The Asia Urban Development Department of Mitsubishi Corporation, one of Japan's leading general trading companies, is responsible for real estate and urban development in Indonesia. Their work spans from advancing investments to supporting local business operations. As external environment changes can significantly impact their business performance, the team needs to collect information with high sensitivity and approach their work from a comprehensive perspective. We spoke with six team members, including General Manager Kosuke Hakata, about their aims in reading Nikkei Asia.

Mr. Hakata: I lead real estate and urban development in Indonesia from our Tokyo headquarters. These businesses are closely linked to a variety of industries, including retail, telecommunications, public transport and health services, so my team needs various and pan-Asian business information. In this respect, I was attracted to the content provided by Nikkei Asia.

Mr. Tanaka: I frequently read Southeast Asian business news. Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are accelerating their expansion into Southeast Asia, and investments in artificial intelligence and digital fields are also intensifying. The cross-border movement of these businesses is linked to real estate demand. I'm paying close attention to the latest developments.

Mr. Ohira: I mainly read news from Indonesia, the country I'm responsible for. It allows me to learn not only about politics and economics, but also cultural and social issues there.

Mr. Tanaka: The coverage of Indonesia's presidential election and nationwide local elections in 2024 was very helpful. Our target for the housing business is the middle-income segment. Their consumption trends are greatly influenced by political and policy developments, so we paid close attention to Nikkei Asia's coverage daily. Nikkei Asia provides detailed articles and analysis with higher frequency compared to Western news media. It was extremely helpful in establishing our future outlook.

Ms. Hachiya: I use the keyword search function to set up automatic notifications for real estate and development-related news. Articles are also emailed to registered members, which helps prevent me from missing important information.

Ms. Shibata: I check the news every morning and share any useful articles with my team members. I am happy when the sharing of articles leads to communication in the team. The general manager also shares articles with us that the team should read, and my sensitivity to the news has improved.

Mr. Tsuchikawa: When discussing the latest topics in meetings, Nikkei Asia articles often come up. Sometimes we ask our expatriates in Indonesia, "What's this actually like?" It creates conversation opportunities not only within our team but also with local members.

Mr. Hakata: Team subscriptions don't tie accounts to individuals, allowing flexible adaptation to personnel transfers and role changes. We determined this aligned well with our operational style.

Mr. Tsuchikawa: Accessing news in the local language is a hurdle, but the advantage of Nikkei Asia is that it has high-quality articles in English. I want to continue to have a high sensitivity to articles and become a businessperson who can talk about the latest current topics when conversing with overseas partners. 

Ms. Shibata: I got into the habit of reading the news by sharing and discussing with my team the news items that caught my attention each week. In the future, I will try to read articles outside of Indonesia.


Mr. Hakata: I believe Nikkei Asia is an essential media for those handling Asian business. I would like younger employees in particular to read it. I also want to proactively consider how we can communicate our business to stakeholders and associates in Asia through Nikkei Asia.