Japan Leadership Intelligence, Case Study
Stripe handed Japan to an engineer who was a school friend of its founders and has kept him there for twelve years. Adyen set up a Japan company later, has named two Country Managers since 2022, and still won some of the biggest names in Japanese commerce. Two very different ways to lead a payments business in Japan, and both have worked for different customers.
Most foreign tech companies open Japan the same way. They hire an experienced Country Manager with a sales background, give them a target, and replace them if the numbers don't come. Stripe didn't do that, and it is one of the more unusual leadership stories in foreign tech in Japan. Adyen did something closer to the standard model. Comparing the two says a lot about what continuity in the Japan seat is worth.
Stripe: the founder's friend, then a second leader beside him
Stripe opened its Japan office in June 2014. Its first Japan head was Daniel Heffernan, an Irish engineer from Limerick who had been at school with Patrick Collison and was working at Cookpad in Tokyo. According to Business Insider Japan, he turned down Patrick's first offer and only said yes after a ramen dinner with John Collison in Ueno.
Stripe launched in Japan in October 2016, with Sumitomo Mitsui Card as both investor and acquiring partner. Early customers were mostly startups and developers: Peatix, BUYMA, SmartHR, along with ANA. Heffernan later said in a podcast interview that entry did not go as planned. Bank specifications came in printed binders, and banks were reluctant to integrate directly.
In 2020 Stripe changed the structure. Heffernan became Representative Director and Head of Engineering, and Stripe hired Daisuke Aranami (荒濤大介) as a second Representative Director to run revenue and growth. Aranami came from McKinsey and Apple Japan, with an early career in government. Under him the Japan team grew four times and revenue doubled each year, according to Business Insider Japan. He left in January 2023, and said how hard it was to get changes approved by US headquarters was part of the reason. He went on to CADDi and Microsoft, and in July 2026 became CEO of Revolut in Japan.
Stripe replaced him with Mitsuru Hiraga (平賀充), who had run Stripe's digital-native segment in Japan after Ericsson and Microsoft, and made him Representative Director in February 2023. Heffernan is still there on the product and engineering side.
What that structure built
An engineer at the top meant Stripe treated Japan as a product problem. It opened a Japan engineering office in 2020 to build local payment methods, and kept adding them: konbini (convenience store) payments and bank transfers, then PayPay in April 2025, card instalments, and in September 2026 Rakuten Pay, d払い (d-barai), au PAY, Merpay and Aeon Pay.
The results moved upmarket over time. Stripe says Japan payment volume grew 55% in 2023, with Toyota, Nikkei, ORIX, Tokyu and Sony Honda Mobility among its customers. By 2026 it said more than 150,000 Japanese businesses used it, 45,000 of them added in the past year.
Adyen: licences first, enterprise customers, a rotating seat
Adyen's first link to Japan was a 2014 deal with JCB so European merchants could accept JCB cards. Its Japan company came later, around 2018 or 2019 depending on the source, and it spent a long time on licensing before it sold anything. Local acquiring launched in May 2021, with direct connections to the card schemes. In-store payments followed in December 2022.
It went after large enterprises and global brands. Amazon Japan chose Adyen in 2022. MonotaRO, the hotel platform tripla and Hoshino Resorts followed, with Hoshino rolling it out across all 71 of its properties. Uniqlo is listed among its major clients in the region.
The Japan seat has turned over more. I couldn't find a named Japan head before 2022. Jonathan Epstein, a fluent Japanese speaker with a long career at PayPal, SoftBank and AIG Japan, was named Country Manager in February 2022, when the Tokyo team was 19 people. His LinkedIn shows about two years in the role. Adam Brownstein, who had led Japan for Booking.com and Partnerize, was appointed in August 2024. Both report into an Asia Pacific structure run from Singapore, which itself changed president in August 2026.
Two models, two kinds of customer
| Stripe | Adyen | |
|---|---|---|
| Japan office | 2014 | 2018 to 2019 |
| Live in Japan | Oct 2016 | May 2021 (local acquiring) |
| Japan leadership | Same founder-trusted engineer since 2014, with a GTM co-head since 2020 | Two Country Managers named since 2022, under a Singapore-run APAC structure |
| First focus | Startups and developers, then enterprise | Large enterprise, global brands, travel |
| Local work | Japan engineering office, konbini, PayPay and other QR methods | Acquirer licence, direct scheme connections |
Both are working. Stripe's continuity gave it someone in Japan whom the founders trusted completely, which matters when Japan needs product built for it that no other market asks for. Adyen's model suits selling a global platform to large companies that already run Adyen elsewhere. The customer often decides at headquarters, and the Japan team's job is to make the local rollout work.
The cost of Stripe's model shows in Aranami's exit. A strong revenue leader working beside a founder-trusted product leader, with approvals running through the US, is a hard seat to sit in for long. The cost of Adyen's model is the turnover itself. Every change in Country Manager resets relationships with Japanese customers and partners who value continuity more than most.
What I'd take from it
- Decide what Japan needs from headquarters before hiring the Country Manager. If Japan needs local product, someone in Japan needs the founders' trust and real say over the roadmap. A sales leader on their own rarely has that.
- A two-leader structure can work, but spell out who decides what. Stripe's growth under a co-head model was strong. The friction it reported was about approvals, which is fixable if it is agreed up front.
- If you sell mainly to global accounts, the Japan head's job is different. Hire for delivery and local relationships, and keep them in the seat long enough for Japanese customers to rely on them.
Sources
- Business Insider Japan on Daniel Heffernan and Stripe Japan's start (Japanese): businessinsider.jp
- Stripe launches in Japan with Sumitomo Mitsui Card, October 2016: techcrunch.com
- Disrupting Japan podcast interview with Daniel Heffernan: disrupting-japan.podcast.show
- Stripe accelerating in Japan, May 2020: stripe.com
- Business Insider Japan on Daisuke Aranami's move to CADDi (Japanese): businessinsider.jp
- Mitsuru Hiraga appointed Representative Director, February 2023 (Japanese): paymentnavi.com
- Stripe adds PayPay, April 2025 (Japanese): watch.impress.co.jp
- Stripe Tour Tokyo 2024 and Japan growth: stripe.com
- Stripe marks 10 years in Japan, 2026: stripe.com
- Adyen and JCB International, July 2014 (Japanese): paymentnavi.com
- Adyen launches local acquiring in Japan, May 2021: finextra.com
- Amazon Japan selects Adyen, 2022 (Japanese): adyen.com
- Jonathan Epstein named Adyen Japan Country Manager, February 2022 (Japanese): paymentnavi.com
- Adam Brownstein named Adyen Japan Country Manager, August 2024 (Japanese): adyen.com
- Gary Yang appointed Adyen APAC President, 2026 (Japanese): adyen.com
Research note: AI assisted with research and drafting. Murray Clarke reviewed the analysis and remains responsible for its conclusions. Company history and leadership changes come from company releases, interviews and the Japanese and English press listed, read in October 2026. Views on hiring are his own. Source links may later become unavailable if publishers move or remove their pages.
