Thierry Maincent, General Manager of Japan Experience

Published on : 07/01/2026
by : Phoebe

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Managing Director of Japan Experience, Thierry Maincent fell into the Japanese cooking pot when he was a student. From wine salesman to tourism and gastronomy entrepreneur, this lover of Japan has built up an in-depth knowledge of the archipelago, both culturally and economically. Here's a look back at his singular career.

Travel culture

Travel sticks to his skin! After spending a summer in Minnesota in 1989, Thierry became interested in Japan in the mid-1990s, during an internship with Japanese credit card issuer JCB. " I landed in Tokyo like Amélie Nothomb in 'Stupeur et tremblements' ," he tells Les Echos newspaper. His most vivid memory? " The employee dormitories, the communal showers and the fermented soy served for breakfast.

While this experience might have baffled many, it actually appealed to this future manager, who is eager for a challenge. With a degree in management from Dauphine, he studied Japanese at Langues O, before honing his professional skills in New York, London and Tokyo. And although he now lives in Paris, he has been visiting the archipelago every year for almost fifteen years: a country he now knows like the back of his hand.

A Japanese expert

With over a hundred trips to Japan to his credit, Thierry Maincent knows every nook and cranny, including the most unusual. His fondest memories? A hike along the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage paths, a week's skiing and snowshoeing in the Norikura mountains between Takayama and Matsumoto, a stay with a fishing family on the Noto Peninsula to haul in the nets by boat in the middle of the night. " I also loved Ikumo, a temple perched between Hakusan Mountain and the Sea of Japan ," explains the man who is never short of anecdotes. " Originally, the temple was built as a retreat for a larger temple in the valley. There was no reason to make it accessible. Besides, water doesn't come here naturally - it's regularly trucked in! "

A keen explorer, he strives, on every trip, to unearth the best the country has to offer and share it with our customers, just like our fifty rental houses, which he knows by heart. For him, passing on this passion is a matter of course. That's why he's constantly reinventing the Japanese travel experience, driven by an insatiable curiosity.

A serial entrepreneur

Thierry Maincenttrained at the heart of major groups such as Alcatel, but quickly made the choice of entrepreneurship. Building on his experience as a sales representative at 1855, a pioneering online wine retailer, he joined Japan Experience (formerly Vivre le Japon) in 2010, alongside Claude Saulière, founder of Voyageurs du Monde. " He's the one who taught me how to be a shopkeeper ," he jokes.

In 2019, he bought Japan Experience, just a few months before the health crisis. Although the COVID-19 pandemic hit the travel industry hard, Thierry managed to stay the course and ensure the company's long-term survival. Today, the company boasts sales of 70 million euros, 30% of which are generated in the BtoB sector. A remarkable performance for a company with around a hundred employees, spread between Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid and Milan.

In 2023, this serial entrepreneur launched Irasshai alongside Xavier Marchand: a Japanese concept store combining restaurant and delicatessen, right in the heart of Paris. Two years later, he acquired France Travel Center, a tourism services operator based in Japan.

What does the future hold? Thierry Maincent approaches it with confidence. Now a member of the Board of Directors of the Marietton Group, of which Japan Experience has been a member since the end of 2025, his ambition is to expand the company's activities in the United States. A new challenge he's already looking forward to!