8th December 2022 – (Tokyo) Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba (9988), has retreated behind the scenes in recent years. Earlier, the British “Financial Times” disclosed that Jack Ma and his family had moved to Tokyo, Japan and its suburbs for 6 months. However, it was revealed recently by SCMP that Jack Ma has no plans to permanently live abroad. In the future, he plans to go to Southeast Asia to inspect agricultural-related enterprises, hoping to bring advanced agricultural technology from other countries back to China. According to the report, Ma has lived in Japan for the past three months, studied local fish farming technology, and visited the Aquaculture Research Institute of Kindai University in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. Sources close to Ma said that he is determined to bring home the advanced agricultural technology he learned from other countries. According to people familiar with the matter, Jack Ma has visited a research institution in the Netherlands as early as October 2021, with the purpose of getting familiar with food-related technologies, including agricultural infrastructure, plant breeding and professional knowledge training in this field.
According to the source, Jack Ma was inspired by what he saw and heard in Europe, and believed that the combination of the latest technologies would create great potential for agricultural modernisation in China and even developing countries. In addition, Ma resigned as the chairman of Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce on 7th December, and Nan Cunhui, chairman of Chint Group, was elected as the new chairman of Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce. Since Ma withdrew from public view at the end of 2020, he has since travelled to Hong Kong, Spain and the Netherlands. “Financial Times” recently reported that 58-year-old Jack Ma has lived in Tokyo, Japan for nearly six months. During this period, he stayed in rural hot springs and ski resorts outside Tokyo. He has kept a low profile and travelled to the United States and Israel regularly. Ma was regularly spotted in private clubs in Japan, one of which is in Ginza, Tokyo. The report continued that Jack Ma has become an avid art collector and paints watercolours to pass time. The Japanese magazine “FRIDAY” also reported last week that Jack Ma currently lives in a villa with an area of more than 20,000 square meters in Hakone, a suburb of Tokyo, and enjoys his favourite toro and sea urchin sushi from time to time.