Seiji Omote
Seiji Omote is an international marketing and management professional with over 50 years of experience in the Canada–US–Japan forest products trade. His career began in 1969 at Ataka & Co., where he marketed softwood logs and lumber from North America, New Zealand, and Russia.
In 1977, Seiji joined Seaboard Timber and Plywood Asia in Tokyo, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based Seaboard Lumber Sales Company, a cooperative of BC solid wood products producers selling internationally. During his 15-year tenure, he introduced BC’s SPF dimension lumber to the Japanese market and established the J-Grade specifications. He also played a key role in bringing BC coastal species to Japan, particularly high-grade Sitka spruce, Western red cedar, and yellow cedar for various high-end end-use segments—including temple and shrine construction. After working at Seaboard’s Vancouver corporate office for several years, he returned to Tokyo as managing director of Japan operations in 1991.
When Seaboard Lumber Sales dissolved in 1993, Seiji became President and General Manager of Interex Forest Products Japan, a sales and marketing organization established to represent Seabord’s SPF membership. Over the course of two decades with Interex, he contributed to the expansion of the SPF business, the development of the 2×4 platform frame construction system—which now accounts for about 20% of the country’s wooden housing starts—and the introduction of OSB to Japan for member company Ainsworth. Seiji was named Chairman of Interex Forest Products Japan in 2012 before retiring in 2013.
Since his retirement, Seiji has remained active in the industry, serving on the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Japan’s Honorary Board of Advisers and taking on senior advisory roles with JK Holdings Co.’s Overseas Affairs Division and the Ehime Prefecture Lumber Market Development Association.
Seiji graduated from Nanzan University in 1969 with a degree in British and American studies from the Foreign Language Faculty.