Author: JoyChen
Hara, the founder and current CEO of Janction, has become an important figure in the Japanese cryptocurrency industry. Although he worked as an accountant at KPMG and accumulated rich experience in IPO, M&A and auditing, his real "breakout" moment was due to his encounter with blockchain. Looking back on his career trajectory, Hara admitted that he had worked in many fields, but what really made him feel "crossed" was his journey with the Jasmy project.
As a professional working in the traditional financial industry, he has faced many doubts and resistance to blockchain technology. In 2016, Jasmy's predecessor was a semiconductor supply company focusing on the development of IoT devices. It was not until the end of 2017 that the company decided to transform and enter the blockchain industry. "At that time, Jasmy's management did not have a clear understanding of blockchain technology, and the purpose and governance structure of tokens were also vague concepts." Hara said frankly, "I spent a lot of time studying the ICO and cryptocurrency markets in depth, and proposed the use of decentralized identity and data applications as the core idea of the token economy." Although the days at that time were full of challenges, in Hara's view today, this journey full of exploration and trial and error has become a precious asset.
For both Hara and Janction, there are two unavoidable issues: one is "how to achieve innovation" and the other is "how to cultivate talents". "The development of the Internet of Things and blockchain has shown me the huge potential of AI, so I decided to get involved in this field," said Hara. The core business is to build a Layer 2 platform, provide GPU computing resources and data storage solutions, aiming to provide technical support for academic institutions and start-ups to help them develop large language models.
"There is a natural connection between AI and blockchain, especially in terms of data storage and computing power," Hara explained. "By building GPU nodes and Layer 2 technology, we provide researchers and developers with a powerful platform to help them accelerate the development of AI technology." Currently, about 4,000 nodes have been deployed on platforms like Janction, and plans are underway to provide computing resources to academic institutions such as the University of Tokyo to help them make breakthroughs in the field of AI.
Barriers to Japanese communities: Dual challenges of culture and regulation
"To be frank, the blockchain market in Japan has always faced huge barriers." Hara said straight away that although Japan is one of the most advanced technology markets in the world, there are still many problems in terms of blockchain acceptance and regulatory environment. Especially in the field of DeFi, Japan's regulatory policy has always been in a relatively conservative state. "One of the biggest problems we faced when launching blockchain projects in Japan was regulatory uncertainty," he said. "DeFi projects have almost no chance to take root in Japan, and even DEX is banned. This is not only a policy obstacle, but also a limitation of the entire society's understanding of blockchain technology."
This has also become one of the questions Hara has repeatedly thought about during the entrepreneurial process. In 2018, when Hara joined Jasmy as CFO, although the original intention of the project was to innovate around the Internet of Things, he knew that if he wanted to make Jasmy really big, he had to go beyond the limitations of the Japanese market and go global. "Although Jasmy was successful in its listing in Japan, our market expansion has always been focused on overseas." Hara emphasized, "This is not because we are not optimistic about the Japanese market."
Indeed, Hara observed that many blockchain projects from South Korea and China are often affected by language and cultural barriers when trying to enter the Japanese market, especially when these companies do not have localized teams, communication and cooperation become particularly difficult. "One of the biggest challenges we face when working with large Japanese companies is the language and cultural differences," he mentioned. "However, these problems can be overcome if we can find team members who can speak Japanese. When working with companies like Sony, we have to face and solve these challenges."
However, Hara does not deny the potential limitations that may come from over-reliance on the Japanese market. "When launching Jasmy, we chose to start with overseas markets first. This strategy determined that we would not focus only on Japan." He said frankly, "We are clearly aware that if we rely solely on the Japanese market, the project will face huge limitations. Although the Japanese market is huge, it is relatively small in openness. Internationalization is the future."
In addition to technology, there are also talents.
The rapid development of the blockchain industry also faces the replacement of talents and the handover of new and old forces. Just like what Hara experienced when Jasmy was in its early stages, the flow of talents and the issue of succession are always a difficult problem. "In the Japanese industry, there are actually very few opportunities to recruit blockchain engineers, and even if you can find them, it is difficult to find engineers who are proficient in large projects like Layer 1. Therefore, at Janction, we are able to recruit excellent engineers from Argentina, Greece, and Spain, and our CTO is from Australia, so our team also includes members from Europe and South America. This global technical team brings us great advantages."
Hara pointed out that although Japan's acceptance of cryptocurrency has gradually increased, most projects on the market are still limited to small-scale experimental applications and lack sufficient innovation and breakthroughs. "We see many overseas projects, especially blockchain companies from South Korea and China, who hope to succeed in the Japanese market, but whether it is language barriers or cultural differences, these projects have encountered huge challenges when entering Japan." He said, "Even if the services they provide have a global vision and even support Japanese, it is still difficult to overcome these barriers."
For most overseas projects that want to enter the minority language community, they often run into obstacles in the Japanese market. The "besieged city" situation in Japan, which needs to be broken through internally and integrated externally, has always been a hot topic for many founders to discuss. However, Hara also mentioned that for overseas companies that can find localization teams in Japan, there are still opportunities to establish cooperation with large Japanese companies, especially companies like Sony and Panasonic. However, such cooperation often requires more patience and time to overcome language and cultural differences. "In the early days of Jasmy, we chose to start with overseas markets," he said. "Through this strategy, we avoided the limitations brought about by over-reliance on the Japanese market."
Blockchain idealism and meme: cultural phenomenon or market bubble?
When talking about the blockchain industry, Hara made a profound analysis of the two current forces - blockchain idealism and the meme coin phenomenon. For projects like Jasmy, Hara has always believed in the potential of blockchain technology. He emphasized: "The real meaning of blockchain lies in decentralization, data autonomy and transparency, not just trading or speculation." He believes that truly valuable blockchain projects should be applications that can bring long-term benefits to users, not born for short-term speculation. "Our goal at Jasmy has always been to build a blockchain platform that can solve real problems, not just to attract attention."
However, with the booming cryptocurrency market, the meme coin phenomenon has gradually become a unique cultural phenomenon, which has also confused and disturbed many industry professionals who originally focused on technological innovation. "The cultural phenomenon of meme coins has its significance," Hara said frankly, "They allow ordinary investors and the public to have a better understanding of blockchain, but this does not mean that they are sustainable projects." He continued, "For example, the recently popular 'TRUMP', their appeal lies in their ability to bring quick profits, but they have no practical application scenarios. In the long run, it is difficult for such currencies to support real value."
Hara has a mixed view on meme coins. "From a market perspective, meme coins can indeed quickly attract a large number of investors and even bring about a short-term wealth effect. But in the long run, this kind of speculation will have a negative impact on the entire industry," he said. "I personally do not invest in meme coins because they lack real technological innovation and do not conform to my idealism about blockchain." He also pointed out that although meme coins themselves have risks, they also serve as a kind of social experiment, revealing the market's understanding and misunderstanding of blockchain technology. "This is why many large companies, including Sony, have begun to ban such currencies."
The success of these meme coins is undeniable, but this is also the reason why the industry has questioned the hype in recent years. Some people think that it is nothing more than a short-term hype driven by emotions, lacking real technical support and intrinsic value; and more questions are whether blockchain technology can still create a new technological ecosystem that surpasses current achievements?
For Hara, blockchain idealism should not stop at the phenomenon of pursuing short-term profits, but should focus on technologies and applications that can truly solve real problems. "Like what we do at Jasmy, we are more focused on how to use blockchain technology to bring innovation to the Internet of Things and data management, rather than simply relying on speculative market hotspots," he said.
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