Born in Finland of Swedish descent, Erik Ullner first arrived in Japan February 1965. He was nine years old and his father was employed as a commercial counselor at the Finnish Embassy.
“Japan was a totally different country to today,” remembers Ullner. “I used to go to school by tram from our home in Roppongi. At that time, the old Almond café was the only concrete building there.”
Ullner joined the banking industry at the height of the bubble economy, which he describes as “probably the biggest matsuri there ever was.” One client party in Kyoto, he recalls, cost ¥15 million: “For five people plus the geisha.”
That party ended some time ago and now Ullner works to help Japanese companies invest in Europe, and vice-versa. He hopes organisations like the EBC will continue their patient pressure for deregulation.
EBC Treasurer Ullner lives with his wife in Karuizawa, one hour from Tokyo by shinkansen, and where he has a wooden house specially imported from Finland – complete with sauna. Temperatures can get down to -15˚C in winter.
After nearly 40 years observing the Japanese economy at close-hand, Ullner doesn’t underestimate the problems posed by government debt, the high yen and Japan’s ageing population. Yet he is cautiously optimistic about the new administration. “Everyone is hoping they will do a good job,” he says.