Hirotoshi Komoda
Senior Consultant

Mr. Hirotoshi Komoda serves as a Tokyo-based senior consultant at KWR International, Inc. (KWR); a firm specializing in the delivery of research, communications, consulting and advisory services to a wide range of public and private sector clients.

Drawing on fifteen years of experience assisting Japanese government and corporate entities in their research, communications and strategic planning requirements, Mr. Komoda helps KWR clients to more fully understand, and to expand their commercial and financial relationships with a wide range of entities in Japan. In addition, Mr. Komoda works with Japanese firms and financial institutions to enhance their international operations and to plan and implement a wide range of marketing and public and investor relations initiatives.

Prior to joining KWR, Mr. Komoda served for over nine years in a senior position in the research division of the Dentsu Institute of Human Studies (DIHS). In this capacity he worked directly with its Chairman and CEO, Mr. Shinji Fukukawa, a former Vice Minister of the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). Clients included the Japanese Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of International Trade and Industry and Ministry of Construction; Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Chiba Prefectural Government, Saitama Prefectural Government, Yokohama City Government, The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan and The Mainichi Newspapers. Representative projects included serving as the Team Leader for a two-phase project for the Japanese Prime Minister's office to develop a strategic communication plan including crisis management, media strategy, and telecommunication technology application. Mr. Komoda also served as Project Leader for a public policy study for the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan, 1996-97 to develop a strategic plan to promote public acceptance on the shipment of nuclear waste and related safety issues. Prior to his tenure at DIHS, Mr. Komoda served as a Policy Research Assistant in the office of Dr. Saburo Okita, a former foreign minister of Japan.

Mr. Komoda is a native speaker of Japanese, is fluent in English and has translated several books for publication in Japan. This includes James A. Smith's "The Idea Brokers" The Free Press, New York, NY, 1991 and B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore's "The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage," Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA, 1999. Mr. Komoda holds a Masters in Public Planning from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and a B.A. in Law from Waseda University in Japan. In addition, he graduated from the Matsushita Institute for Government and Management with recognition in Public Affairs: Global Environment and Development. He presently serves as the director of a Tokyo- based think tank on public policy and as a member of the American Planning Association and World Future Society and an associate fellow at the World Academy of Arts and Science.