide end-to-end support for policy and regulatory affairs, from analysis of how policy and regulation affect the business, through strategy and the internal organization to carry it out, to dialogue and proposals with policymakers. We also support public-sector organizations in policy development and project delivery.
We believe that interaction between the private and public sectors contributes to lasting value creation on both sides, and we will continue to support companies in their policy and regulatory affairs and public bodies in delivering their initiatives.
Business areas
We provide end-to-end support for policy and regulatory affairs in Japan, including analysis of policy and regulatory developments and their implications for the business, policy and rulemaking strategy, building the organization to carry it out, and dialogue and proposals with policymakers.
Explore our services →We support decision-making in the public sector. By preparing and analyzing data and information, we clarify current conditions, issues, and policy options, and assemble the evidence needed to develop policies and plan projects.
Explore our services →Our team includes former officials from Japan’s central government ministries and agencies, lawyers, and professionals with practical experience in corporate government affairs, research and analysis, and public-private collaboration.
Our expertise
We analyze policy developments, develop strategies, engage in dialogue with stakeholders and present policy proposals, drawing on experience in policymaking and corporate government affairs.
Lawyers and other legal professionals
We examine the interpretation and application of laws and regulations and consistency with related systems. This work ranges from clarifying how regulations are interpreted and administered to developing proposed amendments and giving new rules concrete form.
We substantiate policy proposals through research and analysis, communicate policy issues, and help build cooperative relationships with government and public institutions.
Our lives are finite. That is why I want to leave behind some trace of having moved society forward, even by a single step, through my own efforts.
Throughout my career, I have worked where business and the public sector meet. I founded OpenPolicy in the conviction that this intersection has the power to move society forward.
As humanity's choice of democracy and deliberation shows, legitimacy lies in agreements reached through dialogue among those concerned. A solution without evidence, however, offers no way of knowing whether it is right.
I believe we gain the power to move society forward only when both are in place: dialogue that fosters mutual understanding, and evidence that underpins sound reasoning.
Grounded in dialogue and evidence, we will move society one step forward from where business meets the public sector.
Atsushi Nagashima, Founder & CEO
Founder & CEO
After graduating from Tohoku University with a Bachelor of Laws, he joined Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), where he worked on policy in the Policy Bureau, Civil Aviation Bureau, Road Bureau and Maritime Bureau. On secondment to the Economic Affairs Bureau of the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), he worked on competition policy for telecommunications, electricity and gas, and on competition assessments of new regulations. He then served as a public-policy and government-relations lead at several global companies, including Airbnb Japan (Senior Public Policy & Government Relations), Facebook Japan (Public Policy Manager), and Eureka / Match Group (Head of Government Relations & Public Policy). For over 15 years he has worked on public policy in both the public and private sectors, across real estate, roads, aviation, shipping, public transport, tourism, competition policy, telecommunications, and digital platforms. He holds an MBA from Waseda Business School.
Our services, areas of expertise, and how we run projects, in a single guide. Available in Japanese only.
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