Welcome to the one hundred fifty-first edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. "AI is killing SaaS", or "software will be abundant and free" are the latest taglines of the AI prophets, after the path to AGI via LLMs has been discredited. Whether or not that will come true, this wave has surely induced a software bear market, and Japan has not been a safe haven. Take a look at Money Forward, for example, which is down about 50% over the past six months at the time of writing, despite the ongoin.

Welcome to the one hundred fifty-first edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. "AI is killing SaaS", or "software will be abundant and free" are the latest taglines of the AI prophets, after the path to AGI via LLMs has been discredited. Whether or not that will come true, this wave has surely induced a software bear market, and Japan has not been a safe haven. Take a look at Money Forward, for example, which is down about 50% over the past six months at the time of writing, despite the ongoin.

Welcome to the one hundred fifty-second edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Happy birthday to Emperor Naruhito 🎂 It's conference week again! If you would like to meet, you will most likely find us at the N.Avenue conference, the Credit Saison Blockchain Summit, the Yield Summit, and MoneyX. If you are coming to Tokyo for Japan FinTech Week, have an awesome stay! Here is what we are going to cover this week: Venture Capital & Private Markets: Yuimedi secures JPY 400m to streamline medi

Welcome to the one hundred fifty-second edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Happy birthday to Emperor Naruhito 🎂 It's conference week again! If you would like to meet, you will most likely find us at the N.Avenue conference, the Credit Saison Blockchain Summit, the Yield Summit, and MoneyX. If you are coming to Tokyo for Japan FinTech Week, have an awesome stay! Here is what we are going to cover this week: Venture Capital & Private Markets: Yuimedi secures JPY 400m to streamline medi

Welcome to the one hundred fiftieth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The Japanese election completely overshadowed our monumental achievement of the 150th edition of the Japan FinTech Observer, while crossing 15,000 subscriber (on LinkedIn alone, ~20,000 across platforms) 😀 we remain humble, and truly appreciate your spending time with us, thank you 🙏 With regards to Takaichi's resounding victory, we would like to offer the unpopular opinion that it is way too early,...

Welcome to the one hundred fiftieth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The Japanese election completely overshadowed our monumental achievement of the 150th edition of the Japan FinTech Observer, while crossing 15,000 subscriber (on LinkedIn alone, ~20,000 across platforms) 😀 we remain humble, and truly appreciate your spending time with us, thank you 🙏 With regards to Takaichi's resounding victory, we would like to offer the unpopular opinion that it is way too early,...

Welcome to the one hundred forty-ninth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The one hundred-fiftieth edition will arrive in your inbox post the February 8 election. If you are looking to meet in person this week, you will find us at the Japan Stablecoin Summit No. 2, the JBA Meetup 2026, and the Tokyo Asset Management Forum. Here is what we are going to cover this week: Venture Capital & Private Markets: Sony Innovation Fund bets big on infrastructure as Talos secures $1.5 Billion valua

Welcome to the one hundred forty-ninth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The one hundred-fiftieth edition will arrive in your inbox post the February 8 election. If you are looking to meet in person this week, you will find us at the Japan Stablecoin Summit No. 2, the JBA Meetup 2026, and the Tokyo Asset Management Forum. Here is what we are going to cover this week: Venture Capital & Private Markets: Sony Innovation Fund bets big on infrastructure as Talos secures $1.5 Billion valua

Welcome to the one hundred forty-eighth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. As widely expected, the Bank of Japan did not change the policy rate at the Monetary Policy Meeting last week. Amir Anvarzadeh of ASYMMETRIC ADVISORS commented on CNBC that the Bank of Japan should raise interest rates by 50 basis points to rescue the Yen, but the window for them to do so has closed and thus they will continue to commit policy errors. The The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Back thinks investors should.

Welcome to the one hundred forty-eighth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. As widely expected, the Bank of Japan did not change the policy rate at the Monetary Policy Meeting last week. Amir Anvarzadeh of ASYMMETRIC ADVISORS commented on CNBC that the Bank of Japan should raise interest rates by 50 basis points to rescue the Yen, but the window for them to do so has closed and thus they will continue to commit policy errors. The The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Back thinks investors should.

Welcome to the one hundred forty-second edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The week commencing December 15 will very much be the last week of significant business activity for the calendar year. The Diet will have its last session, and the Bank of Japan will raise the policy rate to 0.75% at its Monetary Policy Meeting (all economists agree, and who would dare to disagree with the esteemed economists). What economists disagree on is the terminal rate, with forecasts generally ranging from.

Welcome to the one hundred forty-second edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The week commencing December 15 will very much be the last week of significant business activity for the calendar year. The Diet will have its last session, and the Bank of Japan will raise the policy rate to 0.75% at its Monetary Policy Meeting (all economists agree, and who would dare to disagree with the esteemed economists). What economists disagree on is the terminal rate, with forecasts generally ranging from.

Welcome to the one hundred forty-third edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. We have done it! Not only is the Bank of Japan the only major central bank to raise its policy rate this year, it has done so twice. Well done, Ueda-san & team, leading us further down the path to normalization. With consumer prices, in particular food, still running hot, there is certainly room for further hikes in 2026, even if the "underlying" inflation is (again) expected to cool down towards the target range of.

Welcome to the one hundred forty-third edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. We have done it! Not only is the Bank of Japan the only major central bank to raise its policy rate this year, it has done so twice. Well done, Ueda-san & team, leading us further down the path to normalization. With consumer prices, in particular food, still running hot, there is certainly room for further hikes in 2026, even if the "underlying" inflation is (again) expected to cool down towards the target range of.

Happy New Year! Welcome to the one hundred forty-fifth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. We are pleased to announce the "Product of the Year 2025": the 50-year mortgage! In the face of sky-rocketing real estate prices, where even second-hand apartments in Tokyo change hands at over 100 million yen, and a third consecutive year of declining real wages, spreading out ...

Happy New Year! Welcome to the one hundred forty-fifth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. We are pleased to announce the "Product of the Year 2025": the 50-year mortgage! In the face of sky-rocketing real estate prices, where even second-hand apartments in Tokyo change hands at over 100 million yen, and a third consecutive year of declining real wages, spreading out ...

Welcome to the one hundred thirty-ninth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. We are hearing that now is the best time since the pandemic to visit Kyoto. You will still see some late autumn foliage, the Japanese Yen is moving closer to its 160 JPY/USD ceiling (or beyond 180 JPY/EUR) if you are a foreign visitor, and Chinese tourists have all but disappeared. Was tackling overtourism on your bingo card for Takaichi's first actions? A supplementary budget certainly was. Coming in at JPY 17.7t

Welcome to the one hundred thirty-ninth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. We are hearing that now is the best time since the pandemic to visit Kyoto. You will still see some late autumn foliage, the Japanese Yen is moving closer to its 160 JPY/USD ceiling (or beyond 180 JPY/EUR) if you are a foreign visitor, and Chinese tourists have all but disappeared. Was tackling overtourism on your bingo card for Takaichi's first actions? A supplementary budget certainly was. Coming in at JPY 17.7t

Welcome to the one hundred fortieth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Congratulations to the team at Wise, who became the first money transfer operator to complete integration with the Zengin interbank-settlement network. The timing could not have been better, as we are spending this week in Estonia, courtesy of Enterprise Estonia, to assist with building FinTech bridges to Japan. We will have a lot to share next week! Here is what we are going to cover this week:Venture Capital & Priva

Welcome to the one hundred fortieth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Congratulations to the team at Wise, who became the first money transfer operator to complete integration with the Zengin interbank-settlement network. The timing could not have been better, as we are spending this week in Estonia, courtesy of Enterprise Estonia, to assist with building FinTech bridges to Japan. We will have a lot to share next week! Here is what we are going to cover this week:Venture Capital & Priva

Welcome to the one hundred forty-seventh edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. A unicorn was born through Alpaca's latest funding round. As if we knew this was coming, we are pleased to announce that Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer Hitoshi Harada will join the next Tokyo FinTech Meetup on Wednesday, February 28. To get your opportunity to "touch a unicorn", please request an invite via our Luma page. Japan will go to the polls on February 8. While...

Welcome to the one hundred forty-seventh edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. A unicorn was born through Alpaca's latest funding round. As if we knew this was coming, we are pleased to announce that Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer Hitoshi Harada will join the next Tokyo FinTech Meetup on Wednesday, February 28. To get your opportunity to "touch a unicorn", please request an invite via our Luma page. Japan will go to the polls on February 8. While...

Welcome to the one hundred forty-first edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Last week, we were delighted to participate in the "ICT & FinTech Mission to Tallinn" this past week, courtesy of EIS | Enterprise Estonia. As we are settling down back home, we are iteratively reporting on the very insightful discussions on the FinTech Observer website. While we were away, the expectations for the next Bank of Japan policy rate raise have decisively moved to December given Ueda's comments at the b

Welcome to the one hundred forty-first edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Last week, we were delighted to participate in the "ICT & FinTech Mission to Tallinn" this past week, courtesy of EIS | Enterprise Estonia. As we are settling down back home, we are iteratively reporting on the very insightful discussions on the FinTech Observer website. While we were away, the expectations for the next Bank of Japan policy rate raise have decisively moved to December given Ueda's comments at the b