Soft robots are solving hard problems in Japan
Slithering robots sounds vaguely horrifying, but it turns out they're incredibly useful. Soft-robots lack the charisma of their more acrobat...
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Disrupting Japan
Japanese startups are fundamentally changing Japan’s society and economy. Disrupting Japan gives you direct access to the thoughts and plans of Japan’s must successful and creative startup f...
Disrupting Japan Podcast Guide
Listen to Disrupting Japan, a Business podcast by Tim Romero. Stream 265 episodes in English, follow new audio stories, and play episodes online on Radio and Podcast.
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What the world really thinks about Japanese robotics
Japan was once the the undisputed global leader in robotics, but that's simply not true today. In fact, with China and America dominating th...
The future of AI looks very different in Japan
Japan is much further ahead in real AI deployment than most people realize. Today we talk with David Ha, CEO of Sakana AI, Japan's clearly m...
Why Japanese Femtech is so different
Things don't always go as planned. In fact, they usually don't. Four years ago, femtech was both a rapidly-growing product category and a na...
The real Luddites would have loved AI
Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most innovative founders and VCs. This is our 250th episode, and I wanted to give yo...
What’s next for Physical AI in Japan?
I have a short in-between edition for you today. Last month at Venture Cafe's big global gathering in Tokyo, I had a chance to sit down on s...
Why its hard for startups to use technology for good
New technology is always introduced with the promise of the good it can do for humanity. Most of the time the promised good never come to be...
Corporate venturing as a path to innovation in Japan
You might think that large Japanese companies have trouble innovating. Unfortunately if you believe that, you would be correct. Recently, ho...
How to sell vegan foods to meat lovers
It's tough to be a vegetarian in a world full of carnivores. It's even tougher to be a startup selling a vegan egg-substitute into a world f...
What everyone gets wrong about branding in Japan
Japan market entry is hard. Consumer tastes are different, business culture is different, and market needs can be radically different from t...
What role can startups really play in human longevity?
Japan has one of the longest lived and healthiest populations in the world, and let Japanese startups are playing a relatively small role in...
Will Japan ever regain its lead in robotics?
In the popular imagination, Japan is almost synonymous with robots. While Japan once dominated cutting-edge robotics, over the past decade s...
Why so many Japanese VCs won’t invest in Japan
Japanese startups is hot right now, and more and more foreign money is flowing in. But many Japanese VCs remain stubbornly outward-looking....
Can startups save Japan’s logistics industry?
According to Taro, Japan's logistics industry is on the brink of collapse, and it's hard to argue that he's wrong. Taro Sasaki founded Hacob...
How to start an AI Startup in early 2026
Last month I gave lecture at Globis University on what it takes to build an AI startup today. It's no longer early days for AI, and most fou...
Japanese technology to supercharge human fertility
Japan's declining birth rate makes global headlines. But most of the developed world will soon be facing the same problem. The real solution...
What’s next for climate tech startups & innovation
Last month I spoke on a panel about the future of climate tech. I was joined by Emi Naganuma, the founder and General Partner of Apprecia Ca...
Foreign founders are changing how Japanese start startups
For the last 150 years, Japan has made a science of borrowing the best ideas from the West and transforming them into her own. The startup w...
What it’s really like to be a female VC in Japan
Progress is not only slower in Japan, it is often different. Looking at the numbers, it's clear that venture capital is even more male-domin...
Startup success hinges on enterprise innovation
American startups dominate this innovation cycle not as a result of startup innovation, but of enterprise innovation. Today we sit down with...