About
I spent several years in Silicon Valley covering early-stage startups as media — tracking which tools the fastest-growing teams were building on, and why. Then I moved to the other side of the table: B2B SaaS sales, where I learned what separates the tools companies actually renew from the ones they cancel after the first invoice.
Now I'm back in Japan, running a small operation solo. I use the same AI and SaaS stack I spent years observing from the outside — and I measure everything: real API invoices, actual hours saved per week, honest attrition rates. When a tool I recommended stops earning its place in my stack, I update the review.
That's the background behind this site. Most "best tools" lists are written by people who ran a free trial. I've watched these tools get adopted at scale, sold them to enterprise buyers, and now run them in my own production environment. The vantage point is different.
Why these three topics
They're not three separate interests — they're one life. I automate my work with AI tools to reclaim time. I use that time to train at home, because a solo operator in Japan doesn't commute to a gym. And I live here, so I know which Japanese-made products are quietly better than anything shipped from elsewhere. Every review comes from that same place.
- AI Tools — the stack I actually run: coding assistants, automation pipelines, real API costs after the trial ends
- Home Gym — equipment tested over months, not weekends, in a small Japanese apartment
- Japan Finds — knives, stationery, kitchen gear, everyday objects that are genuinely better than Western equivalents — reviewed by someone who uses them daily
How I measure things
Every review includes a measurement strip: days tested, API cost per month, time saved per week, or units compared side-by-side. I don't publish a verdict without the number that produced it.
Affiliate disclosure
This site participates in Amazon Associates and other affiliate programs. When you buy through my links, I earn a small commission — it doesn't cost you anything extra. Full details on the Affiliate Disclosure page.