In Rakuten's case, adjustment certainly took time. At first, meetings often felt awkward. The first board meeting after the Englishization decision took four hours to complete – double the normal duration. But whenever executives asked if they could say certain things in Japanese, I told them no. I knew that the challenge would pay off – and it has.
Recorded Mikitani's own essay, bylined “By Hiroshi Mikitani: Founder and CEO of Rakuten”, Toyo Keizai source