Presidents Message
Since I first left Japan to discover the world in my early 20s I have been fascinated by the diversity of our planet, and its sheer beauty. I have also been aware of how delicate the balance keeping this magnificent planet alive is, and how much it is now in danger. For more than four decades I have lived with a vision of creating and then running a company that is making a positive contribution to society, and the planet, not just in my home country of Japan, but all over the world. I believe that with Frontiers International my dream of helping to make a better life for all is coming closer.
There is only ever going to be a holistic solution to the problems facing the planet, and I want to make my contribution by helping to bring change to the understanding of primary production and its end consumption. Moreover, I want this company to operate as a borderless operation, bringing together people from all parts of the world in the North and Southern Hemispheres and from East to West. What we are developing at Frontiers International is a business model that helps protect the planet and its people by making the best use of the available resources we have, and reducing our impact on the environment to create a new type of lifestyle that is compatible with human needs in the 21st century.
As individuals and as a company, we are searching for a balance for the world, and within human lifestyles in the modern world. However, it is obvious that basic model of primary production and consumption is not sufficient to bring about this change. There is a need for a more comprehensive approach to changing modern lifestyle, one that respects the balance the earth requires to prosper and the conditions we need as people to survive. This company was created out a reaction to the ever-increasing speed of life and disconnection from the surrounding environment. My overarching vision for Frontiers International is as a company bringing together the benefits of air, water and nature to the modern consumer world, providing the highest quality products that are organic, chemical free, and as much as possible carbon neutral. The ultimate goal is to help bring humans back to a more sustainable and realistic lifestyle that is in tune with nature.
The seeds of Frontiers International were first planted as a researcher of Proboscis Monkeys in the jungles of Borneo as a university student, and it was here I saw at firsthand how critical preserving habitat is to continued survival. My travels and work abroad and in Japan have only reinforced this message, and have been critical to shaping the type of company that has now become Frontiers International. I invite all of you to join me in this quest for a more humane way to live in the modern world. Whether as a partner in our work, or as a philosophical sympathizer as you find your own path, it is time for us to all work for a better planet.
Nobuo Ishikawa
President & CEO
Frontiers International Co., Ltd.
Nobuo Ishikawa: Biographical Highlights
Born: May 1950 Tokyo, Japan.
Education
After graduating high school he entered the prestigious Tokyo University of Agriculture graduating with a degree in department of Animal Science in 1974. A highlight of university was spending a year in Sabah Borneo to undertake research on Proboscis Monkeys.
International Outlook
Mr. Ishikawa has lived and worked in Malaysia, Nepal, India, the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Bhutan and Italy. For the past 35 years Mr. Ishikawa has been based in New Zealand, Australia and Japan, and has travelled the world extensively expanding his business ventures.
Primary Producer and Community Worker
Mr. Ishikawa commenced his working life in a diary farm in Japan’s Northern-most island Hokkaido, before moving to the United States to study beef production and breeding in Missouri during the mid-1970s. Later these lessons were taken back to Hokkaido where he spent a number of years working for the local branch of the Lifestyle Club a national cooperative organization. Here he helped establish piggeries and cow farms that helped train students and youths with intellectual and social development problems in the farming industry. In the early 1990s he started the Frontiers Group, a deer farm in Mount Hutt on the Southern Island of New Zealand, and Frontiers Group (Japan). These companies were the forerunner of the present day Frontiers International.
Businessman and Entrepreneur
While in Hokkaido Mr. Ishikawa gravitated toward the restaurant industry, entering the business development section of the Midoriya Sushi restaurant chain in the early 1980s. Rapid success followed, and he was responsible for establishing, on average, a new chain store every year for 4 years. He was also responsible for introducing a Ramen (Chinese Noodle) store into the company’s family of stores.
After spending a decade in numerous capacities in Hokkaido, Mr. Ishikawa left to explore business ventures overseas. The first stop was in Australia, where in cooperation with his Sapporo business connections he established one of Sydney’s first and best-known Japanese restaurants, Sapporo, in Sydney’s fashionable Northern suburbs in 1987. Soon after he also started Jimmy’s as one of the first Japanese restaurants in New Zealand.
He has also been involved with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in various capacities for over three decades, in a number of business fields, including food products, apparel, natural food products and cosmetics. This experience over a prolonged period has given him an extensive network of contacts and business relations to further Frontiers activities over the whole of Northeast Asia. Mr. Ishikawa has also been a consultant for Japan, Asia, and Oceania for many years.
Since 2013, he has been engaged in educational and lecturing activities, including working as a part-time lecturer at the Faculty of Bio-Industry, Tokyo University of Agriculture.
