51: Seth Sulkin, CEO, Pacifica Capital, Pacifica Hotels, Food-e

<p>Seth Sulkin takes us through his journey in Japan from working as a journalist to a civil servant to becoming the leader of three organizations - Pacific Air Capital, Pacific Hotels, and most recently, Food-e. Mr. Sulkin first arrived in Japan in 1987 while working for Wall Street Journal and experienced the economic bubble which he recalls as “an incredible time living in Tokyo [and] a rare experience that only happens every 1000 years.” Having worked as a journalist in New York, London and Tokyo, Mr. Sulkin decided to change his career path and enrolled in graduate school at Stanford University. There, he studied Japanese political economy, specifically on how Japan uses aid, trade and investment to promote economic development in Southeast Asia. After graduation, he worked for Japan Development Institute to build infrastructures all over the word including Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Russia and Poland as a Project Manager. Mr. Sulkin then worked for the Clinton Administration working on defence policy related to Japan. Mr. Sulkin decided that working in business and being his own boss was a better fit and started building his own development company, first based in the US with a focus on opening department stores and shopping centres in Japan.</p> <p> </p> <p>In Japan, Mr. Sulkin started with a team of 10-15 people working with large Japanese partners who wanted to build US style shopping centres. He first developed his network based on the relationships he had established while being in Japan for nearly 10 years. Mr. Sulkin continued to expand his network through introductions, which increased his credibility and ability to build trusting business partnerships. Mr. Sulkin believes that as a small organization, his company was able to bring the overseas real estate expertise the Japanese companies needed at that time, which would have been difficult for larger corporations to provide. He adds: “there aren't that many Japanese who can easily fit into the business world in the US [and] easily sen