This Week In Startups is made possible by:Lightfield: https://lightfield.appRippling: https://Rippling.ai/twistUpwork: https://upwork.comToday’s show:AssetHub built an AI agent that recreates licensed characters in 3D while respecting copyright rules... But Jason says he needs to think BIGGER. 11 founders pitched their companies to Jason and Yuki Shirato of Techstars Tokyo at our Osaka event this week, and neither investor held back.Find out why Jason says Seekr feels more like a vitamin than a painkiller, and needs to ditch the press mentions from their deck. Plus, a vital lesson for founders: if everyone already knows about the problem you're solving, investors expect a tight solution and business plan. Truly novel business ideas get more leeway. Japan's startup community is booming, with many recent grads bailing on lifelong gigs at major corporations to start companies. But here's why Yuki says the fear of failure is still holding back progress.Guests:Yuki Shirato on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuki-shiratoTechstars Tokyo: https://www.techstars.com/accelerators/tokyoFounder Pitches:Seekr: https://seekrai.global/productArabat: https://arabat.it/AssetHub: https://assethub.io/CRAZIA: https://crazia.co/JuJuJuu: https://jujujuu.com/JAPANMEDIA: https://lp.japanmedia.ai/Tsuin AI: https://www.tsuin.aiRumi Light: https://www.rumilight.jp/GENCHI: https://www.toraru.me/enTattvaSilicon: https://tattvasilicon.com/Mimi AI: https://nihongo-chat-ruby.vercel.app/onboardingRelevant Links:Founder University Japan, Jason's pre-accelerator program with JETRO → https://japan.founder.university/Techstars Tokyo announces its Class of 2026 → https://www.techstars.com/newsroom/techstars-tokyo-accelerator-announces-class-of-2026Yuki Shirato on why Japan should be on every founder's radar (Techstars) → https://www.techstars.com/blog/insights-and-trends/should-japan-be-on-your-radar-as-a-founderHow Techstars Tokyo is helping make Japan a global startup hub (The Japan Times) → https://www.japantimes.co.jp/2025/12/25/special-supplements/accelerating-business-ambitions-global-scale-techstars-tokyo/VidiLabs, maker of the Seekr indoor positioning platform → https://seekrai.global/Density, the people-counting sensor company Jason has backed for a decade → https://www.density.ioArabat, recovering critical minerals from batteries with citrus and farm waste → https://arabat.it/AssetHub raises a $2M seed for its AI 3D platform (The Bridge) → https://thebridge.jp/en/2025/08/aix3d-production-platform-assethub-raises-approximately-¥300-million-in-seed-fundingSeedance 2.0, the ByteDance AI video model Jason says fans are using to make Marvel shorts → https://seed.bytedance.com/en/blog/seedance-2-0-official-launchBending Spoons, the company Jason cites for buying apps and running them with tiny AI-powered teams (TechCrunch) → https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/31/what-is-bending-spoons-everything-to-know-about-aols-acquirer/Burning Chrome by William Gibson, the source of “the street finds its own uses for things” → https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ICMWZH4/Timestamps:Subscribe to our newsletters on Substack:TWiST: https://twistartups.substack.com/TWiAI: https://www.thisweekinai.ai/TWiVC: https://thisweekinvc.substack.com/Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcpFollow Jason:X: https://twitter.com/JasonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanisCheck out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/Follow TWiST:Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartupsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekinInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartupsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartupsSubstack: https://twistartups.substack.com