Profile #21: Philippe Khin – Solo founder of SewaYou
Paul: Philippe Khin is the Tokyo-based founder of SewaYou, an app that helps you easily find language partners in your area. Philippe and I talked about him coming to Japan … Read more
Profiles
Profile #20: James Balcombe – software engineer at MODE, Tokyo
Paul: James Balcombe pivoted his career from international school computer science teacher to software engineer at a startup in Tokyo. James and I spoke about his early interest in computers, … Read more
Profile #19: Jayson Cunanan – AI engineer, mathematician, guitarist
Paul: Jayson Cunanan moved to Japan from the Philippines in 2011 to follow his dream of using higher education to find a better life. Jayson and I spoke about his … Read more
Profile #18: Drew Terry – founder of OpenSalary.jp
Paul: Drew Terry is the founder of OpenSalary.jp, a website promoting salary transparency for the tech community in Japan. Drew and I spoke about starting his career as a software … Read more
Profile #17: Raymond Murphy – Tokyo-based creator & marketing creative and now founder of the Irish apparel brand ‘Cnota Gaelach’
Paul: Raymond Murphy is a creator and marketing creative who first arrived in Japan in 2004. He launched ‘Cnota Gaelach’, a Tokyo-based Irish apparel brand in 2021. Raymond and I … Read more
Profile #16: John Rajeski – Silicon Valley veteran, educator, mentor, data analyst
Paul: John Rajeski is an aspiring people / data analyst, a recent global educator, and a former Silicon Valley start-up co-founder. John and I spoke about his early career in … Read more
Profile #15: Arnout Hemel – Product Management leader, new Tokyo resident, adventurer
Paul: With 15+ years experience in Product Management, Arnout Hemel’s team at Grab in Singapore grew GrabInsure into one of the largest InsureTechs in South East Asia. Arnout relocated to … Read more
Profile #14: Lawrie Cate – software developer at Tokyo travel tech startup KabuK Style
Paul: Originally from the UK, Lawrie moved to Tokyo in 2018 to work as a software engineer at Mercari, the Japanese marketplace unicorn. Lawrie is now at travel tech startup … Read more
Profile #13: Sushant Pandey – IoT entrepreneur & future Tokyo resident
Paul: Sushant Pandey is the founder of Scurid, a distributed digital identity platform bringing scalable security to the world of IoT. A Shibuya Startup Visa holder, Sushant will be relocating … Read more
Profile #12: Jatin Kumar – software developer, HR specialist & curry enthusiast
Paul: I first learned about Jatin Kumar after stumbling upon an online post about his GoCurry community last year. I was fascinated to learn more about Jatin’s background as a … Read more
Profile #11: Tanmay Goel – product manager and community organiser
Paul: Tanmay Goel is a Tokyo-based product manager and organiser in the product management community here, with a background as an international student & entrepreneur, and interests including tech, the … Read more
Profile #10: Miho Tanaka – supporting entrepreneurship in Shibuya
Paul: A recent introduction to Miho Tanaka from Sasha at Le Wagon Tokyo was a case of perfect timing, as I’d just been reading about Miho’s work at Startup Welcome … Read more
Profile #9: Greg Jeanneau – freelance UI/UX designer
Paul: Greg Jeanneau is a talented UI/UX designer who moved to Tokyo from his native France in January of this year. We talk about Greg’s background as an engineer, his … Read more
Profile #8: Sylvain Pierre – Entrepreneur & co-founder of Le Wagon Tokyo
Paul: Sylvain Pierre is an entrepreneur, co-founder of the Le Wagon Tokyo coding bootcamp, and Tokyo resident since 2016. We talk about how Sylvain got into entrepreneurship, his experiences in … Read more
Profile #7: Andrew Bishop – APAC Head of Human Resources and Chief of Staff
Paul: I met Andrew Bishop way back in 2000 when we worked together in the IT recruiting team at PANACHE, a Tokyo-based technology, staffing and services company. We’ve been friends … Read more
Profile #6: Misha Yurchenko – Author, Blogger and Entrepreneur
Paul: I met Misha Yurchenko for the first time a couple of years ago after coming across his excellent newsletter (you can find it and more of his writing at … Read more
Profile #5: James Ryland – Head of HR at Wellington Management
Paul: James Ryland and I met at 8:25 am on Monday, November 15th, 1999. I remember the date and time well as it was my first day of work in … Read more
Profile #4: Ji Youn Yoo – In-house recruiter at Google
Paul: Ji Youn Yoo is an in-house recruiter at Google’s Tokyo office in Shibuya Stream. We worked together a few years ago in the IT team of a recruiting agency … Read more
Profile #3: Asumi Saito – co-founder of Waffle.org
Paul: Asumi Saito is a young data scientist turned non-profit organisation founder from Tokyo. We met over Skype in 2017 when Asumi had just finished her master’s degree at the … Read more
Profile #2: Gerard Noakes – In-house recruiter at Indeed
Paul: Gerard Noakes is an in-house recruiter at Indeed’s Tokyo office. We met in the summer of 2016 when Gerard joined the recruiting agency I was working at. His first … Read more
Profile #1: Andy Hall – Tilting at GameDev Windmills
Paul: Andy Hall is an indie game developer, originally from the US. Now living in Kawasaki, Japan, Andy and I met in early 2000, when Andy joined a Tokyo-based IT … Read more