Innovators in Japan 2019: Year in Review
Since our first post in June of 2017, we’ve been consistently publishing content on Japanese startups, venture capital, and insights into how to successfully expand into Japan while avoiding the missteps others have made before us.
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In 2018, we expanded our focus to include macro trends in Japan, from the aging and declining population that’s expected to shave off a third of current population levels by the mid-2050s, to what the latest US-Japan trade deals means for global politics. In addition to articles, we added 5 more podcast episodes, thanks to all the amazing people who connected me with each guest, and took the time to sit down and discuss their trials and tribulations with the world.
And as we get closer to the very end of 2019 (and the 2010s!), I wanted to reflect on all the articles we published as a “Year in Review” article.
1. Fariza Abidova discussed her latest project, Trusted Corporation, a B2B matching site for Japanese corporations and foreign startups to find one another
2. We looked at the Japanese problem of aging and population decline as potential opportunities for startups to make a mark
3. We tried to help people looking for “software engineers” in Japan by making sure they know what’s in a Japanese software engineering title
4. We explored one quick way Japanese companies can be more competitive with very little investment or effort
5. We dove deeper into the cultural aspects of Japanese work-style reform, noticing how ineffective government mandates were in affecting change
6. We sat down with Kenji Negi, formerly of OpenX, currently at AppNexus, to discuss Japanese customer success and account management best practices
7. We talked about Japan market entry and expansion with Riki Yoshinaga, a venture capitalist and Japanese business development expert
8. By popular demand, we republished our article on Tokyo startup hubs with some updates
9. We learned about how Robert Schuman, CTO of Zehitomo, created an environment where cross-cultural engineering teams can thrive in Japan, while learning a lot from Japanese business practices
10. Brad Ellis, Director of Product at Japanese unicorn Mercari, shared what he’s learned by building products for Japanese and American audiences
11. We looked into what the US-Japan digital trade deal actually meant for Japan and the APAC region as a whole
12. We questioned the notion that Japan is “behind” other developed nations when it comes to venture capital funding and overall innovation
It seems like each year, time flies by much faster than it used to! Thanks for all your continuing support, and I hope you all have a nice holiday season.
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