ITOCHU Corporation is one of the leading trading firms in Japan with an annual consolidated turnover of $100 billion. Mr. Murase has been with ITOCHU for nearly 30 years and has been involved in the lithium-ion battery-related business for more than 25 years. Mr. Murase enters from production equipment business and is now heavily involved in the energy storage system business and material supply chain business including recycling. His main focus market is in Japan, the U.S., China, Australia and the EU.