You might be onto something. Anecdotally, I just came across some armchair economist lamenting lack of aptitude among Japanese startups for foreign currency acq

You might be onto something. Anecdotally, I just came across some armchair economist lamenting lack of aptitude among Japanese startups for foreign currency acquisition, and I could only agree - I can't recall many Japanese startups or corporate business expansions primarily focusing on foreign sales. The mental model is always to get rich quick within Japan and/or South Asia and retire. "The world" outside is treated like tiny separate bonus rooms. Thinking about Japanese economy in general and how it hadn't grown in 30-40 years: 40 years is technically two generations, but life in Japan hadn't deteriorated meaningfully during that period. Substantial socio-political improvements were made, university entrance had rose somewhat absurdly high, some new infrastructures were built, convenience store sandwich prices hasn't doubled, overtimes and harassments at workplaces are way more strictly scrutinized. There's the problem of employment ice age, but it's not as bad as the collapse of the Soviet Union; not at "Vladimir Putin was laid off KGB and drove taxi to make ends meet" levels, only "PhDs drove trucks". So "Japan still using FAX" narratives only partially make sense. Overall, it does feel that there is something strange is going on in this country, something like effective isolationism. I guess my point is... it's unfortunate that these efforts and costs spent goes to waste, and we don't know why it's only built to be recycled.