Visa’s Japan marketing head departs

Takafumi Kashiwagi has left his role of head of marketing for Japan at Visa a little over a year after joining the company.

A spokesperson for Visa confirmed that Kashiwagi had decided to pursue other opportunities, but did not provide further information on the departure or details of a replacement.

The departure appears to be a setback for Visa's aspirations to position itself as a technology company as well as a financial services provider. Kashiwagi joined Visa from Google, where he worked with the FMCG sector. In an interview last year, he said he was attracted to the challenge of helping the brand become more innovative.

Visa is a worldwide partner of Tokyo 2020 and is hoping to capitalise on Japan’s hesitant shift towards cashless payments. Cash is still the preferred way for most consumers to make purchases, but the growth of ecommerce and popularity of loyalty programmes mean more people are gradually paying with cards.

In April, the company began its efforts to advertise around its Olympic sponsorship. Under the banner ‘New Normal’, the first instalment of a TV campaign aimed to show how card purchases fit into the busy lives of athletes such as the swimmer Daiya Seto.