Mar 03 2025 26 mins 30
While American AI startups are dominating the headlines, one Japanese company has begun rolling out "AI employees" to famously cautious Japanese enterprise customers.
Today we talk with Shota Nakagawa the CEO of Caster and discuss their model of human-AI collaboration, why Japan is positioned to lead real-world AI deployment, and the big steps needed for Japan to catch up with the West.
It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.
Show Notes
Caster’s new model for gig-workers
Why almost 90% of Caster's workforce are women
How remote work is evolving differently in Japan than in the US
Can remote work really revitalise rural Japan?
Why Caster uses full time staff rather than gig workers
How AI employees could be the solution to Japan’s labor shortage
How Caster makes extensive use of AI in their workflow today
What is responsoble for the low level of trust that Japanese have in AI and how to fix it
Which tasks AI agents will take over and which they will never do
Links from our Guest
Everything you ever wanted to know about Caster
Follow Caster on X @caster_jp
Friend Caster on Facebook
Friend Shota on Facebook
Follow him on X @nakasy000
Leave a comment
Errata
Caster's percentage of female employees is about 87% not 95%.
Caster was founded in Tokyo, later moved to Miyazaki, and then moved back to Tokyo after the IPO
Transcript
Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs.
I'm Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me.
While American CEOs are competing to see how quickly they can leverage AI to replace both full-time employees and gig workers alike, one Japanese company is taking a different approach and they're already rolling out their AI workforce.
Today we sit down with Shota Nakagawa, founder and CEO of Caster. Now, Caster is a remarkably progressive and innovative Japanese company. They were a strong and vocal advocate of remote work years before the pandemic hit, and even after their IPO, their 800 person workforce remains fully remote with our corporate headquarters located in a shared office space in Tokyo.
Caster has now begun rolling out its AI workforce, and they're taking a very Japanese approach. Rather than leveraging a collection of flexible gig workers or freelancers, Caster continues to build a long-term full-time workforce who is co-developing and already working alongside their AI employees.
If history is any guide, Caster’s thinking today might tell us what the Japanese market will be thinking 10 years from now.
Shota and I talk about the long-term AI trends in Japan, how Caster solve the problem of corporate, Japan's deep skepticism about AI and whether or not AI can really provide a solution to the economic problems associated with Japan's declining population.
But, you know, Shota tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview.
Interview
Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Shota Nakagawa, the founder and CEO of Caster, who is creator of an outsourcing platform and a relentless advocate of remote work. So thanks for sitting down with me.
Shota: Thank you very much.
Tim: So, I explained very briefly what Caster did in the intro, but I think you can explain it much better than I can. So, what does Caster do? Why is it unique?
Shota: People are all work remote every day, every day.
Tim: So, the entire company is remote.
Shota: Yeah, yeah. All people.
Tim: That's pretty unusual. And we're here today actually sitting in a share office space to have this conversation. Well, actually let's talk about that in detail later. But first, let's talk a little more about Caster. So, what do you do for your customers?
Shota: BPO, business process outsourcing, client about SMB small business, want back office service.
Tim: So, what kind of back office services, is it like recruiting, accounting?
Shota: Many types.
Tim: So,
Today we talk with Shota Nakagawa the CEO of Caster and discuss their model of human-AI collaboration, why Japan is positioned to lead real-world AI deployment, and the big steps needed for Japan to catch up with the West.
It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.
Show Notes
Caster’s new model for gig-workers
Why almost 90% of Caster's workforce are women
How remote work is evolving differently in Japan than in the US
Can remote work really revitalise rural Japan?
Why Caster uses full time staff rather than gig workers
How AI employees could be the solution to Japan’s labor shortage
How Caster makes extensive use of AI in their workflow today
What is responsoble for the low level of trust that Japanese have in AI and how to fix it
Which tasks AI agents will take over and which they will never do
Links from our Guest
Everything you ever wanted to know about Caster
Follow Caster on X @caster_jp
Friend Caster on Facebook
Friend Shota on Facebook
Follow him on X @nakasy000
Leave a comment
Errata
Caster's percentage of female employees is about 87% not 95%.
Caster was founded in Tokyo, later moved to Miyazaki, and then moved back to Tokyo after the IPO
Transcript
Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs.
I'm Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me.
While American CEOs are competing to see how quickly they can leverage AI to replace both full-time employees and gig workers alike, one Japanese company is taking a different approach and they're already rolling out their AI workforce.
Today we sit down with Shota Nakagawa, founder and CEO of Caster. Now, Caster is a remarkably progressive and innovative Japanese company. They were a strong and vocal advocate of remote work years before the pandemic hit, and even after their IPO, their 800 person workforce remains fully remote with our corporate headquarters located in a shared office space in Tokyo.
Caster has now begun rolling out its AI workforce, and they're taking a very Japanese approach. Rather than leveraging a collection of flexible gig workers or freelancers, Caster continues to build a long-term full-time workforce who is co-developing and already working alongside their AI employees.
If history is any guide, Caster’s thinking today might tell us what the Japanese market will be thinking 10 years from now.
Shota and I talk about the long-term AI trends in Japan, how Caster solve the problem of corporate, Japan's deep skepticism about AI and whether or not AI can really provide a solution to the economic problems associated with Japan's declining population.
But, you know, Shota tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview.
Interview
Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Shota Nakagawa, the founder and CEO of Caster, who is creator of an outsourcing platform and a relentless advocate of remote work. So thanks for sitting down with me.
Shota: Thank you very much.
Tim: So, I explained very briefly what Caster did in the intro, but I think you can explain it much better than I can. So, what does Caster do? Why is it unique?
Shota: People are all work remote every day, every day.
Tim: So, the entire company is remote.
Shota: Yeah, yeah. All people.
Tim: That's pretty unusual. And we're here today actually sitting in a share office space to have this conversation. Well, actually let's talk about that in detail later. But first, let's talk a little more about Caster. So, what do you do for your customers?
Shota: BPO, business process outsourcing, client about SMB small business, want back office service.
Tim: So, what kind of back office services, is it like recruiting, accounting?
Shota: Many types.
Tim: So,
