Japan's Rakuten CEO tweets Trump move to ban refugees makes him cry

Rakuten to offer free international calls from the United States to the seven affected countries

In rare candor for a Japanese executive, CEO Hiroshi Mikitani of e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc condemned US President Donald Trump's move to ban entry of refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries, saying it made him weep with sadness.



Mikitani said Rakuten, which is sometimes called "Japan's Amazon", would offer free international calls from the United States to the seven affected countries through its call and messaging app Viber.

I am very sad to see what is happening now in the US. I came to US when I was seven and I really respect big American big heart.

— 三木谷浩史 Hiroshi (Mickey) Mikitani (@hmikitani) January 30, 2017

But it is wrong as a human being to uniformally discriminate based on religion and nationality. We will make sure we will support our

— 三木谷浩史 Hiroshi (Mickey) Mikitani (@hmikitani) January 30, 2017

Viber Media Inc, which Rakuten acquired for $900 million in 2014, had 823 million registered users as of September 2016. Calls between Viber users are free, but calls to non-users or landline numbers are usually charged.



Trump said his directive was "not about religion" but keeping America safe from the threat of militants.

Mikitani learned to speak English at the age of 7, when his family lived in the United States while his father taught economics at Yale University, the Harvard Business School website said.

My dad is crying in the heaven
He went to Harvard, Stanford and Yale. He was so proud and I am too. Now I am really crying.

— 三木谷浩史 Hiroshi (Mickey) Mikitani (@hmikitani) January 30, 2017