Uchikura & Co., LLC

Lately I’ve noticed something interesting: more people are reading, sharing, and responding to what I write than ever before. Some seem to think I’m trying to be controversial. I’m not. I’m simply expressing how I see Japan and the world, based on my life and business experience.

 

I was born in Japan, graduated from a university in California, and started my first business at 27. I’ve been running companies for more than 38 years, across two very different cultures. That perspective matters. It shapes how I see government, markets, and society.

 

By today’s definitions, my views are often labeled “conservative.” But I never changed much. The political center shifted. What used to be the middle is now called “right.” I still believe in free trade, private enterprise, and smaller, more efficient government. Those ideas built the economic growth that allowed people like me—an immigrant entrepreneur—to create jobs, pay taxes, and build something meaningful.

 

My goal is simple: help U.S. companies do more business in Japan, and help small Japanese companies bring their products to the U.S. market. Japan is full of small and medium-sized businesses with extraordinary quality, deep craftsmanship, and innovative products, yet many are overlooked because they lack international reach. That is a missed opportunity for both countries.

 

I’ve spent decades building platforms, networks, and systems that connect these two worlds. If what I’ve built can help even a little—by opening doors for small Japanese companies and giving U.S. businesses better access to Japan—then that is exactly why I keep doing this.

 

I don’t write to provoke. I write to think, to compare, and to understand how business, culture, and the world are changing. Honest discussion is healthy. That’s how progress happens.