Akari Inc. (燈), born out of the University of Tokyo’s Matsuo Laboratory, aims to solve social challenges and drive structural transformation using cutting-edge technology. Founded in 2021, the company conducts in-house research and development of Japan’s most advanced AI, and handles consulting, bespoke development of AI-powered systems, and the sale of its own proprietary packaged software — driving DX and AI adoption across industries.
We spoke with Director and COO Nariaki Ishikawa and DX Solution Division DX Consulting Group General Manager Ryota Takeda about the company’s strengths, the atmosphere among its employees, the company culture, and the kind of person who thrives at Akari.
Nariaki Ishikawa
Graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo. Joined a listed IT company as an early-stage member of a new business unit, working in sales to central government agencies and large corporations. Subsequently worked in individual sales and recruitment at a healthcare startup, then in corporate sales at an HR SaaS startup — where he recorded top sales performance. After gaining experience as a marketer at a marketing firm, he co-founded Akari Inc. At Akari, he led the launch and growth of the AI SaaS business as division head before being appointed COO with company-wide business oversight.
Ryota Takeda
After completing his undergraduate and graduate studies in aerospace engineering at the University of Tokyo, he joined Recruit as a data scientist. He built a location data analysis algorithm and won a VP award. Joined Akari in July 2023. Works in consulting — designing fundamental problem-solving approaches with flexible, technology-agnostic thinking for industrial challenges that have conventionally been considered too difficult to resolve.
Solving Social Challenges with Expertise in Cutting-Edge Technology as the Differentiator
— Mr. Ishikawa, could you start by telling us about the company’s business?
We are an AI venture company originating from the University of Tokyo’s Matsuo Laboratory, and we support the resolution of industrial challenges and structural transformation using cutting-edge technology.
There are two main business areas. The first is the DX Solutions business. Centered primarily on large enterprises, we support highly customizable system development tailored to each client’s environment. The second is a business providing industry-specific packaged software. Our distinguishing feature is that we specialize by industry and provide solutions suited to the deep challenges and operational workflows specific to each sector. From our founding, we focused first on the construction industry, but recently we have been gradually expanding the industries we target, rolling out software calibrated to the characteristics of each sector. Our mission is to leverage the technology capabilities we possess to contribute to solving clients’ challenges.
— Mr. Takeda, what kinds of projects are you specifically involved in?
I handle a variety of projects centered on consulting and bespoke development. In practice, this includes meetings with clients’ executive officers, identifying and clarifying challenges, and engaging in requirements definition for projects. I work to identify the factors behind why a client has been unable to solve a particular challenge up to now, and then translate into requirements how our technologies — including AI — can be used to address it. Another distinguishing feature is that we can handle everything in-house, from consulting through proof-of-concept all the way to software development.
Once a project moves into full operation, our engineering team takes the lead. That said, when unexpected problems arise or course corrections are needed, I also engage to help find the direction of a solution.
— What duration are most projects?
Including PoC implementation and system development, engagements of around six months to one year are the most common. However, when requirements definition and preparation time are included, engagements of over a year are not uncommon. Large-scale development can take even longer.
— What level of seniority do you most often meet with on the client side?
When a client has a dedicated DX promotion division, we meet with the person in charge of that division. If there is no dedicated division, we may meet with someone in the relevant business unit. For example, on a project where a design department is working to automate its operations, we would work through the details with the person responsible in the design department. Who attends meetings varies from engagement to engagement — sometimes executive officers remain involved throughout, and sometimes we work primarily with front-line staff.
— Are there particular challenges involved in solving clients’ problems?
It is not uncommon to find that even seemingly similar challenges turn out to be significantly different from one client to another once you dig beneath the surface. Understanding the unique nature of each challenge and structuring it is a difficult undertaking. The technical difficulty is also high, since we are taking on challenges clients have not been able to resolve. But it is precisely these lingering, unresolved challenges where I believe we can put our high technical capabilities and creative thinking to best use.
A Company Culture That Nurtures the Pioneer Spirit to Open New Paths
— What kind of person do you think thrives at your company?
People with strong intellectual curiosity about technology will thrive here. Our company employs a wide range of technology stacks depending on the industry involved. For that reason, it is necessary to have an accurate grasp of each technology’s characteristics, the domains where it can be applied, and equally the cases where it is not appropriate. People who can connect technology to business operations are also well suited. Our company holds study sessions to learn about cutting-edge technologies and similar topics — people with the motivation to proactively learn in those kinds of settings will also be able to shine.
People who find genuine interest in the work of a startup company are also a great match. Those who tend to attribute difficult challenges to external factors rather than taking personal ownership would likely find it difficult here. We are looking for people with a proactive mindset — the ability to create their own work and define their own challenges even when things are not clearly laid out for them. People who can forge ahead in AI-powered consulting, a path with few precedents, are also well suited.
— Mr. Ishikawa, what kind of person would you most like to join the company?
I would love to have people who approach their work with a genuine sense of ownership and proactivity. I also want people with energy and intellectual curiosity. We place great importance on valuing colleagues and teamwork. I also want to work alongside people who think about problems together with colleagues rather than trying to solve everything alone, and people who have a genuine desire to contribute to society.
— Mr. Ishikawa, what do you personally find most compelling about Akari?
Being able to work alongside talented and passionate colleagues is, above all else, what I find most enjoyable — and an attraction I believe is unique. Being part of a professional team moving as one, sharing the burning desire to change society in pursuit of a high goal, is something you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. The fact that each employee takes personal ownership of making the company better means new ideas arise easily — and that company culture is one of its great attractions.
— AI-powered consulting also seems like a compelling strength.
Being able to draw out the full potential of technologies like AI and take on genuinely difficult challenges is one of our attractions — and something we see as uniquely ours. Among the clients we work with are many of Japan’s most representative national-scale enterprises. In the medium-term business plans and management strategies of companies like these, the necessity of DX and AI is articulated as an almost certainty. Being able to contribute to solving challenges for these companies as a technology professional is an attraction that cannot be replaced by anything else.
— Mr. Takeda, how would you describe Akari as a company?
Being able to provide solutions incorporating cutting-edge AI is what I find compelling and exciting. Rather than simply delivering AI as a technology, being able to create new value through our own thinking is a genuine source of fulfillment. As a startup, there are still many unexplored industries and domains. The company culture — one that lets you exercise the pioneer spirit of opening up those unexplored areas — is something I also find uniquely attractive about Akari.
— Mr. Ishikawa, your company has five behavioral principles called “Akari-do — Aspiration Is Everything”: Jitsujitsugōken (substance and robustness), Bonjitettei (thoroughness in the ordinary), Bakusoku (explosive speed), Attōteki tōjisha ishiki (overwhelming sense of ownership), and Ittaidanketsu (unity as one). These seem like principles that symbolize the company’s culture. How do you embed these in your employees?
From the conviction that these five behaviors are indispensable to our company, we work to ensure all employees consistently practice the behavioral principles we call “Akari-do — Aspiration Is Everything.” For example, at the evening meeting we hold every day, a randomly selected employee shares an episode from that day related to the behavioral principles they put into practice. Once someone has shared an episode relating to Jitsujitsugōken, the rule is that the following day’s presenter and those after them for the rest of that week must choose one of the other principles.
In fact, the idea of sharing these episodes came not from the management team, but from an employee suggestion. I believe it is precisely because each employee takes personal ownership of “embedding Akari’s culture” that initiatives like this can be driven forward proactively. Incidentally, in our internal communication tool, we make use of emoji that represent the five “Akari-do” principles. A culture of team members reacting with these emoji to actions and ways of thinking that embody the principles has also naturally taken root in day-to-day communication.
A Meeting with Founding President Noro Was the Catalyst for Founding the Company
— Mr. Ishikawa, could you tell us about your career background?
I co-founded Akari in February 2021 while still a university student. Akari is my only employer as a full-time professional.
As a university student, I had a long stretch of disrupted classes due to COVID-19. During that time I interned at around four venture companies, throwing myself fully into work centered on sales and marketing. That internship experience was what ultimately led to founding Akari.
When I started university, I had no particular desire to start a company myself — but what strongly pushed me toward entrepreneurship was meeting Yuki Noro, Akari’s President, Representative Director, and CEO. Noro and I were in the same class at university, and I was greatly influenced by seeing how strong and unwavering his will to start a company was.
Through soccer, being in a band, and other experiences, I had developed a strong attraction to achieving something with teammates and to working with passion toward a dream or goal. When I thought about wanting to feel that same sense as a working adult, I realized that entrepreneurship was an effective means to that end. Having developed a slight interest in starting a company, I began my apprenticeship at a venture firm — and through the experience there, my interest turned into conviction. When Noro was thinking about launching an AI-related business, I approached him and said “please let me do this with you” — and that is how Akari was founded.
— So the founding of Akari was deeply tied to the meeting between you and Noro.
Noro had been envisioning a life as an entrepreneur since middle and high school. He had a sharp sense for entrepreneurship and business, combined with passion and deep knowledge. I, on the other hand, had the desire to achieve something, but was lacking in specific knowledge. In that situation, having gone through my internship experience, I was also considering starting a company on my own — and I shared a business idea I had at the time with Noro. His response was: “Can you become number one in the world with that business? Let’s start a company with the genuine ambition to be number one in the world.” At that moment, I felt strongly that “there is a world I can only see if I stay close to Noro.” I was convinced that together with Noro, we could achieve something truly big — and that conviction was what led us to start the company together.
— Mr. Takeda, could you tell us about your career background?
I specialized in aerospace engineering as an undergraduate and graduate student at the University of Tokyo, and after graduating joined Recruit as a data scientist.
I was at Recruit for about a year and three months, and during that time I reconnected with Soda Misawa — Akari’s CTO. Misawa, who had been a junior colleague in a university club, invited me to an Akari event, and that was where I learned about what the company was doing. That was the catalyst for feeling strongly “I want to work at this company” — which led to my decision to make the move.
Moving from Recruit to a newly founded company like Akari might seem like it requires courage by conventional standards. But I was deeply moved by the unity of everyone pointing in the same direction, and by the fact that every single person — from the president down to intern students — was working toward goals like “for Japan” and “for society.” Joining Akari and witnessing firsthand the high technical capabilities, the strength of the team members, and the thoroughly embedded culture, I felt an even stronger conviction that the mission to “become the light that illuminates Japan” was not merely a motto — that it was achievable by our own hands. For me, Akari is a genuinely compelling and fulfilling company, and one I wanted to be part of.
Targeting a Market Capitalization of ¥1 Trillion by 2030
— Mr. Ishikawa, could you tell us about your vision and outlook for the company?
We have set the ambitious goal of reaching a market capitalization of ¥1 trillion by 2030. To achieve this, we plan to advance the business on three axes. The first is to go even deeper into DX promotion support and AI utilization. With the pace of technological evolution — including AI — accelerating, we believe the scope in which we can contribute is enormous.
The second is to expand our support into new industries. We want to make the knowledge and know-how we have cultivated applicable to other industries, and take our consulting into sectors we have not yet entered.
The third is global expansion. We have in mind the goal of connecting our technology capabilities to support for a wide range of industries and companies around the world. By advancing these three areas of business, we aim to achieve the goal of ¥1 trillion market capitalization by 2030.
— Mr. Takeda, what kind of company do you want Akari to become going forward?
To achieve the aggressive target of ¥1 trillion market capitalization, I want to first cultivate a culture of achieving and building on each individual goal in front of us, one by one. To do that, it is indispensable to foster the momentum in which each consultant sees through the work immediately in front of them with steady, unflappable focus.
Furthermore, I want each individual member to find the fulfillment and social significance of being a DX consultant. When you genuinely feel that sense of fulfillment, you can approach your work with an overwhelming sense of personal ownership — and within that you grow rapidly, which opens up even greater sources of fulfillment: a virtuous cycle. I also want members like that to become “evangelists” to new joiners, conveying the appeal of the work. Nurturing this kind of organization, culture, and mindset is my role — and I believe it is the foundation that will allow the company to take a great leap forward.
【Post-Interview Note】
What I felt most strongly in the interviews with COO Ishikawa and Mr. Takeda was how thoroughly the “height of aspiration” permeates every corner of the organization. Against a backdrop of the highest-level technical capabilities that come from the University of Tokyo’s Matsuo Laboratory, the sight of this company taking on the structural transformation of traditional industries — starting with construction — was truly the embodiment of “the light that illuminates Japan.”
What I want prospective applicants to pay attention to is the environment for developing the ability to connect technology and business at a high level. The spirit of unity built around the five “Akari-do” behavioral principles generates the strength to find even difficult challenges genuinely engaging — and the culture of sharing episodes at the evening meeting is uniquely distinctive. Racing toward the grand goal of ¥1 trillion market capitalization by 2030 — crystallizing cutting-edge technology into social implementation. The experience of walking that path alongside colleagues who share that passion will be a lifelong treasure.
ConsulNext Senior Consultant
Masahito Tsukada
Akari Inc. — Company Information
| Founded | February 2021 |
| Address | Koishikawa Sakura Building 4F, 1-28-1 Koishikawa, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-0002 |
| Representative Director, President & CEO | Yuki Noro |
| Employees | 280 (as of June 2025) |
| Business Overview | DX Solutions business AI SaaS business |
