New Government Wants Silicon Valley-Style Disruption to Help Revitalize Economy
BY DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI AND MAYUMI NEGISHI
TOKYO—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the scion of a political dynasty and embodiment of the Japanese establishment, and Hiroshi Mikitani, an Internet billionaire and iconoclast, make for unlikely allies. But they are joining forces to bring a little Silicon Valley disruptiveness to the country's Old Guard.
Since Mr. Abe took office in December, Mr. Mikitani, founder and chief executive of Japan's biggest online retailer Rakuten Inc., has been one of the main corporate backers of his government's push to deregulate and overhaul the regimented Japanese economy.
The structural measures are meant to be the "third arrow" of Mr. Abe's economic strategy, ...