HI, I'M LISA
I’m an award-winning journalist currently with Bloomberg News in Tokyo, where I write about corporate Japan, focusing on (but not limited to!) the consumer and healthcare industry.
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Being a business journalist means versatility -- I am able to quickly jump on breaking business about any industry, or write and report out in-depth features connected to a particular news event. In my journalism adventures, I’ve interviewed CEOs and working grandmothers, broken news on corporate strategy changes, and most recently written in-depth about Covid-19 from a scientific and policy perspective.
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I'm always interested in telling stories about how Japanese companies are adapting to domestic and global trends, and new opportunities that arise from the country's demographics and widening rural-urban divide. Please don't hesitate to connect to chat about that or any other topic!
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Below is a selection of my writing, and my most recent articles can be accessed here.
APRIL 2019
A Bloomberg Businessweek magazine feature. “For years, Don Quijote—an unclassifiable seller of everything from humidifiers to sex toys—has been a cult phenomenon in Japan, favored by the cash-strapped households of the so-called recession generation. Now it’s big business.”
MARCH 2021
There are many reasons why Japan is determined to hold the already-delayed Tokyo Olympics this summer, but one that is seldom discussed publicly: China. Story was among first to discuss the Japan-China rivalry as a driver behind the summer Olympics being held in the pandemic and subsequently became a common talking point in other media.
DEC 2021
A tense public history with vaccines and a cautious regulatory process has some concerned over how quickly Japan can roll out its vaccines and return to normal.
JUNE 2020
Japan's system of public health centers were an integral but overlooked part of the country's Covid-19 strategy, which may have contributed a large part to its success in understanding and curtailing the coronavirus.
MARCH 2019
Carlos Ghosn’s bet on a new team of lawyers paid off when he was finally release on bail from a Tokyo jail after more than 100 days. That was partly in thanks to Takashi Takano, who was also reponsible for Ghosn’s Hollywood-esque departure during bail. This profile highlighting the colorful and contrarian Japanese lawyer preceded much domestic media coverage of him.
OCT 2020
Vending machines seem tailor-made to survive a pandemic, but the Covid-19 crisis appears to be accelerating their demise. That's been especially apparent in Japan, where beverage retailers pushed vending machines to new heights of ubiquity and creativity. The reason? Less foot traffic.
AUG 2019
Broke the news that that Caesars Entertainment would pull out of the effort to build and open a casino in Japan.
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DEC 2019
Casino executives are starting to question whether building casinos in Japan is worth all the trouble. Feature story's publishing preceded more operators pulling out of Japan market.
JAN 2021
Annual analysis piece on Japanese M&A. Japanese deal making only dropped slightly in 2020 compared to 2019 despite the pandemic. That momentum is likely to continue into 2021, as pent-up demand, towering cash piles and external forces driven Covid-19 changes could make 2021 among the most active years yet.
MAY 2021
A years-long bet on comfy bras and underwear has paid off for Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo, as it become the top seller of women’s intimate wear in Japan after doubling its market share in recent years.
Much of the success was the result of Uniqlo’s decision to double down on producing wireless bras as early as 2011, years before a global shift toward more comfortable styles including sports bras and bralettes took hold.