Kota Matsuda
Japanese politician
Kota Matsuda (or Kouta Matsuda) (born 3 December 1968) is a Japanese entrepreneur, business executive, and former politician. He is best known as the founder and former president and CEO of Tully's Coffee Japan, and as a former member of Japan's House of Councillors representing the Tokyo at-large district from 2010 to 2016. Matsuda also served as the leader of the political party The Assembly to Energize Japan (日本を元気にする会) from 2015 to 2016.
Early life and education
Matsuda was born in Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, on 3 December 1968.
He spent part of his childhood abroad, living in Senegal and the United States before returning to Japan.
He graduated from the University of Tsukuba in 1990.
Business career
After graduating, Matsuda joined Sanwa Bank (now part of MUFG Bank).
In 1997, he left the bank and founded Tully's Coffee Japan, opening the first Japanese branch of the Seattle-based chain in Ginza, Tokyo.
Under Matsuda's leadership, the company grew rapidly to become Japan's second-largest specialty coffee chain, with more than 300 outlets nationwide by the early 2000s.
Tully's Coffee Japan was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2001.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Kota Matsuda” is japanese politician. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Kota, Matsuda and Japanese, not as a finished interpretation.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6433810. VIAF identifies the subject as 253618918. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1968, 2010, 2016 and 2015.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kota Matsuda” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.