Rare foreign-born CEO says Japan needs immigration to thrive

NIIGATA, Japan - The Indian-born head of one of Japan's most famous snack brands has warned that the country must change its mindset and admit more immigrants to get the economy back to the glory of its boom years.

Politicians have struggled for years to recover from the so-called lost decades as a range of differing programmes failed to kick-start growth, including an ultra-loose monetary policy and trillions of dollars in stimulus measures.

And as the new government of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba eyes a fresh drive to bring back the heyday of its global tech domination, Dr Lekh Juneja, chief executive officer of rice cracker giant Kameda Seika, said he worries his adopted country has lost its edge.

"Forty years ago, I came to Japan because it was close to No. 1 in GDP (gross domestic product)...it was booming," he told AFP at Kameda's headquarters, in Japan's rice heartland of Niigata.

But at some point "Japan thought 'we have everything now'."

"And I think that the hungry spirit to (have) the guts to go global started disappearing a bit," the biotech scientist said.

Kameda's expansion mirrored Japan's post-war boom, increasing revenues tenfold between 1965 and 1974 and becoming synonymous with the nationally adored "senbei" crackers in the process.