Ako Shimada, the general counsel for Ushio America and Ushio Europe Group, says there is a significant challenge to working out issues between Japanese and American executives.
“In Japan, decisions are made on consensus. It takes a while for a company to make a decision,” Shimada told the Business Journal.
“Here, speed is very important. Often times, executives act quickly.
“I have to explain to Japanese how things are done in the U.S. For U.S. colleagues, I tell them that you must be very patient.”
The ability of Shimada, who has more than 25 years of legal experience in America, to communicate in both languages and cultures was a key reason she won a General Counsel Award in the Private Company category.
Shimada oversees Ushio’s legal and regulatory affairs in North America as well as Europe, with expertise in corporate governance, risk management, intellectual property and complex M&A transactions.
“Her career exemplifies global leadership, strategic vision and a deep commitment to her community,” Charlene Azema, a partner at Knobbe Martens, said when presenting the award in front of 275 attendees at the Business Journal’s annual awards for general counsels, held Nov. 6 at the Irvine Marriott.
“She has become recognized internally and externally for her expertise in global governance, intellectual property and complex acquisitions.”
The Importance of English
Shimada grew up in Yokohama where she began English conversation school at age 6 because her parents “wanted me to be internationally minded.”
She attended the University of North Carolina, which she says was a “culture shock.”
“It was so different from where I grew up, from a big city to a small town. It was very different from Japan. The southern accent was hard to understand.”
By her junior year, she decided to become a lawyer, saying she saw a future in conducting international transactions. While it was tough taking the LSAT in her second language, she found law school intriguing. She graduated with a JD degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
Her career has included working for law firms like Rutan & Tucker LLP and companies like Apria Healthcare of Lake Forest. In 2014, she joined Ushio America.
Ushio, which was founded in 1964, became known for halogen lamps and for inventing the “world’s first large outdoor advertising lighting using xenon short arc lamps.”
Nowadays, it’s well known for making lithography equipment and systems for tech giant Applied Materials to make semiconductor chips.
The Ushio Group, has about 6,000 employees, in fiscal 2025 reported sales of 177.6 billion yen, or about USD $1.2 billion (Tokyo: 6925).
“Ushio is well known in Japan,” Shimada said. “Winning this award helps people increase awareness of our company.”
Side Jobs
Shimada serves on the board of directors of the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC SoCal), a global bar association with more than 45,000 in-house lawyers representing over 10,000 companies in 85 countries. She’s also a Council Leader for the U.S.-Japan Council (USJC) and has chaired its Southern California Region.
In addition, Shimada serves as an independent board director at Fujitec Co., a manufacturer of elevators and escalators with a $3 billion market cap (Tokyo: 6406). She’s proud that since joining in 2023, she and other new directors have strengthened its compliance and governance frameworks, which has helped the stock gain 70%.
“I joined to contribute to maximizing shareholder value,” Shimada said. “We’ve done a lot of things to enhance transparency, corporate government and compliance.”
She’s now been in the U.S. for 33 years, residing in Irvine where she raised her two children. She plans to stay for a while.
“I love Orange County. It’s a great place to live.”
AloJapan.com