Yoshihisa Kainuma has made a career out of being in the right place at the right time.
In 2015, the head of Minebea Mitsumi Inc. was on a bullet train heading to a city northwest of Tokyo when he realized the chief of a potential acquisition target was onboard. He texted over his seat number and, during a one-hour ride, convinced his counterpart to sell his $500 million company.
"We grabbed the 6A and 6B seats and hashed it out on our way to Karuizawa," Kainuma said during an interview at the company's Tokyo headquarters. Three months later, he closed the purchase of Nintendo Co. supplier Mitsumi Electric Co., leading to a surge in profits when the Switch console was introduced.