Due to the increase in Japanese investments in the US, he moved to Japan where he worked as the only American in one of Hitachi's R&D and manufacturing centers. He was part of a product development team that transferred production lines from Japan to Hitachi-owned factories in Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Mexico and the US. He also played an important role in negotiating and executing an innovative Cooperative Development Agreement between Hitachi and IBM that led to revenues of over $2 billion annually.
In 1996, Steven moved back to his native Los Angeles to found Pan Pacific Partners, Inc. where he provided US market-entry advice to Japanese corporations including Hitachi, Hitachi Koki, Ricoh Printing Systems, Recruit, Mitsui, Phenix, Creative Link Corporation, Nippan Publishing, TOTO and Aruze. He also served as President of Hawaii Winter Baseball Japan and advised companies such as Global Sight, Therasense, Websense, Aqua Sciences, xSides, VKB, Flexplay Technologies, Netamin Communications, Billboard Clothing Company, Sato Sports Plaza, and Eco-Me.
He served as CEO of TOTO Frontier USA, a subsidiary of a $4 billion Japanese manufacturer, which focused on the out-licensing and commercialization of TOTO’s intellectual property and also served as CEO of ibidlive USA that produced interstitial TV and radio auctions that were broadcast live on ABC, Fox Sports Net, American Movie Classics, Pax TV and Sky Sports in the UK. These TV and radio auctions were simultaneously accessible to Internet users and filmed live from locations from the Hard Rock Cafes in London to shopping centers in Orange County, California.
Steven also co-founded RealLiveSports, a toy company, where he was chief designer of a Toy of the Year (i.e., the ESPN Play by Play) awarded by Child Magazine, Redbook, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Great American Toy Test, iParenting Media Awards and the National Parenting Center.
He served as an assistant coach or manager for the USA National Swim Teams at the 2001 World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, the 2002 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Yokohama, Japan, the 2003 World Swimming Championships in Barcelona, Spain, the 2004 World Open Water Swimming Championships in Dubai, the 2005 World Swimming Championships in Montreal, Canada,, and the 2007 World Swimming Championships in Melbourne, Australia, He has given numerous clinics and speeches to coaches and athletes from Kyoto to Florida, including the 2006 World Swimming Coaches Clinic in Washington D.C., and the 2006 and 2007 USA Swimming National Select Camps. He also planned, financed and completed five unprecedented solo long-distance swims in or near Japan, Taiwan and Russia that were nationally broadcast in Japan on NHK-TV and Asahi TV. He also designed various swimming websites: www.10Kswim.com, www.virtual-swim.com, www.10Kswimmer.com and www.swimperformance.com. He wrote the Open Water Swimming Dictionary and background information that was used by NBC, USA Swimming and the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee at the 2008 Olympics and was the NBCOlympics.com Commentator for the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim.
In 2003, he was inducted in the International Swimming Hall of Fame and can fluently speak, read and write Japanese with an understanding of Spanish and written Chinese. He resides in Huntington Beach, California with his wife and four young children.
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