So, we started a blog. Here's the short version of why.
We're based in Japan and follow the country's business and tech world pretty closely. At some point we figured it might be worth writing some of it down in English — for friends abroad, for people who are curious about Japan but don't read Japanese, or just anyone who wants a view from inside the country rather than from the outside looking in.
Why now is actually a pretty interesting time to start
Japan's economic and tech landscape has been moving in some interesting directions lately, and there's no shortage of things to write about.
To give a few examples of what's been on our radar: the Bank of Japan's gradual shift away from its long-running ultra-loose monetary policy, the government push to rebuild domestic semiconductor manufacturing, the slow but real changes in Japan's startup environment, and the ongoing (and often bumpy) effort to digitize government services through the Digital Agency.
What we'll be covering
Three areas, roughly:
Economy & Markets — Bank of Japan policy, the yen, corporate earnings, and the bigger economic picture. We'll try to explain the context, not just the headline.
Tech & Digital — Japanese tech companies, startups, government digital initiatives, AI, semiconductors. Stuff happening in the industry, basically.
Business & Corporate Japan — Governance changes, M&A, how Japanese companies are being run and valued these days. There's been a fair amount of movement here.
What this is (and isn't)
We're not trying to break news — Nikkei Asia and Reuters do that better than we will. We're more interested in the "so what does this mean" layer. Explainers, context, the occasional opinion piece when we have something to say.
We'll link to original sources and be clear about when something is our take versus a summary of what's being reported.
Who's writing this
I'm based in Japan and work in the IT department of a construction company. It's not the most obvious background for an economy and tech blog, but the construction industry sits closer to the center of Japan's economic story than most people might think — infrastructure investment, labor shortages, digitization of an industry that's been slow to change. It keeps things interesting.
Outside of work, I spend a lot of weekends traveling around Japan and hunting down good places to eat. I write about that separately, if that's more your thing.
Thanks for reading.
コメント