Responding to a couple of other points you made - LAUNCH (JCal) along with J-StarX and Founder University (japan.founder.universit…) has received JETRO funding to help Japanese companies go abroad and enter the US market. Taxpayers in Japan have the right to ask how much has been spent on the program, and what are some of the KPIs and outcomes achieved. As a hypothetical, some of the funding could have been attached to funding KPIs, hence companies receiving funding from LAUNCH. As for a16z opening their first overseas office, it also begs the question - were there incentives, whether in the form of matching funds or tax subsidies given to attract them to set up in Japan? How many Japanese startups have a16z invested in the past - to have led them to make the decision to open a permanent overseas office? I remember a few years ago when Ben Horowitz was billed as the headliner at SusHiTech, with the opening keynote. The hall was packed as everyone wanted to meet the legendary investor and author of “Hard Thing About Hard Things”. Imagine the disappointment when it was actually a Zoom call, and he was basically just monologuing without much interactions with the crowd. He may also have personal reasons for visiting Japan often.