Firm bonds and a collaborative mindset forged in the experience of being “middle children” in a four-sibling household, and then working part-time jobs together in their younger years, have stood Mickey and Kelly Langley in good stead as they build Gemini Group.
A public affairs firm at the nexus of international business and Japan’s government and bureaucracy, Gemini’s “sweet spot” is leveraging their bicultural background and experience to help clients negotiate the subtleties and layers of Nagatachō and Kasumigaseki.
Born in Tokyo, where they attended international school, they also spent parts of their childhoods in Colorado. “Our parents met at a Diet member’s office back in the 80s. They were political aides for Taro Nakayama, who went on to become foreign minister,” explains Kelly, the younger sibling.
Utilizing his unique position and connections as an American with experience at the heart of Japanese politics, their father founded Langley Esquire, a pioneering Tokyo lobbying firm. Kelly would later intern there briefly. “I decided after a few months I hated it and thought: “I won’t be doing this,” he recalls with a laugh. He went on to work in private banking and travelled around Asia, attempting to figure out what he would do.
A family affair
Meanwhile, Mickey had been working at Tokyo American Club when his father asked him to join the firm, where he would eventually spend a decade. A few years later, it was Kelly’s turn to receive the call. “Our father’s deputy left. He needed support.”
Working together at Langley Esquire honed the brothers’ skills and made plain their differing and complementary roles. “I’m typically the outspoken, more frontward facing, engaging with clients, sales, operations, while Mickey is better at the back-office side: project management, administration, finance, accounting, HR,” explains Kelly.
“We have to pay homage to our father in terms of the work that we’re doing and where we ended up; we carry a lot of those lessons forward today,” acknowledges Kelly. But not all they learned from Langley senior was immediately obvious. “He has all these sayings, like he often said ‘Roll with it,’ which sounded a bit meaningless back then.”
Brothers doing it for themselves
As time passed and the brothers began to develop their own ideas and ways of working, they came to think that three Langleys was probably too many for one firm. Mickey and Kelly decided to strike out on their own, founding Gemini Group in 2023. It aims to be more than just a continuation of where they come from. “We’re the new blood, and we’re willing to do the work, to get our hands dirty,” emphasizes Kelly.
Though being half-American means they’ll “never be 100 percent Japanese, that’s just the way it is,” they see this as a distinct advantage in their “very niche” chosen space. Navigating companies and organizations through what can still be the baffling complexities of doing business here is their bread and butter, notes Mickey. “Japan is a very high-context culture; it’s more about what people don’t say than what they do. There are a hundred ways to say ‘no,’ and ‘yes’ is one of them.”
Much of their work involves educating their own clients about these dynamics, especially when it comes to government engagement. “They want to meet the minister,” Mickey says, “but a lot of the time it’s not the minister who has the most influence. It’s someone lower down, working behind the scenes.”
In it for the long haul
Recent projects include supporting the Switzerland-based Green Hydrogen Organization. They’ve helped shape conversations in Japan around sustainable hydrogen policy; nudging stakeholders toward green hydrogen over the more carbon-intensive “blue” variant.
This long game, Kelly argues, is essential in Japan. “Change doesn’t happen overnight. You need to hit all the right touch points across government, industry, and academia. It’s not one big splash but multiple smaller, well-timed engagements.”
While insisting they’re “not aiming to be massive,” the firm recently moved to a bigger office and is currently hiring. Onboarding clients is usually a lengthy process, but when contracts are signed, they want to hit the ground running, according to Mickey, who says a lot of groundwork over the last year is now coming to fruition.
Rolling with the punches
Growing up on a diet of martial arts manga and anime Dragon Ball Z, as well as wrestling in high school, combat sports have loomed large in their lives. Kelly even aimed at pro mixed martial arts before deciding he “didn’t want to get punched in the face as a career.” The two have often trained together, sometimes surprising those around them with how hard they would spar with each other and laugh about it afterwards. These days, they box together to let off steam and keep fit, but say martial training has taught them discipline, self-control and how to handle adversity.
Dealing with the challenges that inevitably accompany running their own firm has given the brothers a deeper appreciation of some of the advice from their early days. “Sometimes you really do have to just roll with it,” says Kelly.
Text: Gavin Blair for SCCIJ
