Work With Us.

We are a small team in Tokyo. For the past ten years, we have been building something we could not have planned. The best things we have done all started from a conversation that nobody expected.

Before we begin.

It usually takes me about thirty minutes to explain what Anchorstar is. I have tried making it shorter. I tried slides. I tried a one-page summary. None of them worked well. So here, I will just try to be honest. I hope something in these words makes sense to you.

My name is Taro Kodama. I started Anchorstar in 2015. Before that, I spent about ten years at Yahoo Japan and five years at Facebook, where I was the first employee of Facebook Japan. My job was to bring global platforms into the Japanese market.

Through those experiences, I learned something I did not expect. The most meaningful things happen when two very different worlds meet — and for a moment, neither side fully understands what is going on. Then, something clicks. A small spark. In Japanese, we say そういうことか — "Ah, so that's how it works."

That spark is what we live for.

What we do.

The simplest way I can explain it: we help create momentum between Japanese organizations and the rest of the world.

Sometimes we help global companies understand Japan. Japan is a very interesting market, but it is very hard to read from the outside. Sometimes we help Japanese companies go beyond their borders, and discover things they did not know they did not know. And recently, we have been building our own programs. For example, Anchorstar English — this is not really an English school. It is a communication training program that helps people learn how to tell their own story, in their own voice.

Our work has taken many different forms, and our partners have come from places we never expected.

We helped connect Gretel, the independent brand studio in Brooklyn, with Kodansha — Japan's largest publisher — for the company's first full rebrand in 112 years. With Colossal Media, the legendary hand-painted mural company in New York, we brought a massive Attack on Titan mural to the streets of New York — one of Japan's most famous manga, painted on an American wall. We supported Kickstarter's entry into Japan, and did the same for Via Transportation. We worked with General Assembly to explore bringing digital upskilling programs to the Japanese market. With ReD Associates, a strategy consultancy based in Copenhagen, we have been working closely on projects where culture and business meet. And most recently, we have been helping Too Good To Go as they enter Japan — a market that cares deeply about food, about waste, and about doing things the right way.

We also run a shared workspace for international teams coming to Tokyo for the first time. We built a small video studio. We write a newsletter. And every year, we make New Year's cards using a different printing technique — because we believe curiosity does not always need a reason.

This probably sounds like a lot of different things. It is. But there is one thread that connects everything.

We always start with the same question: what happens if we bring something unfamiliar into a familiar place?

Why Japan. Why now.

Japan is the fourth-largest economy in the world. It has some of the most sophisticated consumers, some of the most detail-oriented craftspeople, and some of the most — how should I say this — beautifully stubborn corporate cultures on earth. Trust is built slowly here. Relationships are everything. Doing things properly matters more than doing things fast.

From the outside, this can feel like a wall. For us, this is the whole point.

We believe Japan is at an important moment. After many years of looking inward, more and more Japanese organizations are ready to work with the world. Not by giving up what makes them Japanese — but by bringing those strengths to a bigger stage. They need partners who understand both sides. Not translators. Interpreters — of culture, of intention, of what is possible.

That is where we are. It is not always comfortable. But it is always productive.

How we work with partners.

We do not have a fixed menu of services. Every partnership we have been part of has looked different, because every meeting of two different worlds creates a different result.

But I can tell you a few things about how we work.

We work with you, not for you. We are not an agency that you send a brief to and wait. We are in the room with you, thinking together. Sometimes we change the question itself.

We take care of the space in between. Between cultures, things get lost easily — small details, real intentions, enthusiasm. We live in that space. We work hard to make sure that what matters on one side still matters when it reaches the other.

We are small — for now. Our team of about twenty includes Japanese and international members, English speakers and Japanese speakers, former consultants and former editors, strategists and coaches. Everyone talks to everyone. There is no distance between you and the people doing the work.

We think long-term. Some of our most important partnerships started with a single cup of coffee. We are not built for quick results. We are built for relationships that grow over time.

Who this page is for.

Most of our partnerships start with an introduction from someone we both know and trust. Our work is mostly referral-based, and we want to keep it that way.

But we also understand that introductions have to start somewhere. If you are an established company or organization that is seriously thinking about the Japanese market — or a Japanese company that wants to work with the world — and you feel there could be a good fit, we would be happy to talk.

The partners we work best with usually have a few things in common. They know what they are building. They have a real curiosity about Japan. And they understand that good relationships take time. Our past projects have covered branding, market entry, education, food, corporate strategy, and creative production — but what they all shared was this: both sides wanted to do something that neither could have done alone.

If you know someone who knows us, that is always the best starting point. If not, you can reach us through our Contact page.

One last thing.

We named our vision Envision More — keep looking further, keep imagining bigger than what is right in front of you. And we named our mission Momentum for Progress — because every step forward, every time you meet something unfamiliar, that is progress. Even when it does not feel like it yet.

Ten years in, we are still finding new sparks. We would like to find some with you.

Taro Kodama

Founder & CEO, Anchorstar Inc.