A Japanese person working for a Swiss company on the pavilions for Austria, Kuwait, Switzerland and Uzbekistan at the Expo 2025 Osaka, it is tricky to imagine where Yoichi Sashihara’s heart lies. The answer is almost certainly Spain.
Born in Fukuoka and raised in Osaka, he majored in electronic engineering at Kobe University before joining construction giant Takenaka. Posted to Takenaka Espana in Barcelona a few years later in 1990, sparking Sashihara’s love affair with all things Spanish.
Y Viva España
“The open-minded, friendly people, the food, the weather, the nature, I love it all.” But the romance was often a rocky one in its early days.
Barcelona was gearing up for the 1992 Olympics, and construction was booming. “Our clients were Japanese and Takenaka was very Japanese, but the workers were all Spanish. On my first visit to a site, many of the them were from regions such as Andalucia, an additional language barrier, and they didn’t care about the rules around things like safety belts and helmets. I would also have to ask them not to drink beer onsite, and they would respond ‘Why not?’ They saw themselves as individually responsible for their lives, whereas in Japan, the company is expected to watch everything.”
On another occasion, a sudden strike brought work to a halt on a site in northern Spain. Desperate to get the project finished on schedule, Sashihara suggested offering triple pay but was told even then nobody would cross the picket line.
The stress eventually took its toll and he collapsed twice on site and had to be taken to hospital. Despite the trials and tribulations, which also included having his bag stolen three times, Sashihara’s affection was undiminished.
Home and back again
After being back in Osaka with Takenaka for a few years, he returned to Barcelona to take an MBA. Upon graduation in 1997, he joined equipment manufacturer Hilti in Madrid. Spending more than a decade with the firm, including two stints in the Spanish capital and one at headquarters in Schaan, Liechtenstein, from where he would frequently take trips over the border into Switzerland; he eventually landed in Yokohama in 2002. During his time in Europe, Sashihara had married a Spaniard who then wanted to get to know his native country better.
Moving on from Hilti in 2006, he spent the subsequent 17 years doing stints at five European companies in Japan, including Bureau Veritas, Sika and Schneider Electric, with his permanent base now in Yokohama.
“They were all different industries and jobs, and I had to learn a lot. It’s not easy, especially with foreign companies in Japan. But I get bored after three or four years and I still like to take on new challenges.”
Exponential challenges
His latest project is surely one of his most demanding yet, overseeing the planning and construction of four country pavilions for the Expo, which got off to a late start following some well-publicised delays. Sashihara finds himself now acting as a conduit and mediator between the Japanese construction firms and his overseas colleagues and the authorities responsible for their country’s pavilion, with occasional frustrations caused by the various sides.
“In Japan, everything is discussed in such detail and decisions are slow. But then the decision is respected. Meanwhile, the other side sometimes says ‘yes’ but then changes their mind to ‘no’ after I’ve passed the decision on.”
Other complications include the severe construction labour shortages and the fact that Nüssli Japan will also be responsible for operating one of the pavilions for the six months of the Expo without a day’s holiday.
As if he didn’t have enough on his plate, Sashihara finished a BA in architectural design at Kyoto University of Arts in March. He is currently somehow finding time to study for the registered architect exam, on his way to fulfilling a dream to design buildings that goes back to his early days at Takenaka.
Sashihara’s son appears to have inherited some of his adventurous spirit and recently graduated from a filmmaking course in Berlin.
Once the Expo finishes in late 2025, Sashihara intends to return to Yokohama for a couple of years. “Then our family will return to Spain. That is our plan, our life plan.”
Text: Gavin Blair for SCCIJ.
