BLACKBOX as Japan's Startup Media

We spoke with Kathy Liu, Head of the Osaka branch at Plug and Play Japan. Based in Silicon Valley, Plug and Play is a leading global accelerator and venture capital firm. The Osaka branch is actively collaborating with OIH on initiatives to revitalize Osaka, and we spoke to her about these efforts.

The blackbox editorial team visited Japan’s second-largest city, Osaka. They interviewed the “OIH,” an innovation creation center established by Osaka City in 2013.OIH is located in the Grand Front Osaka complex in Umeda and operates under the theme “From Osaka to the World.” It serves as a gathering place for entrepreneurs and technologists, supporting the creation of new businesses and their scale-up efforts. Through approximately 200 events and programs annually, OIH facilitates the exchange of diverse people and ideas, contributing to developing an innovation ecosystem in the Kansai region.For this interview, Nae Nakamura, the director of OIH’s Startup Support Division, discussed the organization’s activities and Osaka’s appeal.

We spoke with Igor Voroshilov, the Russian founder of Supasaito which specializes in web development and education using Webflow and other NoCode and AI tools. Supasaito offers professional web development services for Japanese startups and large companies, so we asked about how his business was founded.

SORA Technology is a startup that is using drone technology to tackle challenges in developing countries. We spoke with CEO Yosuke Kaneko about the company's founding and his message for entrepreneurs.

We spoke to Ryuji Ikoma, CEO of Clear Inc., a company with the vision of "Creating the Future of Sake."

Japan's Venture Academy (JVA) is an organization managed mainly with a focus on Tokyo students, with support from Shibuya City, aiming to cultivate entrepreneurship through a student-oriented 3-month fellowship. We spoke with core members Kento Akiyama and Egor Sheverev about why they launched JVA and the details of their activities.