Shusaku Watanabe

Shu is Managing Director, Head of Japan Real Estate at Nuveen Real Estate who is responsible for and leads all direct real estate investments in Japan. Shu joined the Nuveen in 2016 completing Nuveen’s first, debut investment in Japan investing in Ginza office. Since then, the direct real estate exposure in Japan expanded to $1.2bn in 4 years including pre commitments, primarily focused on core assets comprised of multifamily and logistics meanwhile crystalizing gain for its debut investment of Ginza office. Shu also serves as the fund manager for the Tokyo Multifamily Partnership which was launched in 2018 and recently completed its 3rd capital raise in August 2020 which contributes to over $800m exposure in Japan when buildings are completed.

Prior to joining Nuveen, Shu worked for JP Morgan Asset Management in Singapore, where he was a fund manager for its Tokyo Recovery Fund from inception in 2011 until its successful exit in 2015. Previous roles include fund manager at Aviva Investors, M&A and private placement roles at Macquarie Capital and Morgan Stanley in Japan. Shu started his career at one of the largest Japanese conglomerate, Itochu Corporation.

Shu graduated with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University.