Seiichi Takarabe (born 1956) is a Japanese economic journalist who reports on finance, the economy, and business management. Born in Tokyo, he graduated from Keio University’s Faculty of Law in 1980 and joined Nomura Securities. After leaving the firm, he worked in publishing before becoming a freelance journalist. His activities included contributions to financial and economic magazines, television and radio commentary, and interviews with business leaders. In 1995, he established Harveyroad Japan, an economic-policy think tank that made proposals on matters including balanced-budget legislation. His reporting covered small and medium-sized businesses as well as major companies in Japan and abroad, examining management decisions and organizational responses to change. Alongside publishing his own field reports in Harveyroad Weekly, he interviewed executives and economic specialists about business strategies and social developments on a BS11 discussion program. His Japanese-language book “Lawson no Kokuhaku” (2013) drew on interviews with Takeshi Niinami and other key figures at the convenience-store chain. It examined changing customer needs, shifts in the company’s revenue model, and its reorganization of supply chains in relation to individual and organizational growth. In “Kyoto Kigyo no Jitsuryoku” (2015), he investigated businesses that valued distinctive products and market share over corporate size. Combining field reporting with an examination of information circulating through close local relationships, he discussed connections between Kyoto’s cultural traditions and the long-term development of its companies. “Yaburete mo Mata Hashire” (2026), a nonfiction work developed over eight years, traced the life of ASICS founder Kihachiro Onitsuka, who began making shoes in postwar Kobe. It followed product development, expansion into overseas markets, setbacks, and business crises, examining the relationship between management ideals and strategy.
