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Topic: NFT Insights into Japan's thriving market and possible upcoming NFT trends in 2023

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I. INTRODUCTION

** Host:** Thank you all for joining the Twitter space today! As mentioned in the announcement, this is going to be a discussion around the Japanese NFT market, which we consider to contain a lot of opportunities for NFT projects to develop, still, there are also quite a few difficulties for foreign NFT projects and users to access this market, mainly because of the language barrier and cultural gap. 

That's the reason why the Shiniki team decided to hold a special Twitter space, to create an opportunity for NFT users in Vietnam to communicate directly with Hayatii, a NFT KOL in Japan who has been active in the market for quite a long time.

In addition, Shiniki team is also very happy to welcome Yoyo from Pyra Research to this space.

** **Before starting today's space session, I also have a little note for you guys, this space session will be conducted in 2 languages ​​in parallel, Vietnamese and Japanese, so after finishing each speaking part, We will spend some time translating for everyone to understand.

So I won't make everyone wait any longer, let’s start the space today!

Host: Let’s welcome the first guest of our space, Hayatii. He is a very well-known NFT influencer in Japan. Could you briefly introduce yourself to the community? 

** Hayatii:** Hello everyone, My name is Hayatti. I have been a Founder and Engineer of NFT projects in Japan since last February. I have been the Founder of 4 NFT projects, one of which has a volume trade of over 500 ETH. Additionally, I am fairly well connected to almost all NFT initiatives in Japan. Thank you very much for inviting me.

** Host:** Alright, the second guest of today’s space is YoYo from Pyra Research. Pyra Research is currently one of the largest and most quality NFT communities in Vietnam. Can you share a little bit about yourself and Pyra Research?

Yoyo: Thanks Shiniki for inviting Pyra to this special space. To briefly introduce ourselves, me and Johun are Co-Founder of Pyra Research. We have 6 core members in the team. Pyra Search community was established in 2021, so it’s been 2 years now. Our primary interests are in investing in and researching NFTs. We currently have plans to publish Pyra Aliens, which is our first collection. 

The foundation of this collection is Pyra Research's fundamental values. As we have already had a solid community with a distinct culture, we would like to release an NFT collection and bring the community position to the next level. The Pyra Aliens, as it’s called, is a collectible of Aliens, which have been greatly influenced by the fun-loving, giving, and cooperative Pyra society. We want to share this tradition with our friends around the world as well as with other NFT communities in Vietnam through this collection. 
This collection is going to be launched on the Polygon chain, with a total supply of 5000 items and the mint price will be $25. If anyone feels interested, feel free to join our Discord to get more information about this collection. 

** Host:** Thank you Yoyo, and I've pinned Pyra's collection so that everyone can stay up to speed on all the developments involving it. I am sure there is much to look forward to this April. I hope you all follow Pyra and don't miss any updates.

** **Okay, let me once again remind, there are 3 parts in today’s space:  Introduction, Panel Discussion, and Free Questions.

In the panel discussion, we will first go into greater detail about the NFT market in Japan while receiving comments from the hosts and speakers.

And then, we'll go on to the part with free questions after panel discussion. Please send many questions because the top ones will get BUSD rewards!

** Alright, let’s jump right into the first question, shall we?** 

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II. PANEL DISCUSSION

Host: As far as I know, the Vietnamese NFT community appears to have not had much opportunity to interact with many Japanese projects and NFT influencers, although there may be some projects they have heard of, such as Crypto Ninja Partner, Megami, and Aopanda Dao, etc Since there isn't much material available about the NFT projects in English, few people would be more knowledgeable about them.** **

Q1: Many NFT projects tried to enter this market but ultimately failed. I think the main reason for this is that they did not fully understand the NFT culture and the habits of NFT users. What are your thoughts on this point?

Hayatii: I think the NFT market in Japan is quite a closed community from the global community. We often use Japanese as our main language for communication so I think it's one of the difficulties. However, there are some overseas projects that have gained a large number of users in the Japanese market. For example, Momoguro has captured many fans in the Japanese market. The language and cultural differences are significant, but I think there is a lot that can be done, though.** **

Host: I also want to hear more from Yoyo, from the perspective of an NFT builder. How do you view the Japanese market and what makes it difficult for you to enter the Japanese market?** **

Yoyo: Okay, firstly I would want to thank Hayatii for providing us with really good insights into the Japanese market. Considering the long history and rich culture of manga or anime, I believe the Japanese NFT market has a lot of promise. I also enjoy One Piece and Tokyo Ghoul a lot. However, there are still many challenges in approaching this market. 

In particular, Pyra acknowledges that Japanese NFT projects have a high requirement of checking participants when applying to Whitelisted slots. They require the participants to have a good understanding of and dedication to the project. I think this is due to the meticulousness, the quality of the work, and the Japanese character. If Japanese NFT projects were more accessible to people from other countries, there would be a greater number of people who are aware of Japanese NFT and willing to purchase NFT.

The language barrier is currently my greatest barrier. For the benefit of international users, it would be preferable if the Japanese NFT initiative could include some core members who can speak English fluently to assist global users, in my opinion.

Hayatii: I understand. Talking about Japanese NFT projects using English as the main language, there are actually some of them active in the community, in case you want to know. It is a regular occurrence that even Japanese NFT users will work extremely hard to obtain a whitelist slot from projects in Japan. Typically, NFT creators give priority to their friends when whitelisting, or it may depend on the NFT's price. Recently, a large number of NFT users joined the free mint project, making it harder to get whitelisted for this kind of initiative. ** **

Host: You stated that there are also international projects like Momoguro that have successfully entered the Japanese market. Could you explain how this initiative was able to be so successful even in this fastidious market in your opinion? ** **

Hayatii: For Momoguro, one of the main reasons is that this project is already very famous abroad. In fact, Japanese NFT users also participate in overseas communities a lot. They have known about this project for a while and have shared information about it with local alpha groups, thereby establishing the project's reputation in the Japanese community. The project may succeed and acquire credibility as a result.

Q2: We can say that the NFT hype and floor price of almost all well-known NFT projects has recently decreased. How much of an impact has this had on the Japanese NFT market?

Hayatii: The effect is unavoidable in every way. There have been fewer new NFT projects recently, however, the industry is still growing as we still have lots of room to develop more in this space, for example,  TMA (The Mafia Animals), which is still in the early stages of development.

Host: Why does Pyra choose this particular moment to release your NFT collection? I believe there should be a reason for your confidence in the potential success of your collection.** **

Yoyo: Yeah, we have decided to release the collection for the following reasons.

Actually, we started planning for this collection 1 year ago, in 2022, and the community has been waiting for quite a long time so we have decided not to delay it any further. We decided to release it as soon as possible instead of waiting until the market stabilizes because we think it will be difficult to time it right.

Also, Pyra has a long-term vision in this market. And by launching during this bear time, we want to on board people who really trust and build with us even in difficult times. They will also be the ones to benefit financially from our business once the market recovers. 

The final factor is that Pyra sees the potential for Polygon's NFT project to explode in the coming years, and with the launch of our NFT collection, Pyra hopes to have the foundation to bring the benefits from the NFT Polygon ecosystem to our holders.

Q3: What do you think is the next NFT trend in Japan in 2023? We witnessed a big boom in PFP NFT collection in 2022, will this continue in 2023 or will we see a new type of NFT? 

Hayatii: The most probable trend for the Japanese market in 2023 may be NFT games. In Japan, the term "blockchain game" is presently used instead of "Gamefi," and the emphasis is placed more on "playing" than "earning," with the goal of creating high-quality games that will keep players interested over the long term. Popular Japanese gaming companies like Square Enix are currently preparing to join the web3 market. 

Additionally, significant NFT trends in Japan 2023 include AI and Bitcoin NFT.

Host: Will it affect existing pure PFP NFT projects and is it time for PFP projects to innovate their models and apply other use cases to their collections?** **

The Japanese have a societal preference for adorable and stunning art. They frequently favor PFP NFTs with lovely artwork, so I think PFP projects may continue to expand even if other trends emerge.** **

Yoyo: I would also want to ask if the Japanese community feels interested in projects from other countries such as Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand etc or if they only favor NFT projects that are carried out by Japanese creators?

Hayatii:  The Japanese of course will often prioritize projects produced by Japanese creators. Of course, Japanese people frequently give Japanese authors' work priority. However, foreign projects can still be successful in Japan based on some factors mentioned above. The project should be well-connected to Japanese influencers or have established success on the global market. It will make it simpler for the project side to increase its exposure in Japan.

III. FREE QUESTION: 

Q1: Are NFTs widely used in other fields in Japan? Are there utilities other than PFP?

** Hayatii: **The major utility of NFT in Japan is PFP (profile picture), the other utilities are not given much focus. There are also instances where NFT is used as an event ticket.

** **Q2: Pyra uses alien images to bring Vietnamese culture to the world, so what does this image have to do with Vietnamese culture?

** Yoyo: **The Alien image represents the core value inherent in the Pyra community, which is sharing, learning, and solidarity.  We chose this image of Alien which is pretty well-known in the international space so that users from other countries will be more willing to connect and talk with the Pyra community member. After that, through this image, I hope to promote Vietnamese image, culture, and spirit to the rest of the world.

Q3: When researching NFT projects, we often come across projects that promise a lot but actually do not deliver much. How can we avoid these kinds of projects?

** Yoyo: **The NFT market is a nascent market with many start-ups. When starting a project, they will imagine and promise a lot of things, try to convince investors to accompany and support the project, and of course, there are many projects that promise a lot but fail to fulfill. It is inevitable in this industry.

To avoid falling into such situations, you should spend time communicating with the project members, understanding the value they are aiming for and how they are performing through the project’s progress. To minimize the risk, you can participate in projects that are already known or promoted by the experts in the space.

What I can suggest is that you should continue to learn and practice, accumulate knowledge and experience, and you will gradually learn to evaluate projects correctly.

Q4: Japanese Gamefi is currently progressively transitioning to the term blockchain game. Could you please tell me which chain is being used as the main chain to create blockchain games in Japan and why? Is the blockchain game a foundation for NFT's potential success in Japan?

** **Polygon and Oasys are two famous blockchains for game development in Japan.
Also, there are many investors who believe that blockchain games will help Japan break through this year in the Web3 market.

Q5: Japanese NFT has a very strong Gachiho (diamond hand) culture. I'm curious as to how they've managed to preserve this culture. Additionally, the typical listing percentage for Japanese blue chip stocks is less than 1%, but that didn't have a lot of volume or liquidity, did it?

** **This kind of culture originates from Ikehaya, a very well-known town in Japan. This KOL came up with this trick to boost the floor price of his collection, which is that whoever sells the NFTs  will be blocked in Ikehaya’s friend list. Initially, the community was very upset about the decision, but as the floor price rose later, they eventually accepted it.

Well, only people who are extremely well-known and influential in the Japanese NFT space are able to accomplish that.

Q6. I used to connect with many communities for project collaboration, but Japan is one of the countries that is very difficult to reach. Is it because of the language or is it the cultural thing that is surging recently about Genz's disagreement with foreigners in Japan?

** **The language barrier is the main issue, though it has lately slowly improved. Regarding the controversy surrounding the genz's disagreement with foreigners living in Japan, in my opinion it has absolutely nothing to do with the NFT communities here.

IV - Ending 

Host: Thank you Hayatii and Yoyo from Pyra Research for joining us today and bringing many interesting insights to the community. Hopefully after this space, the community will understand more about the NFT market in Japan from an insider's perspective.

Yoyo: Thank you all for your time!

Hayatii: Thank you everyone.