Produck Podcast

Most people are going through life on autopilot, reacting to the same patterns, carrying the same tensions in the same shoulder, and not even noticing. A former emergency doctor sat down with Lee to talk about why, and what it actually takes to wake up to who you are.In this episode of the Produck Podcast, Lee Jean sits down with Marcella Souza, a former doctor turned founder and consciousness enthusiast, for a wide-ranging conversation on self-awareness, the mind-body connection, meditation, and what it means to truly live with intention. Marcella’s path from med school to emergency medicine to consciousness research is itself a story about following what you feel, even when you can’t fully name it yet.What they cover:- The framework Marcella uses to move people from unaware to action: unaware, aware, understand, believe, and act, and why most people get stuck between the first two- Why the body keeps score: Marcella’s own story of developing a physical symptom she traced back to a clash in her values, not an external illness- What meditation really is (and why it’s not just sitting still with your eyes closed)- How Wim Hof breathing became a daily practice for Marcella, and what it taught her about intrusive thoughts- The hard problem of consciousness, simulation theory, cellular vibration, and why we may be more like radios than we think- What near-death experiences, heart transplants, and coma patients suggest about the nature of consciousness- How both Lee and Marcella came to their own relationship with God, faith, and nature as something beyond religion-Why discipline is not about willpower. It’s about knowing what you valueMarcella’s closing message: you don’t have to start with “what is my purpose in life?” Start with the pain in your shoulder. Curiosity is the door.Connect with Marcella Souza on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcellasartisouza/#produckpodcast #consciousness #selfawareness #mindbodyconnection #meditation #breathwork #spirituality #personaldevelopment #mentalhealth #wimhof #vipassana #neardeathexperience

Most founders in Japan are looking for angel investors without knowing how few actually exist, or what it truly takes to get one to say yes. Colin Magne has written checks into 65 startups and built Japan Angels, the country's only active community for angel investors, to help change that.In this episode of the Produck Podcast, Lee Jean sits down with Colin Magne, founder of Japan Angels, to break down the full landscape of early stage investing in Japan. Colin shares how his career as a software engineer in Silicon Valley in the year 2000, and a later IPO at a Japanese startup, led him to start angel investing, and what 10 years of backing founders has actually taught him.What they cover:- Why Colin bets on the founder first, not the product, and the specific traits he looks for (humility, communication, openness to the market)- The macro investing mistake that killed a chunk of his early portfolio: investing too fast in 2018-2020 when money was easy, and watching those companies die when the tide went out- The deep tech company with world-class tech whose CEO couldn't sell it, and why that mattered more than the science- Why angel investors and VCs both want the same thing from a pitch, just at a different stage- Japan's angel investment tax benefit (Angel Zei Seido) and how it actually works- What happens to early investors when a VC comes in with a term sheet, and the real story of a founder who got fired from his own company by his backers- Why Japan needs to grow its angel community, and the role retiring professionals could play- What Japan Angels is, why it's free, and where Colin wants it to goLee and Colin are also co-hosting a Shark Tank-style pitch event on October 15th, details here: https://luma.com/i1jyx5hqConnect with Colin Magne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinmagne/Check out Japan Angels, join their community, and apply to pitch at our next event all from their website www.japanangels.org#produckpodcast #angelinvestor #japanstartups #japanangels #venturecapital #startupfunding #founderadvice #fundraising #tokyostartups #startupjapan

In this episode of the Produck Podcast, Lee Jean sits down with Gyovany Orlando Muñoz, certified breathwork facilitator and founder of Medicine of Breath. This one is personal. Lee first tried breathwork on a trip to Sri Lanka, had a profound release, and came back to Japan searching for an English-speaking facilitator. He found Gyovany by chance at a Tokyo startup lunch. What followed was one of the most meaningful connections Lee has made this year.Breathwork sounds simple. You lay down, close your eyes, and breathe. But what unfolds in that hour can be one of the most physically, mentally, and spiritually intense experiences a person has ever had. This episode breaks down exactly why.What we cover:- What actually happens in your body during breathwork: the sympathetic nervous system activates first, fight-or-flight kicks in, and then the parasympathetic takes over through the vagus nerve, triggering release of tension stored in the neck, heart, lungs, and digestion- How continuous oxygenation regulates your pH levels, flushes toxins, and stimulates healing the same way hyperbaric chambers do after surgery- Why breathwork releases dopamine and serotonin, and how that shifts the mental stories we've been believing for years- Box breathing as a simple daily tool for catching your nervous system before it hijacks you- Breath of Fire from Kundalini Yoga and Gyovany's 40-day Aquarian Sadhana in Miami: 4am to 6:30am, 50 people, 7 finished- What "downloads" and creative insights actually are, and why both hemispheres of the brain light up during a breathwork session- Gyovany's near-death, rebirthing experience during a ceremonial breathwork session, and why he says it was the moment everything changed- His spiritual journey from Catholic upbringing to Japanese Buddhism (6 years, youth leader) to Kundalini to plant medicines, and how his definition of God evolved through all of it- The risks of breathwork: who should not do it, including those with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, psychosis, PTSD, or pregnancy- What the 30-day Clarity Breathwork teacher training actually looks like: the first 12 days are entirely about your own healing before they ever teach you a single technique- A transformation story from a woman in Bali whose parent relationship and career completely shifted a year after a single group breathwork session- Gyovany's honest disclosure: depression, mood swings, suicide attempts in high school, anger that he used to express by throwing and punching things, all of which breathwork helped him move throughFind Gyovany on Instagram: @medicine.ofbreathWebsite: medicineofbreath.comConnect with him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gyovanymunoz/#produckpodcast #breathwork #medicineofbreath #mentalhealth #vagusnerve #kundalini #trauma #spirituality #consciousness #wellness #japanwellness #breathworkfacilitator

In this episode of the Produck Podcast, Lee Jean sits down with Denis Rubanga, CEO and founder of KimPax, an agritech platform built to solve one of Japan's quietest and most urgent crises: the loss of agricultural knowledge.Japan's farming workforce is one of the oldest in the world. The average farmer is over 65. When these master farmers retire or pass away, they take with them decades of tacit knowledge: when to delay planting because the weather's been unusual, which parts of the field need different watering, how to read conditions no seed packet ever captures. None of that knowledge lives in a textbook. None of it survives without someone capturing it first.Denis came to Japan from Tanzania 15 years ago to study at Tokyo University of Agriculture. He had spent years working as an agriculture officer and later as a consultant at Accenture, where he ran an urban farming initiative with 200 people. A 100% crop loss on his own cabbage plot was the moment it crystallized. Not a hardware problem, not a data problem. A knowledge problem. An experienced master farmer stood next to him and said: "You should have planted three weeks earlier." No app told him that. No sensor told him that. A person did.That's what KimPax is built to preserve.What we cover:- How KimPax captures voice, video, and conversational data from master farmers and builds it into a structured knowledge platform young farmers can actually use- Why tacit agricultural knowledge is deeply regional, and how Kimpax's ontology system matches crop-specific knowledge to the right prefecture- The royalty model: young farmers pay a subscription, and 40-60% goes directly to the master farmer as passive retirement income, even after they stop working- How the platform scales beyond Japan, pairing master farmer techniques with local conditions in Malaysia, Thailand, and beyond- What happens if nothing changes: lower food self-sufficiency, more imports, and the slow erosion of a food identity built over centuries- Why food and culture are inseparable, from Edo-era rice cultivation to the restaurants and food chains that depend on what farmers grow today- Where AI and robotics fit in agricultural knowledge, and where the hard limits still are- Denis's advice for founders who want to go deep into overlooked industries: the problem matters more than the appConnect with Denis Rubanga on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denispastory/#produckpodcast #agritech #japan #agriculture #foodsecurity #startup #kimpax #japanstartup #farming #foodculture #entrepreneurship #tacitknowledge

In this episode of the Produck Podcast, Lee Jean sits down with Nick Godwin, founder of Bylingua and English communication coach based in Japan for nearly 20 years. Nick came to Japan in 2006 with one mission: to immerse himself in Japanese. Teaching English was almost an afterthought. Nearly two decades later, he's given two TEDx talks, built programs that help Japan's corporate professionals communicate globally, and developed a sharp perspective on exactly why language education in Japan works the way it does.The conversation starts with Nick's first TEDx talk in Japanese, built around one core idea: language learning is a sport. You don't learn to play tennis by studying the rulebook. The same is true for English. Knowing grammar doesn't mean you can speak. Yet Japan's education system, rooted in Confucian thought and years of rote memorization, has built a system where students cram vocabulary for TOEIC scores rather than developing real communication ability. Nick explains why that gap is structural, not individual.What we cover:- The key difference between Confucian and Socratic educational philosophy, and how it shapes what Japanese students believe is expected of them in a classroom- Why the TOEIC score threshold most companies use is actually a decent barometer, but the way students study for it is completely backwards- Nick's second TEDx talk on why translation only gives you access, and the "kininaru" example that explains what intermediate learners get stuck on- How Scandinavian countries teach English through play at an early age, and why Japan's hesitation to do the same runs deeper than just the language- Tips for learning Japanese as an adult: little and often, goal-first, Barry Farber's language island theory, and why kanji is non-negotiable at higher levels- Why children and adults learn languages differently on an hour-by-hour basis (and what the research actually says)- ESL vs EFL: why Japanese learners in Japan are always at a disadvantage compared to learners immersed abroad- Nick's Smooth Speaker program (pronunciation, intonation, impact, smoothness) and his Bilingual Business School: a one-year corporate communication program for intermediate-plus learners who've hit a plateau- The hardest skill to teach: why politeness in English and politeness in Japanese operate by completely different rulesConnect with Nick Godwin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickjgodwin/#produckpodcast #japan #englishlearning #languagelearning #teachenglishjapan #efl #toeic #bylingua #japanexpat #softskills #tedxtalk #corporateenglish

In this episode of the Produck Podcast, Lee Jean, himself a former foster kid, sits down with Michael Clemons, founder of YouMeWe, an NPO based in Shibuya that has been working inside Japan's orphanages and foster care system since 2007. What started with Michael being asked to play Santa Claus at an orphanage turned into nearly two decades of building 21st century skills with some of Japan's most overlooked children.

33,000 kids are currently living in Japan's orphanages. Only 9% of them make it to university. 90% of those who do drop out in their first year. Meanwhile, Japan has more people over 65 per capita than any country on earth. The kids YouMeWe works with could be part of the solution to that, if given the right tools, the right mentors, and someone who believes in them.

What we cover:

- Why Japan's orphan and foster care system works so differently from the US, including why adoption is rare and siblings are routinely separated into different homes

- How YouMeWe delivered over 1,000 laptops and Wi-Fi to homes where only 5% had internet connectivity before they arrived

- The Tanomoshi Circle: how they track and support 50 kids from childhood all the way into early adulthood

- Why Michael calls the kids "champions" in the orphanage and "ambassadors" when they graduate, and why that language shift matters

- What childhood trauma has to do with incarceration, homelessness, and suicide — and why addressing one helps address all three

- The story of a father who had knives thrown at him growing up, didn't know his son had Asperger's, and eventually got his son back through parent retraining

- "You're not half, you're double" — how YouMeWe reframes identity for multicultural kids who feel like they don't fully belong anywhere

Michael's approach isn't about charity. He doesn't want donors to feel sorry for these kids, because the kids don't feel sorry for themselves. They're building apps, earning Microsoft certifications, getting into university, and coming back to mentor the next generation. They're getting on with it.

Connect with Michael Clemons on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpclemons/

Get involved with YouMeWe: [email protected]

Follow YouMeWe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@youmewenpo

#produckpodcast #japan #orphans #fostercare #youthempowerment #nonprofitjapan #socialimpact #youmewe #education #childrensrights #mentorship #japansociety

In this episode of the Produck Podcast, we sit down with Tove Kinooka, co-founder of Global Perspectives Japan, who has spent 28 years building more inclusive, sustainable, and effective organizations across some of Japan's largest companies. What started as a one-year teaching contract turned into nearly three decades of doing the hard, slow work of changing how companies think and operate from the inside out.Japan currently ranks 118th on the World Economic Forum's gender equity index. For a country this economically advanced, that gap is striking. But Tove's message is clear: the answer is not just hiring more women or ticking diversity boxes. Diversity without inclusion almost always causes friction rather than progress — and the real work is something most companies haven't even started.What we cover:- Why diversity without inclusion backfires, and what equity actually means beyond just equality- How Japanese companies approach change differently from Western ones, and why the slow start can be an advantage once everyone is aligned- The neuroscience behind why our brains resist perspectives different from our own, and what it takes to interrupt that response- What companies like Rakuten and ANA are doing right, and why they're setting the bar for others- The contrarian question: Japan is one of the world's top economies as a homogenous society — why does it even need DEI?- Why sustainability, climate change, and diversity are far more connected than most companies realize- A hard-won lesson for any small company working with large ones: how to protect yourself from scope creepTove also shares what surprised her most on her latest project — a global company whose internal HR team was still running development programs in a top-down, lecture-based format that belongs in a different era.Connect with Tove Kinooka on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tove-kinooka-%F0%9F%9F%A2%F0%9F%9F%A1%F0%9F%94%B5%F0%9F%94%B4-35a39323/Learn more about Global Perspectives Japan: http://www.globalperspectives.biz#produckpodcast #japan #dei #diversity #inclusion #leadership #sustainability #japanbusiness #womeninleadership #corporateculture #globalbusiness #organizationalchange

In this episode of the Produck Podcast, we sit down with Esteban Lopez, founder of GoGaijin, an app helping foreigners in Japan find English-friendly healthcare, housing, banking, and restaurants. A Texas-born former English teacher who learned to code at 53 through Le Wagon Tokyo, Esteban is building something the expat community in Japan genuinely needs.The idea came from a moment of real vulnerability: getting violently ill on a tour bus in China, unable to communicate what he needed or find help. That feeling of being completely unable to access the systems around you never left him. GoGaijin is the app he wishes he'd had.What we cover:- The four things every foreigner in Japan struggles with: healthcare, housing, banking, and finding somewhere to eat- How Esteban got his coding bootcamp paid 100% by the Tokyo government (and how you can qualify too)- Why vibe coding will only take you so far, and why having real coding knowledge matters when AI makes a mistake- The Shibuya pilot that got validated but not endorsed, and what that teaches you about building in Japan- GoGaijin's moat vs. Google: the difference between a listing that says "English spoken here" and one that's actually been verified- "Failing up, not down" — Esteban's philosophy on why he'd keep building even if he knew he'd failGoGaijin is live on both app stores, has organic users, paying customers who renewed, and a green light from the city of Kobe for expansion. Esteban is actively looking for co-founders, a developer, a marketer, and a bilingual salesperson to help scale.Connect with Esteban Lopez on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esteban-lopez-webdev/Download GoGaijin: https://www.gogaijin.me/#produckpodcast #tokyo #japan #startup #gaijin #expatsinjapan #entrepreneur #gogaijin #tokyostartup #bootstrapped #foreignersinjapan #startuplife

In this episode of the Produck Podcast, we sit down with Hiro Ishida, founder of Mosaique, a Japanese serial entrepreneur who has spent over 30 years living and building businesses across Australia, Canada, Singapore, and India. He's on a mission to solve Japan's shrinking workforce crisis — not just by sending workers over, but by making sure they actually stay.Japan's workforce is aging fast, and most companies trying to fix it by hiring foreign talent are making the same critical mistake: teaching language without teaching culture. Hiro's institute in Bangalore goes far deeper, preparing Indian engineers in Japanese working mindset, punctuality, and unwritten workplace rules before they ever land in Japan. The result speaks for itself — 98 students dispatched, 93 still thriving there.What we cover:- Why "just learn Japanese" isn't enough — and what Hiro teaches that most language schools miss- The story of Hiro's first business: a Macintosh, a small Australian town, and zero money- What makes South Indian engineers such a natural fit for Japanese companies- Why it took Hiro six months to get a single bank stamp in India — and what that reveals about doing business there- The real reasons Japanese people are hesitant to visit or live in India- Hiro's longer-term goal: helping India build a domestic manufacturing sector so his graduates can eventually come home and buildHiro is one of the rare people who has lived in India for nine years while spending a career helping Japanese companies expand globally. His work with Mosaique sits at a genuinely underserved intersection — cultural readiness training at a moment when Japan's need for foreign talent has never been more urgent.Connect with Hiro Ishida on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hiro-ishida-3975b934/Check out Mosaique: https://mosaique.link/#produckpodcast #japan #india #japanesebusiness #crosscultural #entrepreneur #workculture #globaltalent #workforce #startuplife #indiajapanapan #serialentrepreneur

In this episode of the Produck Podcast, Davis Alexander James, founder and CEO of Blackflow Reality, walks us through what might be the most ambitious technology stack being built today: AI and AR-assisted telekinesis, lucid dream-based video games, read-write capabilities to the human brain, and ultimately a consciousness computer that fuses organic and silicon intelligence into something that blurs the line between human thought and AI.Davis's background is in film directing, which is exactly what makes this conversation unusual. He is not just building hardware. He is designing a new kind of experience, one that starts with moving objects with your mind using a non-invasive EEG headset, and eventually leads somewhere that requires rethinking what identity, consciousness, and intelligence even mean.- Why his non-invasive approach is a direct challenge to Neuralink's model, and what goes wrong when a chip driver dies in your skull- The signal-to-noise problem at the heart of all BCI research, and the new electrode, conductivity substrate, and AI model Blackflow is building to solve it- How their lucid dream induction system wakes up the frontal cortex during REM sleep to let people interact, create, and train muscle memory while they sleep- Whether people dream in Euclidean or non-Euclidean space, and why that question actually matters for building the software- The Gen Z fatalism about data privacy: your data is already gone, so the real question is whether it will be weaponized back on you- Two Buddhist perspectives on consciousness uploading, and why Davis thinks it might just be a different kind of deathBlackflow Reality is building what Davis calls a cyberdeck for your mind: a modular, non-invasive system combining XR, brain-computer interfaces, and lucid dream induction to create a new platform for human-machine interaction. They are currently looking to connect with AI and neurotech labs, creative designers willing to build in an entirely new medium, and venture capital partners.Connect with Davis Alexander James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davisalexanderjames/Check out Black Flow Realty here: www.blackflowreality.comSubscribe and follow the Produck Podcast for more conversations with builders working on the ideas most people aren't ready for yet.#produckpodcast #braincomputerinterface #neurotech #BCI #telekinesis #luciddreaming #XR #AIstartup #consciousnesscomputing #tokyostartup