Katana Inc.

A strategist and marketer who stands as a representative of Japan, using unique strategic theories applying higher mathematics, the know-how to produce innovative ideas, and marketing theories. Morioka introduced a series of “Morioka Methods” at Universal Studios Japan at the crux of its management crisis; this restored the park's performance drastically in just a few years.
Prior to that, Morioka ushered in the golden age of Vidal Sassoon as the Brand Manager of P&G Japan. From there, he transferred to P&G World Headquarters (Cincinnati, OH, USA) where he led as Brand Manager for North America Pantene, Haircare Category Associate Marketing Director, and Vice President of Wella Japan. His success led him to the instrumental role at Universal Studios Japan as Chief Marketing Officer, Executive Officer, and Marketing Director.
After completing his mission to rebuild USJ, he set up the elite marketing group Katana, Inc. and launched various projects under his philosophy: “energize Japan through marketing.” He has garnered attention for resuming work on an Okinawa Theme Park Project, which had been disbanded during his time at USJ.
He has appeared in various media, including NHK’s “The Professionals,” TV Tokyo’s “Cambria Kyuden,” MBS Sunday’s “Sunday's Hatsumimi-gaku,” and numerous other TV programs, magazines, etc. He is also a best-selling author of several business books.
Among his best known books are:
Why Does a Roller Coaster at USJ Run Backwards?
The Idea that Revolutionized USJ: An Introduction to Marketing that Brings Success (44th Business Book Marathon Award, Business Book Grand Prix 2017: Management Category Award); The Strategic Theory of Probability Thinking: The Power of Mathematics as Proven at USJ; Let’s Talk about a Difficult Time: The Essence of Work, Written by a Businessman Father for his Child

With a gift for “consumer understanding” based on outstanding observational skills, Morimoto continues to create new value for customers as a consumer marketer. She has a history of world-class achievements and experience as a leading figure in concept building and product development throughout the fields of marketing and entertainment. Her unparalleled marketing abilities are greatly trusted by Morioka, and she exemplifies the distinct talents amongst the members of Katana.
At P&G, Morimoto oversaw all areas of the cosmetic brand SK-II, from product development and advertising, to sales strategies. Her leadership resulted in the rapid global growth and success of SK-II's brand and numerous popular products around the world. Later, she became the Marketing Director of USJ at the invitation of Morioka.
There, she led the team that conducted planning, development, and operation of new areas, such as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter; new attractions including The Flying Dinosaur rollercoaster; and seasonal events ranging from Halloween, to Christmas, to celebrating Japanese power IP's. Having brought revolutionary improvements to the guest experience at Universal Studios Japan, Morimoto received the 2015 Nikkei WOMAN Woman of the Year Award.

Tatsumi is a finance professional with a comprehensive perspective and a clear and precise eye for potential areas of improvement to foster growth opportunities and corporate structural advantages for the sustainable growth of a business. Subscribing to Morioka’s philosophy, he set up Katana, Inc. with Morioka and Imanishi in 2017. For Katana's projects, he plays a pivotal role in improving clients’ corporate values with his keen growth strategies and financial knowledge.
After completing his postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics, Tatsumi entered Mitsui & Co. He worked in the company’s Global Strategic Studies Institute as a project manager for establishing new businesses, before moving to the Boston Consulting Group as a consultant for a consumer goods manufacturer’s overseas expansion, and for a foreign entertainment company's diversification into telecommunications.
Following that tenure, he joined Universal Studios Japan as Planning Director, establishing company-wide medium-term strategies and capital policies. By leading the financial management of investments and returns at a fiscally struggling USJ, Tastumi supported the marketing innovations developed by Morioka and Morimoto, thereby contributing to the dramatic V-shaped recovery of the park.

A world leader in market structure analysis and demand forecasting model development and execution, Imanishi provides keen insight into the ideal focus of business strategies. His multifaceted quantitative analytical skills, based on his mastery of higher mathematics and his ability to construct hypotheses, is rooted in his unrivaled practical experience. He is a longtime ally of Morioka and a co-research development partner in their life's work of "mathematical marketing." In 2017, he established Katana Inc. with Morioka and Tatsumi, where he plays a central role as the "smoking gun" in Katana's ongoing evolution of advanced business intelligence.
Imanishi received a Master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Science. After working at P&G, achieving outstanding results in market research development in Japan, Imanishi moved to P&G World Headquarters (Cincinnati, OH, USA). At the core of P&G, which develops businesses in markets in more than 160 nations, he led the establishment of a global demand-forecast model, and worldwide market analysis and sales forecasting, solidifying his place as one of P&G’s great thinkers.
Imanishi is one of the word’s foremost specialists in quantitative research and actively stands at the forefront of its development. He joined USJ at Morioka’s invitation as a Senior Analyst. He surprised the business world by accurately predicting the increase in attendance with the introduction of the Harry Potter area. He also led the development of the organization's capabilities in the Intelligence Team (Research and Analysis), transforming USJ into a company capable of conducting its own marketing analysis in just a few years.
He is also the co-writer with Morioka of the best-selling book: The Strategic Theory of Probability Thinking: The Power of Mathematics as Proven at USJ.

Abe brings exceptional leadership in brand strategy, execution plans, and organizational development by leveraging his experience at preeminent marketing and sales organizations, as well as his world-leading digital marketing expertise. After graduating from Keio University’s Faculty of Policy Management, Abe worked at P&G, and led a dramatic domestic share growth as the Brand Manager of Pampers. After that, as Marketing Director at Molson Coors Japan, he introduced the new brand “Blue Moon” in the early days of the craft beer market. He also launched a huge music event for the Mexican beer Corona, “Corona SUNSETS FESTIVAL.” With that at the core, he revolutionized the beach culture brand and achieved a rapid brand growth in the Japanese premium beer market.
He was then appointed to the head of the sales organization, the core of the company's practice, where he brought organizational innovation by hybridizing marketing and sales, while simultaneously implementing cross-company projects with multiple retailers, business stores, and distribution companies. He contributed to the improvement of beer-shelf profit efficiency for small retailers while increasing the sales share of the company. He went on to join Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site, where he spearheaded People-Based Marketing projects across the entire consumer funnel, from reach to attitude to behavioral change, delivering numerous solutions and executing organizational digitalization programs.

Itoyama's career as a heralded marketer includes extensive global experience in Japan, Asia and North America and a proven track record and expertise in a wide range of areas from brand strategy development and consumer understanding to plan execution, consumer goods to digital.
Upon graduating from Waseda University's School of Law, Itoyama joined P&G, leading comprehensive projects from strategy development to execution for hair care brands such as Vidal Sassoon, Pantene, and Wella. As a Brand Manager, he has also worked in Singapore, guiding the introduction and growth of high-end hair care products in Japan and Asia.
After that, he joined Rakuten and began to run and expand their e-book and digital subscription services.Through his work in Japan and Canada, he was involved in the global strategic restructuring of the business, while also managing marketing, business management, and product and UIUX development projects that contributed to significant sales and revenue growth for the business. He has managed and transformed diverse organizations in Japan and overseas through his marketing practice.

A rare professional who has mastered the three sectors of operation, finance, and marketing. In particular, Kato has a deep knowledge of front-line operational optimization, and is Japan's leading expert in this field. With the advantage of his broad expertise, he is able to identify and address risks along the full spectrum of realization, and dramatically improve the success rate of strategic tactics.
At USJ, he was involved in the launch of several new attractions and the development of highly efficient operations from one year prior to the park's opening. Following that, he developed a sales forecast model and labor control model as a Business Analyst in the Food & Beverage and Retail departments. He was actively on the forefront as an Operations Specialist for theme park, food & beverage, and retail industries.
He then transferred to the Finance Planning department, where he developed company-wide budgets and promoted business improvement projects for on-site departments, while offering consulting services with marketing and operational know-how to new theme park operators in China. In 2012, he was appointed as a leader of the new theme park development in Okinawa as its new Business Development Manager.

The work of the strategic planning professional Kitaura centers on the highly honed analysis of every detail of financial statements and balance sheets, and the operational position of a workplace to formulate optimized resource distribution and management planning. In Japan, she has the greatest achievements and experience of the cost management of large-scale projects involving the complex intersection of creative, construction, marketing, and human resources.
After working on financial and management analysis for a large retail chain's new business venture into the hotel industry, Kitaura moved to a foreign-based pharmaceutical company as a Financial Controller. At USJ, she crafted company-wide budget management and financial planning and analysis, leading appropriate resource distribution and creating the financial foundation of the V-shaped recovery of the park. Her work also contributed to the financing of new businesses including development in the surrounding area.
She was later appointed Finance and Integrated Management Director, supervising all of finance, HR, and administration of major new large-scale development projects with a budget in the tens of billions of yen. She was responsible for the management of the 4.5 billion yen budget for the construction of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the largest project in the park's history, and guided it to a successful completion.

An all-round professional with the advantage of deep expertise in both brand strategy and market research sales, Watanabe oversees marketing strategy planning and its implementation, showing impressive results. He has extensive achievements and experience as a global-level trainer.
At P&G he was simultaneously a Brand Leader for both Febreze and Joy, leading the recoveries of both of their businesses. As the Febreze Marketing Representative in Japan and Korea, he worked on the creation of 27 TV ads in three years, which resulted in the brand’s double-digit growth for the first time in five years, without being predicated on product innovation. In market research, he led market analysis, demand forecasting, and product and concept testing in Japan, Korea, Australia, and China at the Asian headquarters in Singapore. He built consumer experience segmentations, sales quality forecasts, and marketing mix modeling in the fields of detergents and pet food.
From 2018 he held dual posts in Online Channel Sales Planning and Brand Management at P&G, and as a Digital Manager. He led double-digit growth for two consecutive years while building win-win relationships with retail as the head of digital marketing. He was awarded P&G's Best Trainer in Asia in 2017 and 2018, and received P&G's 2019 Best Coaching Asia Award. Outside of the company he has worked for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a panel speaker on diversity and inclusion.

From analysis of market structures and demand supply, pricing strategies, and real-life communication development, Kimura has a deep knowledge of the holistic marketing process. As an all-round marketer, Kimura even conducts training programs on marketing development and implementation. As Senior Executive Director Marketing, his role is to lead and transfer marketing skills and realize clients’ sustainable growth.
After graduating from Kobe University’s Faculty of Engineering, he entered USJ in the intelligence department (research and analysis). There, he led various research projects and conducted analysis in the three years leading to the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. By leading refined target understanding and the development of tracking systems for various KPIs in the whole company, Kimura led the task force of meeting goals for guest attendance and sales achievements, and contributed to the success of the business in its introductory phase.
He was later transferred to the marketing department to work in communication development for new attractions such as Minion Park, while leading to strengthen the timesaving product, the Express Pass. By introducing a sales strategy based on his careful analysis of price sensitivity and attraction capacity, he was able to increase sales by over triple in just three years, contributing greatly to the transformation of USJ's overall profit structure.

Armed with a sharp brain and practical business experience, Tamura is an all-round marketer who can guide a project through the entire process from development and strategic planning to implementation. Since the rise of digital technology, he has been working on innovative communications by combining a company’s own web media with social media. This has provided him with a high degree of knowledge and experience in communication design for modern consumers who are greatly influenced by social media and digital presence.
He has worked at advertisement firms marketing for clients including Takeda Pharmaceuticals, IBM, and the NTT Group for 10 years. He uses every possible means to contribute to a client’s business growth, from supporting the organization of business alliances between manufacturers and distributors to mass promotion through customer relationship management and digital marketing.
After joining USJ, he was a manager, responsible for branding and communication, and product development. He went on to lead the digital marketing team to complete a communication model with a triage of mass media, PR, and digital marketing to innovate consumer awareness and behavior.
For the launch of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, he created the biggest social media coverage at that time, generating a social phenomenon.