Will Japan’s Manga industry ever really change?
Manga is one of Japan’s best known exports, but it’s surprisingly hard to make money...
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Category: Uniquely Japanese Startups
How Snack Smuggling led to millions in VC funding
Subscription boxes can be a tough business. Most of these startups shine brightly as they burn...
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Why the robot uprising will give us Robot Pets, not Robot Masters
Japan has a very different approach to robotics. Japan leads the world in industrial robots, but...
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How this silkworm startup is taking on the pandemic
Bio-tech is messy because life is complicated. A lot of attention is given to computers sequencing...
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Reinventing online maps to focus on community
We have always loved maps. Maps combine artistry and utility in a way that very few disciplines...
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DJ Selects: How this Musical Shoe is Helping Hospitals
Most great startup ideas don’t grab your attention right away. It takes a while before the...
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How Japan’s forgotten past can stop IoT’s dystopian future
Technology is global, but ideas are local. The same IoT technology is being deployed all over the...
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DJ Selects: IoT, Japan, and the Uncertain Future of Poop
Startup founders claiming their company is going to “change the world” has become a cliche. But rarely do we see a product that could clearly and significantly make someone’s life better. D-Free is one of those products. However…
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You need to Ignore the Worst Advice being given to Female Founders
Everything about employment in Japan is changing. Lifetime employment is gone. Skilled workers...
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Is There (Finally) a Practical Way for Foreigners to Live in Japan?
For decades, Japan has been struggling with the economic need to attract more foreign residents to...
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What This 330-Year-Old Company is Learning from Startups
The conventional wisdom is that traditional Japanese companies can’t innovate. And...
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How Dancing Satellites from Japan Will Clean Up Outer Space
There are a lot of aerospace startups in Japan these days. We are seeing innovation in everything...
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