JR East to Promote Kise to CEO

Jiji Press

10:31 JST, January 18, 2024

Tokyo (Jiji Press) — East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, said Wednesday that it will promote Executive Vice President Yoichi Kise to president and CEO on April 1.

Kise, 59, will be the first to take the helm among those who joined JR East after the company was created following the 1987 breakup and privatization of the Japanese National Railways.

He entered JR East in April 1989 and assumed the current post in June 2021. He has engaged in projects including large-scale redevelopment near Shinagawa Station in Tokyo.

“My task now is to further accelerate and upgrade reforms,” Kise said at a press conference.

Kise will replace Yuji Fukasawa, 69, who will become chairman without the right to represent the company.

Fukasawa has been president and CEO since 2018 and overseen pandemic-era efforts to strengthen non-railway operations and review unprofitable regional lines.

The current JR East chairman, Tetsuro Tomita, 72, will become adviser.