I still remember the day I first landed in Jakarta. The wall of heat the moment I stepped out of the airport, and the sound of horns from every direction. To be honest, anxiety outweighed excitement that day. I didn't speak the language, didn't know the streets, didn't understand how business worked here. The only thing I had was a decision: I was going to build a company in this country.
What followed were days of being helped, over and over.
A local staff member who queued beside me for hours at a government office when I was completely lost. A business partner who never once laughed at my broken English — he just slowed down and said it again. The lady at a small eatery who waved me in out of a rainy-season downpour and put a coffee in front of me. I am not exaggerating when I say that every step forward I managed in this country was built on the kindness of people whose names I often never learned.
Among them all, there is one Indonesian teammate who has worked with me since the day this company started. I won't write his name here — he'd be embarrassed. He speaks no Japanese; I speak no Indonesian at all, and my English barely gets me through. And yet, strangely enough, the important things always get through. Every time I misread a rule or a custom, he steers me back without ever once looking annoyed. To me he is a teacher, and at times something like a guardian.
To be honest, in the beginning we were 'owner and staff.' What changed that was a certain trouble. I won't go into the details here, but when we came through that one together, he stopped being 'staff' in my mind and became a comrade. If this company is still standing today, it is without question thanks to him. Let me say it here: thank you.
Indonesians have a phrase: gotong royong. Carrying the load together. I used to think it was a kind of slogan. Then I lived here, and I saw it breathing in everyday life. When someone is struggling, people help — no calculation, no hesitation. Again and again, I was pulled into that circle.
And the longer I work here, the more potential I feel in this country. The average age is in the twenties. Every corner of the city hums with the energy of small businesses, and everything moves on a single phone. Systems that took Japan decades to build, this country may simply leap over. You can feel that momentum everywhere in ordinary daily life.
How do I repay this debt? That has become the theme of my work. But that story is for another post.
Tell us what you think
How the KAZENA apps feel to use, what we should fix, features you wish existed — if you run a small or medium business or work freelance in Indonesia or the Philippines, your voice is exactly what we want to hear. Messages in Bahasa Indonesia or English are answered by teammates who know your market from the inside. KAZENA Books is already set to launch in the Philippines and Indonesia — and if your company would like to bring it to other countries as a partner, or is interested in acquiring the system, we would love to hear from you too. We also take on new system development. We are a small team, so we cannot always start right away — but what we build carries made-in-Japan quality and stays close to how business really works here, one project at a time.
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