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[Founder Interview #6] Hiroshi Yamaguchi (Aoyama-Itchome Chiropractic Clinic) – Part 2

Interview

2026.05.29

The Body is an Executive’s Precious “OS”:
Maximizing Productivity by the Investment of One’s Posture

In this second part of our three-part interview, we dive deep into the profound impact that loneliness and mental stress can have on executives’ physical bodies. We reveal the striking parallels between a professional’s perspective—analyzing patients’ walking style, facial expression, and tone of voice before they even sit in the chair—and an investor’s evaluation of an entrepreneur’s “human OS”. Director Yamaguchi also shares the fundamental, biological truth that posture and facial expression mutually reinforce each other, and he opens up about the exact moment that set him on his lifelong path to chiropractic medicine.
(This interview was conducted in March 2026.)

If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, you can do so here.

◆An Entrepreneur’s Body is Like an “OS”, and Posture is an Investment towards Maximizing Productivity

Sugihara:
I believe this topic is incredibly vital for young entrepreneurs in the IT and tech sectors. Many of these founders belong to a generation that has had a smartphone in their hands for as long as they can remember. Could you break down what happens when you have poor posture in a way that speaks directly to them?

Yamaguchi:
As I emphasized earlier, I want leaders to view correcting their posture not simply as a health routine, but as a direct investment to ensure the success of their current business—an investment to maximize their productivity.

For corporate executives and others who work in startups, your physical body is like your OS (Operating System). No matter if you have amazing software (i.e., your skills and strategies), they’re meaningless if the underlying OS isn’t running smoothly. That OS is your own body.

Sugihara:
Right, if the OS is full of bugs, you won’t be able to realize the framework you’ve envisioned in your head, even if you have great apps.

Yamaguchi:
Precisely. While your health is not all about posture, posture is still a deeply important part. That is the exact message I want to convey.

◆Stress Stiffens the Body: the Mechanism of Mental Fatigue

Sugihara:
Within D-POPS GROUP, we have 25 group companies and have invested in about 30 other portfolios. Their leaders are all working incredibly hard across various fields to solve pressing social issues.

However, various forms of pressure—such as cash flow issues or HR problems—start to hit once people step into an executive role, yet many find themselves in a position where they can’t talk about it with anyone. Call it the loneliness of leadership if you will, but they have to persevere while carrying burdens they can’t share. Does this kind of condition easily contribute to physical ailments?

Yamaguchi:
There is physical fatigue, which comes from holding up or carrying something. But there is also mental and emotional fatigue; the exhaustion caused by constantly having to be overly mindful of others, the pressure of endless problem-solving, or being caught in the middle of conflicting parties. This also can cause muscles to stiffen.

In fact, while physical fatigue can be relieved to some extent by moving and stretching, mental fatigue often causes a greater effect on the physical body.

Take the old Japanese idiom, “Drowning in debt so deeply your neck won’t turn”. Continuously worrying about something or experiencing hardships one after another causes your neck and shoulders to become incredibly stiff, leading to insomnia, migraines, etc. People in ancient times were purposely verbalizing those exact physical symptoms. That phrase describes one of the classic physical symptoms triggered by extreme stress.

When the idiom was coined, the word “stress” didn't even exist, but to put it in modern terms, “stress physically prevents your neck from turning”.

I once treated a CEO from a foreign company who didn’t know much Japanese. Suspecting that his chronic headaches and neck pain were purely stress-induced, I asked him in English, “How do you like your new boss?”, to which he replied, “He’s a pain in the neck.” In Japanese, the equivalent phrase would directly translate to ‘He hurts my head’, but it’s clear that in both Japanese and English, people express the biological truth that stress targets the neck.

◆Cranial Nerves Directly Affect the Neck and Shoulders: the Biological Mechanism of Stress

Sugihara:
So, continuing to internalize all that pressure will impact the body.

Yamaguchi:
Exactly. People who spend an entire day working alongside someone they have to tiptoe around or completely clash with, they’ll often have stiff necks and headaches by evening, even if they weren’t sitting down. That isn’t physical exhaustion; it comes entirely from emotional fatigue.

The reason for this is that most movements below the shoulders are controlled by nerves originating from the spinal cord—a body part with no emotions—so no matter how mentally exhausted or stressed you are, your arms or legs won’t suddenly refuse to move. However, motions in the head, neck, and shoulders are connected to the cranial nerves, which emerge directly from the brain itself, which processes your emotions. Mental stress, anxiety, frustration, and worry travel directly along those nerves, causing the muscles in the neck and shoulders to immediately tense up.

There are 12 pairs of cranial nerves. Among them, the 11th pair—known as the accessory nerves—directly stimulates the major muscles responsible for moving the neck and shoulders, such as the sternocleidomastoid muscle. When this specific nerve is compromised by emotional stress, your neck won’t turn and your shoulders become as hard as rocks.

Also, nerves come out of either the left or the right sides of the body. If a right-handed person experiences tension exclusively on their left neck and shoulder, there’s a chance that it’s not being caused by a behavioral habit like how they hold their smartphone, but rather, it might be resulting from a cranial nerve.

◆The Path from Young Train Enthusiast to Chiropractor

Sugihara:
Spoken by a true professional, ha ha.
By the way, had you been aiming for this specific career path since your student days?

Yamaguchi:
No, not at all, ha ha! Back in my student days, I was completely obsessed with steam locomotives. I spent all my time traveling across Japan, from the wilderness of Hokkaido down to the southern tips of Kyushu, just to take photos of trains. I was a total fan of train photography.

But since I had absolutely no money, I traveled on an incredibly grueling budget and schedule. I’d catch a train at midnight, scramble to make a transfer around 3:00 AM, and finally arrive at my destination around 6:00 AM. Combined with the return trip home, it was quite rough on my body. My family home was in Shinjuku, so I would frequently drop by the Kinokuniya bookstore to stand in the aisles, using books about stretching as references.

Even after graduating from university, that habit of visiting Kinokuniya stuck with me. One day, while wandering through the orthopedics section, I found a book written by a chiropractor titled Improper Backbone Shape Triggers These Illnesses. When I picked up that book, I had no idea what was inside, but it became the very reason why I entered the chiropractic world.

The book’s contents were absolutely fascinating to me. Until that moment, I had always assumed physical pain was exclusively caused by overdoing things or bumping into something. But this book claimed that poor posture alone could cause problems for all sorts of body parts. I found it so intriguing that I immediately called the phone number printed in the book, and they pointed me toward an institution where I could actually study chiropractic medicine.

◆Quitting a Job, Working Part-Time Every Night, and Studying until Morning

Yamaguchi:
I agonized over the decision for a few months, but I finally made up my mind, quit my corporate job, and worked part-time while studying. At the time, I worked at Potomac, a traditional-style coffee shop inside the Akasaka Prince Hotel. My shifts ran from 4:00 PM until 12:30 AM. Afterward, I’d get a ride back to my home in Waseda and keep studying until daybreak.

However, that study schedule didn’t bother me in the slightest. Perhaps because my sympathetic nerves were stimulated from my part-time job, I was able to stay very focused deep into the night. Just like when I was studying for university entrance exams, my brain was operating at full power. Every single day, I would completely lose myself in anatomy textbooks until dawn. Just as it was becoming light outside and people were starting to walk around, I’d fall asleep. Then, I’d wake up in the afternoon, and head back to work again.

Looking back, I sometimes wonder if my father’s experience as a combat medic treating wounded soldiers in the war got passed down to me through DNA or something. He wasn’t a military surgeon, but as a combat medic, he still treated countless individuals under extreme pressure. I am not a medical doctor either, but the fact that I have dedicated my life to preserving people’s health makes me feel connected to him somehow.

Sugihara:
How many years ago did you first become independent?

Yamaguchi:
My first time trying to go independent was about 40 years ago. I was naive, so I simply registered my home address as a chiropractic research institute and mailed advertisements to dozens of companies listed in the quarterly business journal. I remember pouring a drink and eagerly waiting by the phone to see how many responses I’d get…but of course, there weren’t any, ha ha. There were no personal computers back then, so I had simply typed a plain text document on a word processor. No diagrams, and no one whom I could use as a reference. It was just a letter stating, “I wish to help meet the health needs of your company’s employees.”

However, when I shared what I was doing with my mentors and close friends from university, three of them actually went out of their way to negotiate with their respective employers. They managed to get permission for me to utilize their companies’ medical rooms and employee lounges once a week or twice a month. Instead of having to force my way in, I was able to build up my practice through those companies officially.

Later on, I was contacted by a famous practitioner in Shibuya who recruited me into one of Japan’s top-tier chiropractic clinics. Their clients were prominent figures from various fields, including three former Prime Ministers, professional athletes, executive members of major businesses, major real estate companies, and the aviation industry, well-known celebrities, etc.

Sugihara:
And you call that your ‘training period’? Ha ha…

Yamaguchi:
Yes, that really was my training period before I went independent.

At that clinic, some of the patients wouldn’t pay any attention to me, but when the director entered, they would smile happily and start a conversation. When I saw that, it ignited a fighting spirit inside me. After all, it was perfectly natural that none of them would be particularly interested in talking with a young kid, since they were coming to see the director, who they felt would keep their bodies in good health. At some point, I had the thought that I would become like him someday.

◆A Professional’s Perspective: Analyzing a Person through Walking Style, Facial Expression, and Tone of Voice

Sugihara:
In your line of work, dialogue must be a critical component of administering an effective treatment, right?

Yamaguchi:
It is absolutely necessary. Observing the way a patient walks through the door, their responsiveness when speaking, or any subtle deviations from their usual baseline is part of the treatment, not just the physical adjustment.

Keep in mind that patients who are bordering on clinical depression, for example, present themselves with a rounded spine and a downward gaze the moment they enter. Even the person’s response to a greeting can signal that something is not right. I approach every treatment by holistically evaluating a person’s walk, sitting posture, facial expression, and voice.

Sugihara:
I resonate with that deeply. Back when I worked in business development, and even now when I interview entrepreneurs as an investor, it is exactly the same.

Naturally, I ask structural questions about their business model, market domain, and technical solutions. However, what I am truly analyzing is the expression on their face when they walk into the room, the level of confidence radiating from their answers, and the way their eyes light up when you hit them with a poignant, spot-on question. My primary goal is to thoroughly evaluate the individual’s underlying OS. It’s the same sort of evaluation.

Yamaguchi:
I actually conducted a survey among students at Waseda University regarding their impressions of individuals with rounded backs. The overwhelming responses were descriptions like “lacks confidence”, “frail”, or “looks like life isn’t going well”. Furthermore, a slouched posture is a primary reason people look prematurely aged.

Conversely, an upright, elongated spine not only projects youthfulness but physically lifts the muscles that control facial expression and optimizes blood flow to the brain. When posture collapses, cerebral blood flow stagnates, causing brain activity to decelerate. Correcting your alignment is truly a strategic investment that simultaneously optimizes both your internal state and your external presence.

Sugihara:
Absolutely, a slouch immediately projects a lack of confidence. I pay close attention to facial micro-expressions during interviews as well. Occasionally, someone will give off a distinct negative vibe or energy. No matter how eloquently they speak, it makes me pause and reconsider forming a deep partnership with them.

Alternatively, when reconnecting with an entrepreneur after a while, even if they say, “I’m doing great,” I will cross-reference that statement against their posture, eye strength, and overall expression. If I sense an underlying misalignment, I gently prompt them to tell me if anything is wrong, and adjust how I interact with them if necessary.

Yamaguchi:
Facial expressions dictate your physical state, and your physical state dictates your facial expressions. This goes both ways. For example, when a patient’s stomach lining is inflamed, the distress often manifests as acute tension in the upper back. While I cannot physically massage someone’s internal organs, relieving the tension in the back muscles can indirectly soothe the stomach. The same principle applies to depression. By physically unburdening and loosening the spine, I can often alleviate some of the emotional weight clouding the mind. The body and the mind are profoundly and inextricably linked.

~To be continued in Part 3~

Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP’s advisor Genta Sugihara.

Aoyama-Itchome Chiropractic Clinic

Director: Hiroshi Yamaguchi
Address: 740 Win Aoyama, 2-2-15 Minamiaoyama, Minato, Tokyo
Website: https://aoyama1.jp/

Next, in the third part of the interview, we discuss:

・The move to Aoyama-Itchome and the spirit of altruism that led to appearing on TV
・Essential reasons why business leaders must be healthy, according to Soichiro Honda
・Similarities with a Venture Ecosystem
・And other topics
Be sure to check it out here:
https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/column/aoyama1-yamaguchi-part3/

[Entrepreneur Interview #18] Fuminori Akamatsu (opzt) – Part 1

Building Trust with Major Corporations and Creating a Staffing Business that Develops Human Resources In this first installment of a two-part interview, we asked Fuminori Akamatsu, opzt, Inc.’s founder and CEO, about their business operations, how they build trust with major corporations, their expansion into the technology sector, human resource development, and their approach to the generative AI era. (This interview was conducted in August 2026.) ◆Introducing a Nationwide Business with 5 Locations, Centered on HR and Technology Sugihara: Currently, 26 group companies belong to D-POPS GROUP. Today, we are interviewing Mr. Fuminori Akamatsu, president of opzt, Inc., which joined the group in 2018. Thank you for your time! First of all, although it is posted on your website (available in Japanese only), could you give us an overview of your business in your own words? Akamatsu: Our core operations are centered around two main pillars: our HR business, which includes staffing, recruitment, and outsourcing; and our tech business, which handles the IT technology sector. Since our founding, we have provided HR services primarily for the telecommunications industry, focusing on administrative roles, call centers, and sales and promotional support. We currently operate out of five locations—Osaka, Tokyo, Nagoya, Shikoku, and Fukuoka—with many team members working throughout Japan. Recently, we have been focusing not only on conventional HR services but also on the IT technology sector, rolling out highly specialized HR services for roles such as AI specialists, data scientists, and infrastructure engineers. Currently, we mainly provide System Engineering Services (SES) and operate on an outsourcing and contracting basis, but in the future, we hope to develop and release our own in-house products. Sugihara: By the way, could you tell us the origin of your company name? Akamatsu: It originally came from the desire for our company to be our clients’ first choice. However, the word “choice” itself implies picking from a variety of options, whereas “opt” carries the nuance of proactively selecting something, so we embedded our desire to become that kind of company into the name. Since there was already a famous company called Opt, we wanted to avoid using the same spelling. We added ‘z’, the last letter of the alphabet, to make a new word which we gave the meaning of “the ultimate, best company”. Sugihara: So you drew inspiration from English and coined a new word to make your company’s name. About how many employees do you have in terms of the scale of your staffing? Akamatsu: Including both our headquarters staff as well as all of our dispatch employees, there are currently about 550 people registered with our company. ◆Building Trust from Year Two: Forging Bonds with NTT Sugihara: You have a very large pool of talent. How do you go about connecting with the clients where you dispatch your employees? I’ve heard before that you have many clients related to NTT. How did you manage to get your company involved with such a massive corporation? Akamatsu: A major factor is that when I was working as a corporate employee, I was given a lot of responsibility within NTT Group. Even though I was really just a young kid at the time, various key figures took me under their wing, allowing me to build not only business relationships but also deep interpersonal trust. Later, when I decided to start my own business, an NTT executive who had been a great mentor to me said, “If you’re going independent, I want to support you,” and offered to help me as an advisor. While that’s not the only reason, when I launched my business, former colleagues and other excellent individuals within NTT helped me out in various capacities. Because many of these individuals had long-standing trust, networks, and lots of personal connections with major companies like NTT, leveraging those connections to establish business deals became our starting point. And then, truly miraculously, we were able to sign a contract with NTT at the very early stage of our second year in business. Given that we didn’t have a Teikoku Databank rating at the time and weren’t yet the kind of company that they would typically even look at, I think our dealing with NTT was quite the exception. Sugihara: I believe your clients include other major corporations besides NTT. Many startups struggle to establish working relationships, so how did you and your management team pave the way for that? Akamatsu: We were truly fortunate to do business with a massive company like NTT in our second year, as it allowed us to learn through trial and error the difficulties of working with large corporations (things like information management, compliance, and talent quality). Because we were able to build a certain level of trust with NTT and establish an organizational framework for engaging with major companies, we were able to apply that to other large corporations, which helped us to get up and running relatively quickly. As has been the case for a while, rather than sales strategies that simply win contracts, we value strategies that focus on how long we can sustain those contracts. I believe our ongoing transactions with major companies like NTT and Docomo are the result of gradually building things up, one step at a time. Sugihara: What do you specifically pay attention to in order to maintain business with major corporations, or what do you think is the reason you enjoy such favor with your mentors? Akamatsu: I truly believe it’s the accumulation of consistently keeping small promises. It’s about trust—ensuring that the quality of our talent, compliance, and information management are solid, as I mentioned earlier. When a problem occurs on-site, we don’t hide it; we report it immediately and communicate how we will improve as a company. The larger the company, the more they scrutinize these aspects. So, we immediately and thoroughly address each issue. Our employees also strictly adhere to this principle, and I think the accumulation of all these efforts is what makes us stand out. We started from nothing, and while our initial entry point may have been personal connections, I don’t believe business relationships last this long purely on personal ties. It’s all about the cumulative effort. ◆From Routine Tasks to Highly Specialized Fields: Differentiating Their Business in the Era of AI Sugihara: I have the impression that your services have pivoted over these past 13 years. In particular, you recently started a tech-related staffing business. How are you differentiating yourselves in that area? Akamatsu: We didn’t originally set out with a conscious decision to pivot. Rather, as we kept our eyes on the HR market, we realized that routine and standardized tasks would inevitably become automated by AI. At the same time, we saw market movement showing an increased demand for talent capable of utilizing AI, such as data scientists and professionals in the AI and data fields. Our company realized about three or four years ago that if we just continued our traditional HR services, we would definitely be weeded out, so we knew we had to focus on high-growth sectors. However, we felt there was no point in doing the same thing as conventional SES companies. Therefore, we are specifically focusing on areas that directly tie into a company’s competitiveness moving forward, such as AI and data engineers, data scientists, and talent within the infrastructure field who can support data centers. Additionally, rather than only hiring individuals who already possess high skills, we are running a parallel initiative where we hire high-potential individuals with no prior experience, educate them, and develop them into specialized professionals while they gain practical experience. I believe combining the know-how we’ve cultivated in the staffing industry with specialized expertise in the technology sector is our unique point of differentiation that other companies don’t have. Sugihara: Your focus on the data center field, as you just mentioned, is definitely the right move. I’ve seen news from the US where, despite an increase in IT engineer layoffs, the demand for electricians is surging, to the point where even certified public accountants are quitting to become electricians or plumbers. I simply thought it was about having a tangible trade, but it turns out these jobs are related to data center construction. I hear there is a severe labor shortage, and while Japanese manufacturers are profiting from semiconductors and servers, there's also an ultimate demand for the people who actually install them. Akamatsu: That’s exactly right. In Osaka, in particular, data centers are rapidly increasing as backups for ones running in Tokyo. They are currently being built at a rapid pace with the idea that even if Tokyo falls, data can be protected in Osaka. Because these facilities require 24-hour monitoring and are often located in remote areas, telecommunications carriers are constantly struggling with labor shortages. We decided we wanted to tackle this head-on and are putting significant effort into it. I may use AI quite a bit myself, but people really are starting to use AI more and more. ◆Hiring Strategies and Educational Programs to Become Clients’ First Choice Sugihara: Now, I’d like to ask about acquiring the talent you actually dispatch to the clients receiving these services. I’ve heard of companies even within our own group that are struggling with recruitment. With costs rising and a shrinking talent pool to begin with, how is opzt tackling this? Akamatsu: Not to say it’s going perfectly well for us either, but we make a point not to rely on just one recruitment method. Our defining characteristic is that we use a mix of multiple recruitment channels—job boards, recruitment agencies, referrals, social media, and hiring events—depending on the job role and region. More important than that is becoming a company that applicants actively choose. Today’s job seekers look closely not only at the salary and job description, but also at what kind of experiences they will gain after joining, how it will lead to their future career, and how the company will treat them. Because of this, we make sure not to just say the good things, but to honestly explain everything: the job content, workplace environment, and expected roles. We place more emphasis on ensuring that the people who join us can thrive and work with us for a long time, rather than just focusing on the sheer number of hires. Sugihara: That’s wonderful. You mentioned that when people join opzt, you don’t necessarily just hire those who already possess high skills, but you also have programs to educate your employees. Could you elaborate on that? Can someone with no background in technology really become the kind of talent dispatched to that sector? Akamatsu: As part of our fundamental training, in addition to basic education on business etiquette, information security, and compliance, we conduct training tailored to each assignment. Especially in the tech sector, we don’t just have them learn online; we prioritize getting them to a point where they can use what they’ve learned in actual practice. We do this by creating assignments for them to present, supporting their acquisition of certifications, and pairing this with follow-up support from senior engineers. Furthermore, we believe that the ability to report, communicate, ask for help, and to understand a client’s intent is just as crucial as technical skill. So, we adjust our programs for each individual to cover these areas as well. Our goal is to develop talent that makes clients say, “I want to request this person for the job again.” ◆The Era of AI Agents: Stormy Seas or Smooth Sailing? Sugihara: Now, for this kind of staffing business—especially within the tech talent sector you’re focusing on—generative AI, and more recently, agentic AI, is a point of concern. Do you view this trend as a tough situation, or an opportunity? What countermeasures or approaches are you taking? Akamatsu: I think it’s definitely a storm and a critical situation, but more than that, I consider it a massive opportunity. As I mentioned earlier, standardized and routine tasks are increasingly being replaced by AI, and I can already feel that replacement happening in reality. However, if we just continue with the same kind of HR services we’ve offered up to now, I believe our company will undoubtedly disappear. On the other hand, I can feel a steady, upward trend in the demand for talent who can utilize data, talent who can implement AI into businesses, and talent with the level of communication and interpersonal skills that AI cannot replace. In that sense, if opzt itself can change and ride this wave, I believe we could be catching a very massive wave indeed. At our company, we are trying to develop talent capable of using AI even in non-engineering roles like administration, management, and recruitment, beyond just AI specialists and data scientists. By educating people to be on the side that uses AI rather than being used by it, I hope to create a differentiation strategy not found elsewhere. ◆Three New Initiatives for Further Growth Sugihara: Thank you. Are there any specific new initiatives you are currently working on for the further growth of your business? Akamatsu: There are three main things. First, as we discussed earlier, we are prioritizing the growth of our AI and data business, as well as the infrastructure sector surrounding data centers. Second, instead of dispatching individuals one by one, we are steadily increasing contracts with higher added value through outsourcing, where we provide support as a team. Third, even within our existing HR services, we are utilizing AI to enhance productivity in tasks such as recruitment, interviews, and staff follow-ups. Sugihara: Are there clients who need an entire team to be dispatched? Akamatsu: There actually are. Right now, engineers with those specific skills are either no longer available, or their rates have become expensive. So, we are seeing an increase in cases where we form and dispatch a team combining experienced professionals with the young talent we are training. As they grow, we add the next wave of new staff to the team, creating a cycle of continuous on-site training. Sugihara: I see, the younger members gain experience working alongside their mentors on the same job and in the same field with the same client, building their skills to eventually become leaders themselves. Akamatsu: Right. Our clients are also unable to train such talent themselves, so there is a strong demand to outsource the whole process to us. While this system can make things difficult sometimes, it allows our company to bring in inexperienced individuals, so we have recently been proposing to send whole teams to client companies quite often. Sugihara: Indeed, while sending someone individually helps that specific person build skills and experience, it raises the question of whether know-how is accumulating within the company itself. Usually, that person would have to come back and act as an instructor for internal training. But that training time doesn’t translate to revenue right away. Instead of making them just play the role of a teacher, they are essentially providing on-the-job training for younger members while both are getting paid by the client, and they themselves learn something through that, as well. Akamatsu: Exactly. So we are rapidly expanding this method right now. Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP’s advisor Genta Sugihara. opzt, Inc. Company President and CEO: Fuminori Akamatsu Address: 5F Nomura Real Estate Building, 4-2-12 Honmachi, Chuo Ward, Osaka Established: September 10, 2013 Website: https://opzt.net/ In the second part of the interview, we discuss: ・President Akamatsu’s experience as a musician and how he applies it to business management ・The catalyst for founding opzt, its 13-year trajectory, and organization building ・“SELEBRO”, the entertainment business he launched after a serious illness ・The story of joining D-POPS GROUP and his resonance with realizing a Venture Ecosystem ・opzt’s 5-year vision and a message for the readers ・And other topics

Group Companies
Interview

2026.08.31

[Founder Interview #7] Naoto Tomita (Adora Inc.) – Part 3

The Three Values of Sunny, System, Solid: Building a Company to Solve Societal Issues with a Global Team In Part 3, the final installment of this three-part interview series, we take a close look at the people and culture of Adora Inc. Why did the development team, led by the CTO, Mr. Saurabh—whom President Tomita met in India—choose to join an unknown startup? We also cover the bonds President Tomita formed with the friends he met during his study abroad in Estonia, and their three corporate values of “Sunny, System, and Solid.” (Note: This interview was conducted in June 2026.) ◆Office in Kinshicho: A Choice Driven by Human Connection Sugihara: We are conducting this interview in a room in an apartment building in Kinshicho. It feels very cozy, complete with flowers. I understand you moved here this spring, but why did you choose this location? Tomita: There are a few reasons. Naturally, accessibility for all team members played a role. But on a personal level, I felt Kinshicho was a better fit than a high-profile area. Kinshicho is thriving enough to have five Starbucks locations, yet it maintains a remarkably down-to-earth atmosphere. Personally, I enjoy drinking alcohol together with the team—in moderation, of course—to deepen our bonds and boost our collective drive to push forward. So Kinshicho’s nearby izakaya pubs and convenient access made it the ideal spot. ◆Building a Team in Their Mid-Twenties Who Will Change the Future Sugihara: Your team has gradually expanded over the past six months. Could you share your current team structure, to the extent that you can disclose? Tomita: We remain a small company with around ten regular employees, and our core members are rather engineering-centered, but we’ve also welcomed new employees to handle HR, business development, UX, and public policy. Back-office members have also joined, and our functional roles are taking shape. It’s a young team, with an average age of around 26 to 27. We also have a lot of university student interns, so including them makes the overall average even younger. Sugihara: It’s really a team built to change the future. Starting with co-founder and CTO Saurabh, with whom I’ve had the chance to get a drink together, your development team consists of Indian engineers. Is their technical capability seriously on another level? And why did they choose to join a Japanese startup? Tomita: Individual capabilities matter far more than nationality, of course, but all our team members from India possess outstanding technical skills, paired with exceptional commitment and passion. They have a strong sense of ownership and a drive to build great products. Sugihara: They must be wonderful individuals to be not only highly skilled, but also diligent and passionate as well. Tomita: Indeed. I believe Saurabh’s character is the reason for that. Because he is a great person, great people naturally gather around him. Sugihara: Why did Saurabh and the Indian engineering team join Adora back when it was an unknown startup, long before your partnership with au? Tomita: Saurabh and I met at a cafe in India. Back in my student days, I worked a part-time job serving coffee and tea at that shop, and he was a regular customer. Our relationship started purely as friends. Through that connection, Saurabh brought together his colleagues and younger students from his university. Sugihara: So, it all started after you met at a cafe in India! Was it easy for Saurabh to join the company? Tomita: Initially, he kept his other job, but he was committed full-time to our company in the very early stages. Because he trusted me enough to bet on us, I constantly feel the responsibility to work hard and live up to that trust. He is someone who deeply values believing in people. ◆Making Udon Together in a College Dorm in Estonia Sugihara: Among your team members across various roles, some are friends you met during your time studying abroad in Estonia. What are they like? Tomita: Indeed, I met both our current UI/UX head and our HR head back in Estonia! At our dorm, we even made udon together while talking about how much we missed Japan, ha ha. Not only with them, but with all of the people in our company, there are countless moments when I genuinely enjoy working together and that I want to do my best for them, and I personally treasure that feeling. There are many things I cannot do alone, so I am deeply grateful that we complement each other as a team. I want to continue building on the foundation of what can only be accomplished together as a collective unit. ◆Formulating Three Core Values: “Sunny, System, and Solid” Sugihara: I understand that together with those teammates, you recently formulated your mission and values. Could you introduce them to us today? Tomita: Not too long ago, we began trying out three values as our guiding slogans, and then officially put them into practice starting this fiscal year. All three begin with the letter “S” to keep them memorable: “Sunny, System, and Solid”. “Sunny” means acting in a way that makes others feel that working with us is enjoyable and makes them want to support our journey. “System” is inspired by Toyota’s philosophy: “Don’t blame people; improve the system, instead”. When an issue arises, if the people involved start to blame each other, the individuals who are accused of fault will feel rejected. But when you make the mechanism—rather than the person—the target of discussion, it opens the door to constructive dialogue on how to improve. Because our business carries societal responsibility, we need an environment where mistakes can be identified openly while maintaining psychological safety. “Solid” means doing things right and executing steadily to completion. Being a startup is no excuse for shortcuts. Partnering with established corporations and local governments means that delivering on our promises is the most vital source of our reputation. Sugihara: That is excellent. For a security service partnering with established corporations, adopting “Solid” as a core value makes complete sense. ◆Intentionally Postponing the Corporate Website Sugihara: By the way, while Adora has a dedicated service website for Kodomamo, you don’t have a standard corporate website yet. Given the importance of having a place to show off your philosophy and company culture, was postponing it an intentional choice? Tomita: Since our early days, our mindset was that if we had the time to do something like build a corporate website, we should use that time to better please our app users instead. We operated with the mindset of fixing bugs before bothering to make a website. However, moving forward, we recognize the need for a corporate site that serves as a welcoming front door to recruit new teammates and scale our operations. While we might have seemed like a mysterious entity until now, ha ha, we plan to publish a website soon. (Note: Adora’s corporate website is now live at https://corporate.kodomamo.com/en) Sugihara: So, you were prioritizing product development above all else. There are definitely some startups with flashy corporate sites that lack underlying substance, ha ha, so I agree that focusing on delivering real value was entirely the right decision. ◆Goals for 2026–2027 Sugihara: What are your primary goals and major milestones for this year heading into next year? Tomita: Domestically, we want to further strengthen our sales through mobile carrier retail shops. Having reached approximately 300,000 users, we aim to grow that number to 500,000 and beyond. Internationally, we plan to determine our product-market fit in Taiwan to establish a repeatable success playbook, and then use it to drive expansion into countries such as Indonesia and the UK. We want the numbers for our domestic and international results to raise expectations both inside and outside the company. Furthermore, we aim to engage a broader network of stakeholders. Including collaborations with government ministries, our goal for this year is to demonstrate expansion that creates large-scale social implementation and impact. At the same time, establishing our culture and executing our values in a “Solid” manner remains crucial. We plan to expand our workforce thoughtfully while building a strong, healthy organization. ◆Realizing a Venture Ecosystem Sugihara: Finally, D-POPS GROUP’s aim is to realize a “Venture Ecosystem”. What aspects of that vision resonate with you? Tomita: I resonate with it strongly in all areas. No single individual or company can solve complex social issues or generate massive social impact alone. Just as a company cannot be built by one person, addressing societal challenges requires collaboration from various stakeholders beyond individual corporate boundaries. It takes more than just the startup itself—they need investors to back their vision, major corporations to partner with them to bring that vision to society, governments to support causes that benefit the public, and universities to collaborate with them on joint research. I believe we can only solve significant societal challenges by involving all of these stakeholders together. From our founding, Adora Inc. initiated joint development with the Aichi Prefectural Police and partnered with universities, making sure that our company was working not only for ourselves but for our surroundings, as well. Moving forward, we aim to build the ecosystem necessary for safe communication environments for children and families, protecting people from crime. I think our efforts will serve as a good example within the broader Venture Ecosystem. Sugihara: D-POPS GROUP aims to build a platform where diverse partners build an ecosystem together that generates shared value. Tomita: Exactly. It’s the principle that creating value for the ecosystem ultimately returns benefits to everyone involved. I wholeheartedly agree with that idea. ◆A Message to Readers Sugihara: Finally, do you have a message for our readers? Tomita: We’re strongly committed to deeply impacting society. We would be delighted to work together with anyone who shares that vision, whether they be a team member, a shareholder, or whatever relationship we have. D-POPS GROUP is a wonderful shareholder, and I highly recommend them, ha ha! And Kinshicho is a fantastic town, so please come visit us! Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP’s advisor Genta Sugihara. Adora Inc. Company President and CEO: Naoto Tomita Address: Setagaya Ward, Tokyo Established: July 2023 Kodomamo App Website: https://www.adora-app.com/ Please check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this interview if you have not already!

Interview

2026.07.27

[Founder Interview #7] Naoto Tomita (Adora Inc.) – Part 2

Educational Settings, Global Expansion, and New Services: The Full Picture of Social Implementation Envisioned by Kodomamo In Part 2, the second installment of our three-part interview series, we explore how Kodomamo expanded beyond au into partnerships with the other two major Japanese mobile carriers, NTT Docomo and SoftBank. We also cover the current status of its global expansion into South Korea and Taiwan, initiatives for schools via “Kodomamo for School,” and its entry into a new area: fraud prevention for adults. (Note: This interview was conducted in June 2026.) ◆Post-Integration Performance and Reception Sugihara: How has the reception for Kodomamo been since its integration into au’s service plan? Could you share with us any details regarding signup rates and feedback from the field, to the extent that you can disclose? Tomita: Thanks to the in-store guidance provided at retail locations, the percentage of users actively starting to use Kodomamo has been steadily rising. Our metrics also show that users who try it are continuing to stick with it. We genuinely feel it is being received as a high-quality, valuable service. There is still plenty of room for improvement. We are continuously developing new features and refinements to make it even easier for sales staff at various locations to offer it, and in the future, we also plan to ask for further feedback from those on-site personnel. While more comprehensive feedback from end users and sales personnel will come in over time, the numbers are already showing very positive trends. Specifically, among subscribers to the U12 Value Plan, the proportion of users who register for Kodomamo has been gradually increasing when compared to immediately after the app was released. Sugihara: Do you think it’s because on-site sales staff have become more accustomed to explaining it, and some are now using it personally, making it easier for them to recommend? Tomita: I believe that plays a part. On our end, we’ve also made ongoing improvements, however modest. Early on, when users signed up at mobile phone stores, some mistakenly registered for a standard paid subscription through the app store, even though it was already built into their mobile plan, so they should have been able to use it for free. Accordingly, we updated our onboarding process to ask where users came from, creating a dedicated setup flow specifically for au customers to keep things clear and streamlined. As a result of these improvements, those issues have decreased significantly. We’ve really been improving iteratively as we run. Sugihara: Indeed, operational refinements are just as crucial as the level of completion when it comes to expanding an app’s user base. ◆Expanding Collaborations with All Three Major Mobile Carriers Sugihara: It’s already impressive enough that your app is getting featured at au shops, but we understand that referrals and distribution are now expanding across retail shop networks for NTT Docomo and SoftBank as well. How is the collaboration going with those two companies? Tomita: Because we operate with the mindset of solving a major social issue, partnering with multiple telecom carriers was something we aimed for from the very beginning. Our retail distribution first started in Docomo Shops, followed by official integration into au’s rate plan, and now SoftBank offers it at all of their stores as well. Of course, getting that all set into place required extensive operational adjustments, and the on-site sales teams worked exceptionally hard. Now, our user numbers are growing steadily, for which we are truly grateful. Sugihara: The referral numbers from SoftBank distributors have been surging rapidly, haven’t they? Tomita: They’re growing so much. Thanks to the hard work of everyone at SoftBank C&S and the dedication of the agency partners, momentum has really picked up since the start of this year. Sugihara: Besides the operational issues you experienced with au, did you encounter any challenges unique to NTT Docomo or SoftBank? Tomita: We were particularly mindful of ensuring our app wouldn’t conflict with services each carrier already offered. For example, SoftBank has its own proprietary security services, so we ran tests to ensure our app’s functions wouldn’t directly compete with or negatively impact their features. Rather than demanding for them to sell our product, we approach partnerships through fine-tuned adjustments that benefit both sides. If bugs or issues pop up on the ground, busy store staff lose the motivation to recommend the app. To prevent that, we always maintain a support system ready to respond immediately whenever anything arises. ◆Current Status of Global Expansion into South Korea and Taiwan Sugihara: Last year, you also launched the international expansion of Kodomamo. Which countries have you entered and how are things progressing? Tomita: We’ve expanded into South Korea and Taiwan. While this brought its share of challenges, the great thing about mobile apps is that you can translate the product, run ads, and conduct small-scale testing with a budget of around 500,000 to 1 million yen. In South Korea, testing revealed a clear, strong demand. The dangerous chat detection feature resonated even more than expected. Initially, we assumed location tracking would be the main selling point, but it turned out that right from the start, detecting dangerous chats was the top motivation for customers. During user interviews, Korean parents worried about things like whether their children were getting involved with illegal drugs. We rarely hear concerns like that in Japan, so that’s definitely one difference between regions. However, KakaoTalk is the dominant messaging app in South Korea rather than LINE, and we haven’t fully implemented complete compatibility for KakaoTalk yet. Since we have a strong feeling that doing so will drive growth, we plan to upgrade that before we start to really advertise our services there. In Taiwan, where LINE is widely used, we are currently acquiring users at a very low cost. Market demand is high, with some parents relying on the app even more actively than in Japan. We intend to put even more effort there going forward. Following Taiwan, we want to expand into other Asian nations like Thailand. Once we support WhatsApp, expansion into various other countries—including Indonesia and the UK—will also be within reach. Sugihara: That’s quite aggressive. You’ve really had a global perspective right from the founding of the company. Tomita: I believe this business addresses a universal need felt worldwide. That has been our target from day one. Naturally, a lot of people here want to support Japanese businesses working hard on the global stage, so we aim to become one of those companies. ◆“Kodomamo for School”: Working with Municipalities and Schools Sugihara: “Kodomamo for School” is your intriguing initiative to partner with local governments nationwide for school environments. I guess it must take a lot more time to see results from this, but could you briefly explain it to us? Tomita: Kodomamo for School is a service designed to be installed on educational tablets used in schools. While the standard Kodomamo is installed on smartphones used by parents and children, the “for School” version promotes the safe and effective utilization of students’ tablets. Its features include issuing alerts upon detecting explicit selfies or grooming behavior (such as exchanging nude photos), as well as website monitoring capabilities. While core functionality remains largely similar to the consumer version, the key difference is that the primary stakeholders are local municipalities and boards of education. Sugihara: Between this and your successful negotiation and partnership with the three major mobile carriers, your corporate credibility has grown significantly. Tomita: We are deeply grateful for that. ◆The Next Challenge: Developing Fraud Prevention Services for Adults Sugihara: Moving on, could you share any details about new services or features currently in development following Kodomamo? Tomita: Right now, we are developing a fraud prevention service for the general public aimed at combating scams on social media. Across Japan and globally, social media and chat-based scams—especially investment and romance scams—have become a severe social problem, with hundreds of millions of yen lost daily. While phone scams are well known, chat-based fraud is equally critical. Our core advantage lies in our ability to detect fraudulent activity within social media environments. While Kodomamo targets children, we are currently hard at work developing a service designed to detect fraud and protect adults. We are pushing to release it as quickly as possible. On the other hand, people who fall victim to scams rarely think to install protection apps on their own, making stakeholder collaboration even more crucial here than with children’s services. We are currently moving forward while gathering insights and feedback from various partners. Sugihara: Considering a service like this, being capable of partnering and collaborating with established companies becomes increasingly essential. Tomita: Absolutely. Although our engineering team is small, bringing unique features to market through social implementation alongside large corporations and local governments is indispensable for solving major societal challenges. ~To be concluded in Part 3~ Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP’s advisor Genta Sugihara. Adora Inc. Company President and CEO: Naoto Tomita Address: Setagaya Ward, Tokyo Established: July 2023 Corporate Website: https://corporate.kodomamo.com/en Finally, in the third part of the interview, we discuss: ・Building a team in their mid-twenties who will change the future ・Forming their three values of “Sunny”, “System”, and “Solid” ・Realizing a Venture Ecosystem ・And other topics Be sure to check it out here: https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/column/adora-part3/ In case you missed it, you can catch up on Part 1 of this interview here: https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/column/adora-part1/

Interview

2026.07.23

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