Hello, I am Oyu, CEO of AnotherBall. In social circles, I am called Oyu-san or Captain!
This time, I would like to write about the story that led me to start a company called AnotherBall after I left my past company.
I am telling a short story first, so you can read it easily.
Before starting the company that would become AnotherBall, I passed on the baton of the company I founded for the first time in my life and went on a round-the-world trip with Shimada, the CTO. Shimada literally went around the world in one stroke, and I chose cities that interested me and met up with him each time.
(In the map below, the countries in orange are the ones Shimada visited, and the countries with icons are the ones I also visited.)
During that trip, I was invited by a friend to see a live performance of a virtual idol in Shanghai, China.
The sense of unity at the venue was overwhelming, and not only characters born in China but also Japanese characters appeared on stage one after another. As a Miku fan for the past 15 years, my emo went over the limit and the voltage in the venue was almost at its maximum when a young man standing next to me said, "Miku-san, aishiteru!" a young man next to me shouted from his stomach in a broken Japanese.
When I spoke to him in English, he replied, "I can't speak Japanese, but I memorized this phrase for today's show." I was so moved that I rubbed shoulders with him and sang along with him afterward.
In my travels around the world, I have seen barriers and sometimes feelings of discrimination due to race and skin color. (I won't go into depth, but crossing the wall between Israel and Palestine and seeing the various social curtains in Africa gave me a lot to think about, but more on that later!)
However, after this concert, I realized that people can connect deeply with each other just by "liking the same thing." I still remember him clearly, even though I did not know his name. This experience convinced me that increasing the number of such "mutual understanding," even if just a little, would make the world a better place.
This encounter remained with me as one of my original experiences, and later became one of the reasons for founding AnotherBall.
Animation, manga, music, theater──
I am sure that all of you have had the experience of being moved and motivated by a work of art. We cherish such "feelings of love" and want to be a "bridge" to deliver them to the world. And we want to make the world a place that is a little easier to live in. AnotherBall is a startup born out of this desire.
The world of startups is always a series of challenges with no clear answers.
In addition, it is so rare these days that startups that "aim for the world in the consumer domain" may be considered an endangered species! We are aware of the fact that this is a rare and difficult challenge.
Nevertheless, thanks to the high quality of the members gathered at AnotherBall, we feel that we are on the verge of victory. We are looking for people who can work together to create a phenomenon that can move the hearts of people all over the world from Japan.
If you are interested, please feel free to contact us.
(Photo taken at the "Showa Bar" after the "BE CRAZY" all-employee training camp held in Okinawa in January 2025. I was happy to be surrounded by entertainment. I want to go back!)
