Miwako Date

Miwako Date is President and Chief Executive Officer at Mori Trust Co., Ltd., one of the foremost major developers in Japan, which works with a wide variety of high-class hotels originating from outside Japan. She’s the third generation of leaders hailing from one of the foremost business-owning families in Japan.

Her grandfather, Taikichiro Mori (who Forbes ranked number one on its World’s Billionaires List in 1991 and 1992) founded the Mori Group, the precursor to the Mori Trust Group, which was later formed by Taikichiro’s third son, Akira Mori (who is consistently ranked on the Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List since taking over the business in 1993 and was ranked as Japan’s richest person in 2008). Akira Mori is Miwako’s father and serves as Chairman of the Board at Mori Trust Group. Miwako Date took over the business in June 2016.

With a primary focus on the real-estate and hotel & resort businesses, Mori Trust Group is also involved in a wide range of investment businesses (such as overseas investing and M&A).

Even before taking over the company as President and CEO, Miwako expanded upon its business. And now in Mori Trust’s mid-to-long term vision express its readiness to spend more than JPY 800 billion on new investments by 2027.

In the year since assuming her post, Miwako has aimed for the creation of an international business base in Tokyo and given shape to the "Tokyo World Gate Project" and "Akasaka 2-Chome Project". Both projects are large mixed-use development projects in the heart of Tokyo spanning a total floor space of around 200,000 square meters. Furthermore, she actualized investments into two large buildings found at choice locations in Boston in the US, as well as the listing of a REIT specialized in hotels (which has been evaluated as top-class within Japan).

In addition she’s been vigorously moving business forward, which is evident by occurrences such as attracting EDITION (a luxury lifestyle hotel that’s enthralled celebrities from across the globe) to Tokyo’s Toranomon and Ginza districts, acquisition of new sites, and investing actively in various start-up firms. As the leader of luxury hotel development in Japan, Miwako is currently looking ahead beyond the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. She has deployed various projects not bound by precedent, such as those entailing the opening of 10 new luxury hotels featuring 1,000 rooms by around 2023.

Miwako has been recognized for many achievements such as these and despite her young age, she currently serves as Permanent Secretary at Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), Secretary at the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, and as Director at the Japan Hotel Association. What’s more, Miwako has been invited to give recommendations as a member of numerous expert panels hosted by entities such as the governments of Tokyo and Japan, thereby contributing significantly to the development of Japan’s business world and tourism industry.