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 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.

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.

Erika and Allen, who run "Sollective," a platform that brings together fully vetted professional talent and companies, talk about the background of their entrepreneurship and offer advice to entrepreneurs.

We spoke to President Koichi Fujita, who has taken over the world-famous Fugetsudo Japanese sweets shop in Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture. He discusses the reasons for inheriting the business from the parents, the challenges he has faced and the potentials for overseas markets.

It is said that there are many Japanese businesses in traditional industries facing insolvency due to liquidity issues and being unable to find a successor. We spoke with Hironari Okayama, an entrepreneur who took over a sake brewery, about the struggles, challenges, and fun of taking over a business not as a family member or a former employee, but as a third party.

The CEO of SOLIT, an inclusive design solution company combining sustainability with D&I in its bid to “democratize fashion” by making brands and clothing something that people choose rather than have chosen for them, spoke with us about the company’s characteristics such as inclusive design and the differences and common issues between the fashion industry in Japan and overseas.

Go Hiyama, Representative of sound design company ECHOES BREATH, talks about the features of AISO, an internally developed automatic BGM generation system, the differences in awareness of sound design in Japan, and other topics.

amu is a start-up company that recycles fishing nets and provides materials in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture. In this interview, we asked Mr. Kato, the president of the company, and Mr. Tanikawa, a board member, about the appeal of starting a business in a rural area and their current plans.

Jae-Yong Lee, a Korean 3D fashion specialist who studied fashion in Japan, taught at his alma mater, and then launched VGlab, a company that uses 3DCG to support apparel brands in improving DX and creating digital content, talked about how he started his business and the differences between Japan and Korea.

Steve Bidinger is the co-founder and CEO of Skai Beauty. He has worked in the cosmetics industry and lived in Japan for 30 years; and has a passion for clean and sustainable beauty.

Lauren Rose Kocher is the founder and director of the Vegas PR Group, an international PR and marketing agency based in Tokyo. We discussed her career and current company, as well as the current status of Japanese startup scene.

The founder of Spatial Pleasure, a startup that develops DMRV software with the vision of building a meaningful urban civilization, spoke about the current state of urban development in Japan and the benefits of starting a business in Japan. 

Tomohiro Suzuki of REIVER LLC. manages the Tagore Harbor Hostel and conducts community development activities in Heda, located south of Numazu City in Shizuoka Prefecture. The town is rich in nature, surrounded by the clearest ocean in Japan and pristine mountains. We asked him why he moved to Heda from Tokyo, how he came to run the hostel, and how he got involved in community development activities.

The founder and managing partner of Lifetime Ventures, a pre-seeded VC from Yokohama, talks about why he is doing business from Yokohama and the strengths and weaknesses of the Japanese startup scene.

The esports scene now boasts worldwide popularity. Masaya Endo, who runs the esports company FENNEL in Japan, talks about the background to the launch of FENNEL, the differences between the esports scene in Japan and the rest of the world, and offers advice on how to start a business.

Moeko Suzuki, who went to high school in London and college in the U.S., established Tailor Innovations Inc. after working for an overseas market development consulting company, and also founded Startup Lady Association, a community of global female entrepreneurs. She discussed the features of the startup scene in Japan from her global point of view.

Eric Turner, Founder of Japan Dev K.K., which operates Japan Dev, a platform for IT professionals to find companies and development teams that match their values, and his wife, Manami, a designer, talked extensively about their path to starting a business and their expectations for Japan's startup scene and support.

BJ Fox, a British who worked for a major videogame publisher before starting Tokyo’s only stand-up comedy club "Tokyo Comedy Bar" in Shibuya, talks about why he started his business, the uniqueness of the Japanese market, tips for startups and more.

KALKUL is a future tech startup trying to integrate technology and human with the love for music and art. Co-founders Bartek Kolacz and Mehdi Hamadi talked about their journey, projects, and findings.

Interview with Yumiko Uchishiba, designer of the golf brand HERG1. Having studied fashion in Italy for 10 years and worked as a designer, we asked her what motivated her to come back to Japan to launch a new brand and the differences of her work and lifestyle between in Japan and Italy.

Mary and Elena who lead TOTEMO, a Japan-based NFT auction platform specialized in street art talked about the process of their startup, the challenges they have faced, and the current status of Japanese startup scene.

Blackbox was launched in December 2022 with one goal: to build an open and fair online platform to demystify the Japanese startup ecosystem.

We interviewed with Blackbox's first Japanese entrepreneur, Mr. Jun Iinuma, co-founder & CEO of alphaspace inc, who has been a leader in SaaS business for 15 years since the establishment of salesforce Japan and co-founded Cogent Labs Inc. He then co-founded alphaspace inc. We asked him about his vision of solving social issues through XR creations and his thoughts on the future of startups in Japan.

Wei Chai, who was born in China and studied in England, France, and Japan before starting a startup to promote local charms in Japan, talked about his path, challenges, and findings.

Bilal Kharouni could have been a professional kickboxer or a screen writer but instead he lives in Tokyo and works as co-founder of wellbeing startup ekei labs. Bilal tells us how he ended up founding a startup, what he has found out along the way, and about life in Japan in general.