Since establishment for over the past 70 years, PACIFIC CONSULTANTS GROUP has contributed to the development of various social infrastructures and has made strides toward the realization of a sustainable society where everyone can live with peace of mind. In January 2026, we embarked on a new group business portfolio management with an establishment of new PACIFIC CONSULTANTS HOLDINGS CO., LTD. We asked Osamu OMOTO, who assumed the position of Representative Director of the company, about the aims and his thoughts as a representative of the company.
INDEX
- We are at a major turning point in history
- It is difficult to hold both a position at operating company and group management company
- Establishment of an international business company and a new business company
We are at a major turning point in history
- Why was the PACIFIC CONSULTANTS HOLDINGS CO., LTD. established now? Please tell us the background.
OMOTO: Simply say that, we must maximize the value of the entire group in order to respond to the major changes we are currently facing and carve out a path to the future. To do this, we cannot be bound by conventional ideas and methods. Until now, the group's management strategy has been decided by PACIFIC CONSULTANTS, the group's core operating company. PACIFIC CONSULTANTS is a company with over 70 years of history and a proven track record, and that is why we are able to make certain decisions. However, it cannot be denied that being a operating company can sometimes narrow our perspective and make it difficult for us to break away from our previous ideas and methods.
In order to build a business portfolio that suits the group and maximize the value of the entire group, we felt it was necessary to take a broader perspective and refine our management strategy as a group. Until now, PACIFIC CONSULTANTS had been playing a "dual role", so to speak, as both the operating company and the group's coordinating company, and we felt it was necessary to separate these roles.
- That just goes to show how difficult the times are right now.
OMOTO: The war between Ukraine and Russia, which began with Russia's military invasion, is still ongoing for the fourth year. A ceasefire agreement has been reached in the Middle East, but fighting continues and the political situation remains unstable.
Furthermore, abnormal weather caused by climate change is causing flood damage and wildfires around the world, and disasters are becoming more severe and frequent with each passing year. In addition, Japan is experiencing a rapid increase in population decline and an aging population with a declining birthrate, and social infrastructure such as roads, bridges, tunnels, and water and sewer systems is aging. Since the fall of 2025, damage caused by wild bears has increased sharply and become more serious. I believe this is not just a topical issue limited to certain areas, but rather a result of a combination of various factors that are symbolic of Japan's current situation, such as the devastation of forests due to climate change and the decline of forestry, and the depopulation and aging of rural areas.
- Indeed, a year ago it was unimaginable that our daily lives would be threatened by bears.
OMOTO: The times are changing so rapidly that it's impossible to predict what will happen next. What will happen if things continue like this for 10 or 20 years? I think that with the exception of a few major cities, many regional cities will find themselves in a situation where their very survival is in jeopardy.
- As a company that has contributed to the development of social infrastructure for over 70 years, PACIFIC CONSULTANTS cannot help but feel a strong sense of crisis.
OMOTO: That's right. We have a vision of "Producing the Future," and we are providing our business activities in order to achieve the statement "We will achieve both the prosperous life without threat to anyone in the world, without inequality, and the protection of the beautiful environment of the Earth which is the source of all life so that it can be passed on to the future generations." To achieve this, we must take action on a new stage.
It is difficult to hold both a position at operating company and group management company
- So that's why it was necessary to establish the PACIFIC CONSULTANTS HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
OMOTO: PACIFIC CONSULTANTS is an organization that has been promoting its business as a construction consultant for over 70 years.
We understand the intentions of our clients and, in line with their requests, have been responsible for the basic planning, basic design, detailed design, construction management, maintenance, and operation of infrastructure development from the perspective of a specialist engineer. We have achieved a wide variety of results, the list of which is endless, including expressways, Shinkansen lines, airports, ports, rivers, water supply and sewage facilities, waste treatment facilities, station plaza development, disaster prevention, and urban development.
We have also been one of the first to take on environmental projects, develop and promote PPP method, and promote digital transformation, achieving a proven track record. Among these, PACIFIC CONSULTANTS has expanded its business scale and business areas, adding many operating company to the group. The group currently consists of 17 companies, with PACIFIC CONSULTANTS acting as the business holding company, considering the group's management strategy and managing the business portfolio.
While advancing its own business, it also considers strategies for the group and manages the individual businesses of each group company. PACIFIC CONSULTANTS is able to do this because it is a large organization with abundant human resources. However, when considering strategies for the entire group, limitations have become apparent, such as prioritizing our own business as a construction consultant, and being operating company that has responded to various requests, mainly from the public sector, for many years, leading to biased judgments and narrow perspectives regarding business ideas and methods.
In order to clarify the group's strategy, appropriately allocate resources to operating companies, and maximize the value of the entire group, we felt that we needed a higher-level, bird's-eye view of the group, and that this meant establishment of a holding company as a pure holding company. The strategy for determining what role each operating company will play within the group and how it will contribute to realizing the statement is not decided by PACIFIC CONSULTANTS CO., LTD., but by the holding company that oversees each operating company.
- Why did you decide to keep PACIFIC CONSULTANTS in the holding company's name?
OMOTO: There are holding companies out there that have completely new names, but we wanted to continue using the name PACIFIC CONSULTANTS. PACIFIC CONSULTANTS is not particularly well known in the general public, but it is recognized by many people in the world of infrastructure design, construction, and maintenance. We felt that we should inherit the brand that our predecessors had built over the past 70 years. Of course, it will be important for the new holding company to expand its ideas and methods beyond the framework of construction consulting, but we believe that this should be clearly stated as part of the business activities of each operating company.
Establishment of an international business company and a new business company
- What specifically will you be doing?
OMOTO: The promotion of infrastructure engineering, which PACIFIC CONSULTANTS is responsible for, is an important core role that the group plays. We will continue to leverage our unique, comprehensive technological capabilities that cover a wide range of fields to provide optimal, integrated solution services, as we have done in the past, or even better than before. This will not change. However, if we remained within that framework, I believe we would not be able to realize our vision and statement.
We want to realize the future we envision within new ideas and new frameworks, and naturally, PACIFIC CONSULTANTS will play a part in that. We are already making concrete steps to establish an international operating company, and we have many ideas for new businesses that we will work on quickly establishing the operating company.
- This is a major turning point as the establishment approaches its 75th anniversary. What are your thoughts, OMOTO?
OMOTO: More than 70 years have passed since establishment as U.S. Corporation in 1951. Our predecessors worked hard through turbulent times, burning with a strong sense of mission to build a new Japan amid the ruins of the post-war era. We have inherited that valuable asset. And in a sense, we can say that the current era is a period of change that is comparable to the period of our founding.
In order to survive this era and build a new society, I believe we need to once again inherit the aspirations of those who were responsible for the company's founding and transform them into the energy needed for the next transformation. These are difficult times, but to put it another way, they are also times that are highly challenging and worthwhile. I am grateful to have been born in such an era and to be one of the people at the forefront of it all, and I look forward to taking a new step together with our employees and all our stakeholders. We will maximize the Group's strengths and pave the way to the future by realizing our statement.
