Japanese Craftsmanship Meets Web3

Transcript

all right and then uh uh we'll be going to our last session of the day and uh yes the last session is with uh Charlie toi and U Terry tomonaga on the panel topic of Japanese craftsmanships meets web three do we have uh the panelists here in the room or is this an online session let's see yeah it looks like it's online uh offline do we have Charlie toi and ter okay all right and is your co-panelist with you are you alone or is we have two more

okay okay all right uh yeah we can get started which one are you you're Charlie T I'm highball Charlie okay highball Charlie all right all right uh so next session uh yeah maybe we can wait until when your when your uh friends join you okay or do you want to start already introduce okay all right stage is yours hi boor everyone uh let me talk in English today before my cound the ter and come here uh let me explain who I am uh I'm char hbor Chari people call me hbor Chari because I'm kind of father of hbor in Japan I've been working for Sor like 26 years and I joined Sor because I

simply love drinking and eating hey Emily Terry hey what's up do we have our slide yeah so I will continue to introduce myself so uh in 2008 uh I our team my team uh developed the first hybo machine in Japan in 2008 also I designed the famous highball mug do you do you drink highball do you and you drink it you always drink in the mug that's Japanese style hore in Japan and we did we designed that hbor Mark and since before

we started this project whiskey Market had been declined over 25 years in santor failed to recruit new drinker so hbor project was one of the final challenge to recruit new Drinkers and it went well eight years later our CEO president T namami told me hey Charlie it's been super successful hybrid successful in Japan we don't need you anymore just go to us and find another opportunity of H in us so I was transferred to Chicago in 2016 as hbor evangelist and I decided to make have a nickname Charlie My Le name is atushi Takeuchi but it's too hard for American to remember my name so I worked hard as

a HBO evangelist over five years and I returned to Japan Japan two years ago and now I'm teaming up with Terry and Emily from eight ships to work on web three project which is called sakazuki that's what we are going to talk about all right hey guys how's it going Japan is super hot um my my name is Terry I'm a founder of a ships I'm a co-founder for sakazuki and you know like I got into web 3 you know us three we're not a like Tech dude like most of people here um we're just normal people and you know I I funded my company my last company 20 years for International Education company and my passion is all about

Japan D it's like you know how can I get Japanese people all the craft all the highest quality stuff you know manga anime game anything you name it Whiskey like you know we really wanted to put that outside to the global people right and I really thought when I met like web 3 Tech and you know just got in I think this techn technology can you know um change Japanese culture Japanese craft in you know better way that's how I got in and um I you know I spent a lot of money but uh uh you know I learned a lot and that's how I met uh Charlie and that's how I got in and now we're trying to you know change the whole industry

about the web 3 and the craft and you know we're all about just you know how can we provide the best possible you know product to the world through the technology and it's not about you know we're we really think web 3 just a tool right to do what we really wanted to do and I think that's the focus that what we want to do as a craft and yeah that's how we got in and go ahead Emily hi hi everybody hi are you guys enjoy con yeah I'm not on this here because I wasn't planning on the stage but they just grabed me on the stage so uh my name is Emily I'm doing brand director as sakazuki and also co-founder with uh with uh at as ships I've been working

with Terry for probably 10 more than 10 11 years uh focusing on like less than the gap between Japanese uh market and in global scene and my passion is always about people and I'm not really a tech person I've been in this web three for um at least three years but still like I I feel like you know um this web 3 is going to make a lot of changes on in terms of like you know how do you say that like how people see each other how people connect each other because like for me like you know I go by just a Japanese girl on Twitter's actually X right now but um the reason why is like I've been sick of like this web two type

of like influencers marketing you know something that only inv visible you know and then um sakazuki I think you know what is fascinating for me is like sakazuki can bring authenticity and then transparency you know into this web 3 Market because like Japan like there's so many great IPS so many like you know hidden culture hidden gems you know craftsmanship everything and then I believe you know these people like this project is going to bring this you know to the front end you know not just the marketing part um so yeah really really excited to be here and you know try to I'll try to you know um gather more like you know hidden story behind but yeah so what is sakazuki why

sakazuki so sakasi most Japanese people will understand originally it means saki Cup in Japan in there's a ritual ritual historical ritual to uh get bonded which means during W wedding ceremony when clinking the grass of sakazuki it means Eternal bonding also uh Japanese Mafia Yakuza gang do the same ceremony which means we are family so the reason I came up with this project is when I worked in us I saw lots of people really appreciate Japanese craftsmanship but after returning Japan what I saw here is why we undervalue our own craftsmanship

everything looks so low priced we everything seems to me underestimated so the starting point of this project was I directly reach out to our owner saying what if we build up a direct to fund Global Community who are happy to unlock and celebrate those hidden James craftsmanship which are undervalued which are not allowed to test and launch in this small island Japan or because of maybe too expensive cost doesn't fit mass production why don't we give a platform for those hidden James craftsmanship with Global Connection and finding the right people globally to celebrate those hidden J that kind of fun Community I want to build up that was a starting point of

sakazuki so it's a community that gives exclusive access to meet to unlock those hidden James craftsmanship that money just cannot buy which means it's not a setting platform to sell our brand so sakazuki is here with a great purpose and cause to unlock and celebrate hidden James craftsmanship in Japan do you want touch more on yeah it's um again you know I don't know Charlie mentioned Charlie from you know he's like a legendary guy in Sanu group um you know he was in like TV like two weeks ago they make documentary everything for him um you know what we want to do is you know again I really think that technology is more about giving people power right um it's not about the you

know centralized company or everything you know gaining everything data um it's more about how can we let people use this technology to do what they really want to do and as a centy big as they are you know we're not about making money or anything we're trying to hey why don't we do create you know Center brand and all the craft you know um and create a some something you know closer like a platform right where everybody can kind of use and you know reach the global market um I think that's the way that you use um I I really think that's the way uh blockchain should be used um to connect people you know um and that's how I

really think it Japan is a right fit in that way because Japanese people care so much about human you know relationship right on People to People relationship I don't know how many people like maybe like you know uh atcon a lot of people talk about tech but you know that's why I think you know I'm not dismissing technology it's more about hey let's work together I think this technology is amazing amazing right and we're not a tech people we're people people right so U we want to work with those you know how can we use the tech to leverage that you know what we have our strength and stuff and again hidden Unlocking The Hidden Gem just means you know there's so much craft I know you guys came to Japan you guys are going around you know eating sushi you know looking at the

details attention about the you know the train coming on time that's like amazing compared to United States you know like they never come on time so like these stuff that Japanese people for us it's a standard right but for people outside it's not a standard how can we use that how can we use that culture and technology and craft and connect with people who really cares about it appreciates it that's what we want to do so okay we can go next I yeah so like Terry said we're using web 3 not because it's just a trend uh but because it solves the problem we focus and this is something that you

know we really need to discuss like why we do we need to use web 3 Technologies because there are like a lot of web two companies like today we had discussion with like major like Japanese leading companies together and then you know they're they're interested in getting into web 3 but still they're skeptical and then also they don't know why they have to get in they don't know why like they don't have like an urgency to use the Technologies I really think lot of people are in in this technology you know we've been talking around the world world and talking to like big ass companies and they're like oh we're in it because you know there's no more upside to web too right there's like we can see the ceiling and these are company that's like really really

successful at this stage of you know they they're making you know a lot of money um and you know their business is booming they're probably you know and they're the one who's looking at web 3 what's the next technology that we can sustain that lead right and you know but are you got guys really do you guys see what this technology is or are you guys just trying to find out and I'm pretty sure you know that's the biggest question everybody's asking why why web 3 web why web 3 and that that's where we I think I don't know um for from our part you know there's a reason why we use web 3 just it's not because we saw oh everybody's using it you know they we can make a lot of money but it's more

like hey me and Charlie we we've been talking about it you know there's uh again undervalued craft in Japan you know shuna and we go to every single like you know uh I was at uh gumma and you know kagoshima and everywhere we go to the factory and we talk to these crackman and we're like these are amazing you know and people overseas they'll they really want to be part of this they really want to have this stuff but they don't know about these people that they exist right and oh you know what's going on there's you know it's a web two should be the technology that's connecting everything you know that's the biggest marketing platform that we saw and it's not doing it you know then can we now the question is there's a problem right there there's a

super highest quality product or service that we have and there's a lot of people around the world who's craving to have it and can we connect the dot together with the technology is the question right so and you know obviously we're in it because we really think that we can solve that problem right so from corporate side from santu the interesting part is lently I don't talk too much about technology first because I'm not a tech guy I I just good at drinking so the point is when talking to Sor to convince this project is it's a new way to tell the story behind the scene and it's a so what we are going to launch in sakazuki community as a example of hidden James is when as I

said after returning from us I met our top of craftsmanship team and ask don't you have any hidden gems you are not allowed to test and launch they shared with me bunch of hidden gems somewh super exclusive premium uh green tea show you or super layer vintage PL wine or even whiskey from a lay Super lay cusk what they told me is hey Charlie in santor we own like 1.5 million CK each CK is not just a brand of whiskey it's a component whiskey and blenders blend each CK and make it yamazaki or kabin but in 1.5 million C there's few C which is super great taste with a deep story but we can launch this limited number

bottles just to distribute because it's too hard to tell the story and sometimes it's uncontrollable when it comes to distribution and sometimes it goes to Flippers sometime it goes uh to the LI without telling the story so for me why sakazuki sakazuki is here for santor it's a it was a great solution to get people connected so like I'm HBO Char but I I walked hard on as a highb bch not to sell our brand to enrich people's Lifestyle by bringing new proposal of how to enjoy better life so sakazuki is going to be a community to how do I say to F finding the light people for those

Craftsmen to test and launch those hidden gy craftsmanship yeah and you know as Charlie said you know it's it's all about like you know we see web three different from a lot of people here and you know I I I have no problem you know going on debate or anything um as you can see when you come to Japan it's People to People relationship you know they call me a meeting because they want a real IRL meeting you know they don't want a zoom meeting so they call me from like LA to you know fly out here to do real meeting you know and you know think about it like web too you know are you guys sick of like Twitter or uh you know all the uh you know information Just sh getting shoved into your throat I am right you know simple

as that you know hey Web Two is a great tool to reach maass but I think the personal relationship is not there you know everybody's craving for interaction they want to connect to people yeah digital is amazing but hey there's a downside to it and we we we see web three as a different way we really think it's not people going into the virtual world we think the technology is going to come to us you know I think the RO part is going to be super important you know the amazing thing that me and family you know um like felt going to this kind of you know atcon is a our event right we're connecting each other and you know these are the thing that I really think is super valuable you know I I call in uh in Japanese kachka um so it's a way that we connect

with people who's you know has this similar mind um similar value and that's the really really hard part you know when you going to the web too because everybody can fake right everybody can say whatever they want now with this technology if you do it right way you know I only want to connect with people that I really care about or who I am fascinated about or who share the same value right and you know it can be anything right and I'm pretty sure everybody around the world that those are the people who you want to share value with some and you don't want to be connected to somebody who's like you don't even know right you know Twitter who's saying whatever and you know you don't even know if that's true or not you know I think web 3 authenticity is

going to be the key personalization going to be key and I think Japan is I don't know you know I think there might be but from my you know view I think Japan is one of the you know uh country one of the top country that cares and that sees the value in that you know um humanness and uh connection so that's how like you know Japan has long history and then also deep culture I was so surprised because I've been in this I'm based in the states and then when I'm back you know I go to different restaurants you know different small businesses and in all those like you know restaurants a lot of them like are like at least 100 years running you know some of them are like 300 years 400

years you know uh a couple days ago I went to one of the Summer Festival natu you Osaka which is my hometown tenin matu it it rounds like thousand years you know which is kind of crazy like in terms of the perspectives you know from outside of Japan and then I think you know what sakazuki is going to bring is you know sakazuki is going to be a platform that everybody can showcase what they've been creating what they've been passionate about you know because um when we went to kagoshima um uh the there's a santor sanor distri like so history and those Craftman people they're really amazing like I asked question why do you do this you know why are you what what motivates you to go for they're just saying oh I love this you know I want to just live with it I

want to die with it you know it's crazy right but that's a story that mass communication can tell yeah yeah but the thing is you know they're not really good at showing off you know they're not really this is the one of the Japanese Beauty too you know they're not really good at um how do you say that good at showcasing them presenting them we are too humble yeah they're too humble like Charlie yeah and I think web 3 web two is a great technology to reach masses um but again it's shadow of Technology like there's no real connection I think web 3 technology is a deep and you know the connection there is there and I think that's what is going to happen you know people are done with just oh 1 million F follower who who cares right now right

you have a 1 million follower doesn't mean anything right now people can buy followers right so and you know that that's where we are right now and I'm sick of it I'm pretty sure a lot of people I talk to are sick of it and we're like you know and I think you that's the part that we're like going back again you know so we're going back to I don't know when we you know uh meet face to face and and you know know each other personally right um I think the web three technology is the technology that can use it in that way and um I I really think you know I don't know how many people really talk about this but um we're seeing the world that's going to change from that

point of view right so that you know as you can see from the storyboard um storytelling you know is what we really think experience is what we think is going to be the key you know it's not about how product is there but it's like a lifetime story and you know what what's behind it right um that adds a value to anything you do and going into the experience that you never can buy with money you know we I talk to a lot of people with a lot of money um and they're like oh you know I go to Japan and they go to like I'm like I've been there 50 times and I'm like where you go and he's like you know I go to Mission star three star that's it and I'm like that's not Japan

you know and Trip Advisor like Google it's not Japan too right you have to be with the local you have to localize you have to meet people you know hey you know one thing for I can guarantee it like you you can like say hey that guy in the middle is bullshitting but if you yeah that's so cool but Charlie is real right if you meet Charlie he'll take you to places um that you never experienced like real Japan like it's not going to be like super fancy restaurant but uh hidden GS bar yeah hidden gyms um down day alley um those kind of spot right and those are the places you know from what I've been talking to like everybody want to go not the tourist trap you know not the missan stars that you can go in New York or France or anywhere you know you want to

experience something that you never experienced in other country and that's something that we can we think there's a value to because it's exclusive right it's not it's not something that you can get it anywhere and that's something that we can connect with the blockchain technology um that's what we want to do what made this project excited for Sor is exactly this is a kind of improvement of new way of interaction by sharing values so which Mass marketing cannot do when it comes to more story telling it's impossible just reach to people widely with mass marketing our community will be narrow but we can go deeply to tell the story and with the ownership of with the potential of blockchain it

will make people more proactively our fund to to invite next funds from for some some all Japanese craftsmanship so this the the challenges I face these two years since I met upan am people in s some middle managers they asked me oh when are you going to monetize with NFD what's your return on business are you going to what's your sales Target with NFD no if I do that it's same web to approach with top down One Direction top down approach so it's more about building up bonding and it's not making money from NFD or whatever it's more about finding the people people who we can share value at the end of the day

they will love more about Japanese craftsmanship including Sor then people will drink more Sor brand at the end of the day so that's fine for santu so what I'm proud of this project by the deep understanding from our owner is yes sakazuki is not just for Sor as a setting platform it's a platform to connect people and connect craft manip and we are the bridge with Global Connection and what we provide is not just a bottle it's all about the experience we always focus on so we we will launch some exclusive bottles but what's more important is how to tell the story from directly from the Craftsman

and how to enjoy the experience of when you drink it in our event or inviting to our hidden gyms bar in Japan so those kind kind of sharing value is a totally new way of approach for as a maker and looking ahead Next Generation they are getting more more and more cever I have one eight eight years old boy he's already using chat GPT as his friend he's way much smarter than me when it comes to it so to tell that story without fake we believe this is the right solution yeah and again as Charlie said again sentu um you know even though again it's a global brand we're not here

to sell anything we you know as you can see you know we don't we really think the success is not in one company approach you know um I don't know you guys are in Japan a lot of Japanese company you know telling you about Japanese Market um if you're thinking about working with Japanese company uh working with Japanese company um like they tend to work domestic way they don't really want to work with somebody who don't speak Japanese or they don't understand culture um and you know Japan been thriving on that with the you know Japanese Market being you know pretty big around the world um but you know that's kind of you know Japan population declining they're opening up more and uh you know in web 3 that's what we're saying to other

Japanese company hey let's work together not only within the Japanese company but work with global companies Global project Global developers right I think that is the key you know um I really think Japan has the one of the or the most highest quality product in a lot of section that you know not well known or that's not discovered it's still hidden right and hey you know people around here like Charlie sanor and stuff they can reach those product but they have a difficulties reaching Global Market or understanding about the global technology that's where I think you know like you know this edcon or something can connect with Japanese company company and developers or you know creators or marketers or anything like that right and but one thing that I tell both side is you

know like you know companies coming to Japan they have to understand Japanese culture and you can't just come in and you know shove the US product or something and make Japanese people understand because that's not how we do business right and Japanese people I tell them hey you got to open up you know the you you know the um the approval process or you know the speed of you know decision making it's not global standard at all right and that's something that you know I think both way if we can kind of you know come to agreement to come together and you know both side I think really have to work on that I think there's a bigest opportunity I really think Japan is going to be the key um you know probably the hub for Asia if you do it

right why because again we have the product and content and what is web 3 web 3 there's no product right it's a technology to connect something it's a data right um so that's why I really think there's a good Synergy of connecting together or sharing together working together you know that is the whole thing about the web 3 and you know again you know Japan has that product that everybody's driving for like everybody around the world is telling me hey Japan with the IPS craft everything they they have War aren't they in web 3 Japanese every single company that I talk to they're in web 3 just that nobody knows around the world why is that that's the question right and there's still a humongous gap between the you know companies uh coming in web

3 and Japanese company but hey Japanese people they're not going to talk to you straight up in the face they'll just talk to your on behind the back right so um like you know difficult to penetrate yeah it's difficult to you know I have a difficult time like I got to go drinking with Charlie every day to get you know relationship and stuff too so um you know it's it's it's not easy it's like super old school you know I still get facts you know Japanese government use floppy disc you know um you know Japan is like super old school right so you got to understand and you got to respect the culture behind it and you know com in terms if and I really think

there's a great great opportunity here in this country let me share uh some example of our partnership collaboration our logo of sakazuki was created by famous legendary fashion designer Yamamoto kanai's team because it was a winwing collaboration for them to get connected globally and also we just don't sell our Sanu brand because of our name of sakazuki we also collaborate with sake Porter becausei also wants the more connection globally but Charlie you know when you said collaboration I think they just think you just borrowed their you know thing I I walking together yeah it's it's a it's more of like partnership we

don't call it I don't really want to call it collaboration because like so many projects doing coll you know and it's a onetime drop or something it's more like a long time hey you know you know me and Charlie we're all about hey if there's no long-term relationship we're not going to work with you if we see the same vision we'll work with you you know same as uh Kai Man team you know I'm working with them too um you know we go to the every single Factory to see talk to Craftsmen you know I don't know how many projects really do that and you really talk to these people you connect with each other and if they're sharing the same value now you're forming a team but Bond right and I think there's a value to it you know I don't know maybe it's not logical right

going all the way to the you know every single Factor you're spending a lot of time and spending money and you know building relationship but I think that's the value in um Japan I really think that is the value that you know if we can translate transform that into the technology you know a lot of people going to appreciate that that you know time and effort and you know history and story thing behind all this craft and service and IP even like manga or game you know you know this you know it's not you know more and more with AI coming a lot of thing is going to be easy right everything's going to be easy and that's going to decrease a lot of things you know it's going to be

accessible for a lot of people to buy those stem which is great you know a lot of people going have a better time but also the craft behind it the time and effort you know there's going to be I think you know that's going to elevate those kind of value and people who really appreciate that craft behind it I think that's going to be um key factor into you know building the Next Generation market and you know Dynamics from that too so next right so that's why like you know sakazuki again and you know want to be a platform and then also creating super fans because it's going to connect you

know people craftsm and then also people who appreciate the crafts or culture directly right that's the the web through technology so you know we're creating super fans who are really really engaged and connected um so yeah like you know I think they already explained a lot of stuff but yeah like again with the fans you know it's not quantity of fan it's a quality of fan you know we want to connect with the right people not more people grobal first yeah so again we're not you know again with the it's more about not limiting people right if we share the same value we don't really care where you from right what age group or who you are it's more about sharing

the value and bringing the right people together I think that's going to create the strongest community and again with people you can do whatever you want like you know you can you know create a business among it or you can do something good it's I don't know but hey you know I'm not doing this for money I'm doing this to elate my life and I rather be with somebody who shares the same value you know I'm not here to uh you know I'm not young so I'm not here to convince people to be my friend I just want to be friend with people who I really care about and you know who share the same vision and value you know so I I really like totally agree with what Terry said like as web 2 social media became really huge like we have less authentic true connection each

other um because like what we write on the social media or what we post you know the video or photos what we can see right and you know it's it's hard for you know right now like it's getting harder or more difficult to share the vision or values and like Terry said like make the vision visible you know um that's something that I truly also believe that web3 technology can change uh in the future so next 10 20 years might be like you know different type Forum like I think everybody knows that right everybody sees that that's why like everybody here and then you know taking risk and getting opportunity so yeah um that's why like you know we are open to you know connect with everybody

you know as much as possible and sharing values and you know like I hope you know like we can make something greater uh ever but yeah so here's the sakazuki approach and you want to explain Terry yeah it's really simple we do Global activation we want to connect with people RL um even though we only talk about people uh we have a uh developers um our our team we have a dep team in our team we work with a lot of uh you know web three companies to developer app um to again it's more about focusing on connecting people um you know again we're me we're creating this membership it's a full 100% invite only we're again we're doing a super old school approach if we don't you know we're only inviting

people that we actually meet and talk so it's like super old school maybe it's against a lot of web three projects um and you know as Charlie talk about exclusive spr these are something that you know you can't just go by a sentory uh website it's only for our community and you know um it's like one of one stuffff right and we want to provide the experience we really think drinking is experience because you don't for me I don't really drink um I only drink occasionally when I connect with people and you know you know uh you know having a special drink or special cup it's like a Charlie's magic like if you guys don't drink or if you guys love drink please connect this guy Charlie because he's

going to create the magic that's going to make you feel so great and then the drinks so special the moment expect what until you say stop I will continue my hidden jyes bar tour till late at night yeah tonight if you know um if you guys are coming like you know at K sakazuki reception you will guys have um a great gray it's Invitation Only plus hung out with Char yeah for sure for sure yeah so that that's the connection we want to do you know I think that again you know we're we're using our focus is not the technology we're our focus is something above technology you know on it so I'm pretty sure here there are so many

people who's smart enough to create some uh stuff that will probably be using um so uh our focus is uh something um more about you know people so yeah so we're going to continue doing this and uh hey I also want to add one thing like um he said uh so our approach is really unique um like you know having invitation only you know like people we have to see the face and everything but that's the like first step approach but our aim is O of course you know we want to bring the mask but you know they've been talking about uh this like a lot of stuff but a lot of projects a lot of companies they're really really rushing to make something happen but you know like um as you guys already know like web 3 is too early right now so you know when the internet wasn't there you know you guys

are trying to create like internet so you know so you like we've been focusing on like you know at least like 20 30 years ahead and then you know this is the first approach First Step you know we have to bring right people in that's that's why we're you know doing like invitation only right now yeah like I go to every single country and there lot of people like people who's not in web3 are super skeptical about web 3 space because there's so many people who's scamming Shady you know they that you don't want to be associate with a lot of brand doesn't want to you know connect to web three world you know and you know Eon is doing a super great job of bringing the right people in and that's the same approach that we're doing that's the whole reason we're here

talking and with you know in Aon because I think you know they're doing a great approach of bringing the right people around the world and you know we just have to continue building up from now cool and there's no music behind but these are something that it's a it's a simple like one minute video that we've been doing this activations and events all around the world uh like Paris Miami um Texas La you know um and it it seems fancy and it is fancy too but at the same time we what we focus is like more about storytelling and that's why like we partner with different projects uh that focus on different um Department like

Arts you know or we bring yeah because we do it doing art basle we do it you know Texas is morea with the art blocks when they do the uh activation there um and again you know here we are here there to connect you know and if there's a great Community with we share same vision then we work with them and try to get people together so and you know I know Eon is like really really AC you know educational academic and stuff but you know as you can see you know we're there to have fun too so uh if you guys want to connect and enjoy and have fun you know let's do it I really think this is something that U we're super early we can build on it from here and you know we fly everywhere um so I hope we can uh

do sakazuki uh you know drink together thank you so much for your time thank you thank you so much thank you [Applause]