Disrupting Japan

The bacteria in our gut affect our lives and our health in ways we are just starting to fully realize, and mapping this biome is expected to advance medical science and pharmacology as mapping the human genome.

However, our gut biota is not a mappable sequence, but a complex ecosystem, and one that may be unique to each individual.

In our conversation, Shinji Fukuda, founder of Metabologenomic (aka Metagen), explains how the science is advancing, what kinds of consumer devices we are likely to see first, the importance of global expansion, and the challenges of being a deep-tech startup in Japan.

It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.

A lot of great ideas seem crazy when you first hear about them.

Today Ryotaro Ako, founder of Atopiyo, explains not only why this is a great idea that is deeply valued by his users, but he also frankly talked about the difficulties in bringing it to market.

We talk about the challenges of forming a long-term, core team and of developing a steady cash flow while trying to focus on a social good, and the risks involved in monetizing a community.

Ryotaro also explains why extensive press coverage and shelves of startup awards don't make developing a sustainable business model any easier.

It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Disruption comes slowly to medicine.  And that's a good thing. 

Since the ethos of the profession is "First, do no harm", it makes sense that safety and efficacy are prioritized over rapid innovation. 

But innovation does happen, and the Japanese government is working to make sure it happens faster. Today we sit down with Taro Ueno of Susmed and talk about the challenges and tradeoffs in innovative medicine. 

We talk about why he left medical research for entrepreneurship, and how iPhone apps and blockchain are being used clinically in Japan. And in both cases, I assure you,. it's not what you think.

It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Artificial Intelligence makes a lot of people nervous. That's understandable.

Today we sit down with Ken Fujiwara of Hacarus to discuss why that is, and what this startup is doing to fix it.

As in so many other fields, when comparing AI in Japan and the West, we find that the technology is fundamentally the same, but the social attitudes and business strategies are very different.

Ken is a serial entrepreneur, but running an AI startup was never part of his original plan. He had bigger goals in mind, and we talk about how he plans to pivot back to them someday.

We also discuss Kyoto's booming startup ecosystem and why one CEO has publically stated he wants to destroy it.

It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Today we are going to look at a different kind of innovation.

It's not technology. It's not patentable, and I'm not sure it's scalable. But it is important.

It turns out that the story behind a Japanese viral video can teach us a lot about the future of work. It's an example of Japanese innovation at it's best

I think you'll enjoy it.

The automotive industry is closed and proprietary.

But Shinpei Kato, founder and CEO of Tier IV, thinks they are going to be forced to change. Teir IV has brought together a global community of programmers and corporate partners to create the Autoware project.

Tier IV's goal to develop a completely open-source software platform to drive autonomous vehicles is ambitious, and they have already completed some of the most advanced road-tests of driverless cars in Japan.

Today we explore the business bottlenecks in rolling out autonomous vehicles, why open-source makes the automotive industry nervous, and why the first successful driverless car won't be what you think it will.

Startups exist to develop new solutions to problems. 

But many of society's biggest problems fall outside traditional startup business models. 

Today we explore why that is, and how it might be changed as we sit down with Robin Lewis, co-founder of Mymizu, a startup focused on reducing plastic waste by encouraging reuse. 

We take a deep dive into possible monetization strategies, why startups should be better at solving social problems than non-profits, and we discuss a possible roadmap for a middle path between startups and non-profits.

Personal aviation is awesome!

Aviation has been a source of inspiration and a symbol of innovation since the Wright brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, to Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon, to today's dreams of colonizing Mars.

Unfortunately, it's been very hard for startups to make money in aviation. Even the Wright brothers did not do particularly well in business.

But things might be changing. Today we sit down and talk with Tasuku Nakai, co-founder of Tetra Aviation, and we discuss how public research incentives, support from the aerospace giants, and the changing infrastructure needs might have just tipped the balance to startups.

This is our sixth anniversary episode. Over the past six years it’s been a Disrupting Japan tradition to have our big Disrupting Japan Live and Unleashed show on our anniversary. We get three of Japan’s startup thought-leaders on stage and invite a few hundred of our closest friends over for an evening of drinks, conversation, and just hanging out with a lot cool people.

So after six years, looking back, I want to share with you the three most important ways that Disrupting Japan has changed, and what that tells us about how things are changing for Japanese startups.

Bio-tech is messy because life is complicated.

A lot of attention is given to computers sequencing genomes, but some of the most advanced and important work is done by studying and using other living things to make our own lives better.

Kenta Yamato co-founded Kaico to commercialize a technique that uses silkworms to manufacture small-batch custom proteins. And Kico is involved with everything from veterinary medicine to Japan's search for a coronavirus vaccine.

We also talk about the challenges or creating startups based on university technology and the one e-commerce model in Japan that just won't go away.

I think you'll enjoy the conversation.