Hong Kong based Eight Partnership opens office in Tokyo

Eight Partnership has opened an office in Tokyo to service a fast-growing base of clients in Japan with Toshiyuki Sanada appointed to lead the Japan expansion.

“We delivered our very first project in Japan in 2007, but then really started regular work there from 2010. That was ten years ago,” said partner Chris Fjelddahl. “After completing a long string of projects in Tokyo, Okinawa, Sapporo, Osaka, Nagoya, Karuizawa, Niseko and more, we feel the time has come to make a bigger commitment to the Japanese market with the launch of our new Tokyo office.”

The office is centrally located in Shibuya Scramble Square, the tallest building in the area right in the vibrant heart of the city. Sanada is a respected veteran who has significant international experience with real estate developer Mori Building, including in China and Southeast Asia, and more recently headed ‘Powered by We’, the workplace design business of WeWork Japan.

Eight has a long list of projects under its belt in Japan. These include luxury residential work for Mori Building’s Toranomon Hills project, brand strategy for the Hokkaido Fighters new mega ‘baseball city’ in Sapporo, luxury hotel branding for Toyota and Hyatt in a ground-breaking project in Shizuoka near Nagoya, design collaborations with renowned designers Ogata Shinichiro and Tadao Ando, a series of alpine resort projects in Niseko, Hokkaido that span restaurants, retail, and luxury residential, project branding for blue-chip developer Tokyo Tatemono, hospitality branding for Tokyu Group, and many more.

“We are very positive about the Japanese market. We have always found Japan to be a natural fit with Eight’s quality mindset and our design ethos. We also see great opportunities to leverage Eight’s international platform to help our Japanese clients connect with Asia and the rest the world,” said Fjelddahl. “This is going to be a lot of fun!”

“There is plenty of demand from Japanese clients for an international branding and design firm with Eight’s blue-chip credentials,” said Sanada. “The boom of inbound visitors, both travellers and investors, creates strong demand from clients to help them build international bridges. I am excited to lead this new stage in Eight’s evolution in Japan.”