I spent ten years living in the US between my childhood and years at graduate school. While the topic ranged from Pocky and Pokemon in elementary school to Toyota and Rakuten in grad school, I was excited every time Japan was the topic of conversation. However, at the same time, reality was that it was not as often as other countries were brought up. As a result, one of the missions in my career is to contribute to elevating Japan's global presence.

This thought lay in the corner of my mind as I stumbled upon the world of innovation and venture capital during my time at Stanford. I was fascinated by the fast-evolving, dynamic ecosystem that was a result of diverse players coming together, and decided to pursue my career in VC. I feel lucky to have found such an exciting career. I hope to continue thinking about vitalizing Japanese society through innovation and globalization of the Japanese startup ecosystem.