What are the key projects that you have been involved in over the past twelve months?

Japan has been a key market for Blackstone, and it has again been an extremely busy year. On the transaction side in 2025, our real estate team acquired a landmark logistics asset, marking the largest logistics transaction in Japan in that year, as well as a number of hotel and residential assets. Our private equity team took private TechnoPro, Japan’s leading IT services provide, in our largest investment ever in Japan. We have also made some notable sales, delivering for our investors. Fundraising activity continued to be robust: Japan is now our second largest global market for our private wealth business. We have been a pioneer in the space in Japan, helping bring four flagship strategies to individual investors in partnerships with leading Japanese financial institutions.

Please describe a situation where your advice had a significant impact on business outcomes or objectives.

Working in Japan for a global organisation means that you need to be not only bilingual, but also bicultural. People are sometimes very focused on conveying their position or ideas to their overseas internal stakeholders, but it is equally important that they listen to and strive to understand where their counterparts are coming from and what their concerns are. By doing both, sharing your perspective and at the same time understanding your counterpart’s underlying concerns, you may recognise where there could be misunderstandings or gaps in information. This would then clear the path for solutions to bridge the gap. This isn’t really legal advice, but as in-house counsel, I have had several situations where my advice helped teams in multiple jurisdictions come together to a mutual understanding and achieve business objectives.

AI remains at the forefront of conversations about the future. How can in-house counsel ensure the successful integration of legal tech, while maintaining the human element?

AI is a powerful tool, and new technology has opened ways to make data collection and analyses much quicker and more efficient. That said, there are inherent legal, regulatory and other risks that we as in-house counsel need to be mindful of, including confidentiality, data privacy and potential information leakages. We can still successfully integrate legal tech if we are aware of its risks and limitations and ensure that the critical human skills – experience and judgment – overlay the tech outputs. Just as we wouldn’t blindly believe external sources without verifying content and accuracy, we should not simply utilise AI-generated materials without scrutinising the input and output.

What is a cause, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

As a mother to a daughter, I have been quite passionate about recruiting, retaining and nurturing female talent at our firm. I am co-heading the Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) in Japan, where we have provided both casual and formal forums for female professionals to share their experiences and ideas.

This year, we hosted a flower arrangement session for International Women’s Day, which was a well-attended event enjoyed by all participants. We have also worked with the talented women in our portfolio companies to share ideas and continue to innovate.

We have partnered with law firms in hosting panels, as well as inviting senior leadership to give fireside chats to the younger generation and provide advice on thriving in a demanding, fast-paced environment. It is always amazing and inspiring to meet young and talented women in the industry, and I look forward to continuing to support the women at our firm.