Real Gaijin — Japan’s Business, Culture & Life Podcast: A podcast about Japan’s economy, work culture, foreign residents, regional revitalization, and the people shaping the country’s future.
Japan is experiencing one of the most significant demographic shifts in modern history, including a shrinking population, rapid aging, labor shortages, depopulation of rural areas, and increasing strain on healthcare and social infrastructure. However, this seemingly dire situation is not all doom and gloom. For entrepreneurs, investors, and care providers willing to look beyond the headlines, these challenges are creating new markets. This episode of the Real Gaijin’s Ask Me Anything (AMA) series features an expert in this emerging field, Dominic Carter [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominiccarterjapan/], CEO, The Carter Group [https://the-carter-group.com/en/]. Who is he? Dominic was born and raised in Australia. He studied marketing and Japanese at the University of New South Wales. Dominic began his career at Millward Brown [https://mmaglobal.com/sponsors/kantar-millward-brown], a branding, media, and communications consultancy, before relocating to Japan at age 24 to establish and lead the company’s local office. A serial entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience building and leading businesses in Japan, Dominic has cultivated strong relationships with clients and partners in various sectors, including market research, market entry, executive search, ad tech, video gaming, and VR. He specializes in prescient marketing analysis and strategy attuned to Japanese culture and the nuances of the Japanese buyer. He is now the CEO of The Carter Group. Through its network of affiliated firms and investments, The Carter Group supports the success of global companies in Japan. In 2022, Dominic co-founded Living Best [https://living-best.tech/], a pioneering age-tech platform that identifies high-potential longevity and age-tech concepts from North America and beyond. The platform connects these concepts with commercial opportunities and capital in Japan. His work bridges technology and philosophy, drawing on Japanese concepts such as ikigai (living with purpose・生きがい) and pin pin korori (living well and dying quickly・ピンピンコロリ) to guide innovations that enhance quality of life as we age. Dominic has delivered keynotes at major global forums, including the AGE-WELL Conference in Canada [https://agewell-nce.ca/conference] and the Centre on Aging and Health’s Distinguished Lecture at the University of Regina [https://www.uregina.ca/events/2025/03/2024-2025-centre-on-aging-and-health-distinguished-public-lecture-with-dominic-carter-live-long-die-short.html]. He regularly contributes to the broader business community through guest lectures and consultative roles, offering his insights on market entry, entrepreneurship, and consumer and societal megatrends in Japan. On the agenda We explored the opportunities created by Japan’s demographic trends in sectors such as aging technology, health technology, elder care innovation, robotics, automation, preventive healthcare, wealth management, and AI-driven productivity solutions. Dominic explained that we should view Japan not as a case study in decline, but rather as one of the world’s most important real-time laboratories for aging societies and the businesses built to serve them. Key Takeaways * Japan’s aging population is more of a predictable business opportunity than a crisis. Japan’s demographic challenges have been apparent for decades and are often exaggerated as an impending catastrophe. Although caring for the current elderly population is resource-intensive, Japan has largely managed the transition successfully. A bigger challenge lies ahead: the large group of people currently in their 50s will eventually require support from a much smaller younger generation. This will create strong demand for technologies and services that help people maintain their independence for longer periods of time. * Age-tech encompasses far more than nursing homes and caregiving robots. Dominic defines it as any product or service that helps people compensate for, prevent, or manage the effects of aging beginning as early as age 50. This spectrum ranges from wellness and preventive technologies, such as fitness tracking, gait analysis, brain training, and personalized health monitoring, to care-focused solutions, including fall detection systems, mobility aids, exoskeletons, and caregiving robots. This broad definition expands the total addressable market far beyond traditional elder care. * The biggest commercial winners will solve problems without creating more work. Many promising technologies fail because they disrupt existing workflows or create additional burdens for caregivers and care facilities. Solutions that operate quietly in the background, reduce costs, lower hospital readmission rates, improve safety, or seamlessly integrate into daily routines are far more likely to be adopted than technologies that require extensive retraining or behavioral changes. * Personalized wellness may become one of the most important age-tech sectors. Although robotics and autonomous transportation currently attract the most attention, Dominic believes that the larger, long-term opportunity may be in personalized health optimization. Advances in diagnostics, biomarkers, AI-driven health monitoring, individualized treatments, and preventive interventions could help people extend their healthy life span, delaying or even avoiding the need for formal care. Japan, a country where people already embrace regular health screenings, may prove to be a particularly fertile market for such solutions. * The future belongs to proactive individuals who take responsibility for their own aging journey. Personal responsibility was a recurring theme throughout the discussion. Dominic emphasized that many people in their 50s and 60s recognize that they cannot rely on the family-based support systems enjoyed by previous generations. Those who actively plan ahead, embrace technology, maintain digital literacy, monitor their health, and experiment with new solutions will likely be better positioned to remain independent and enjoy a higher quality of life as they age. Timeline Substack does not yet have the functionality to allow you to use a link to jump to a specific section like YouTube’s “chapters.” Please refer to the times listed below to navigate through our hour-long conversation. Thank you for your understanding. Links * Substack: https://substack.com/@dominiccarter [https://substack.com/@dominiccarter] * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominiccarterjapan/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominiccarterjapan/] * The Carter Group Website: https://the-carter-group.com/en/ [https://the-carter-group.com/en/] * Living Best Website: https://living-best.tech/ [https://living-best.tech/] * The World’s Real-time Laboratory for Age-Tech White Paper: https://living-best.tech/age-tech-white-paper/ [https://living-best.tech/age-tech-white-paper/] #DominicCarter #TheCarterGroup #LivingBest #AgingSociety #Demographics #AgeTech #HealthTech #Longevity #SilverEconomy #JapanBusiness #JapanEconomy #HealthcareInnovation #ElderCare #DigitalHealth #MedTech #ドミニクカーター #カーターグループ #リビングベスト #ヘルステック #長寿 #シルバーエコノミー #ヘルスケアイノベーション #高齢者ケア #デジタルヘルス #メドテック #長寿経済 #RealGaijin #リアル外人 Please note that you can subscribe to Real Gaijin for free. If you are so inclined, you can also purchase an annual subscription for a relatively small fee. However, I understand that even the lowest level of annual subscription allowed by Substack may seem too high for many. If you just want to buy a coffee for Real Gaijin (or maybe a green tea), you can also make a small donation here: https://buymeacoffee.com/realgaijin [https://buymeacoffee.com/realgaijin] All levels of support - including just liking a particular article and/or leaving a comment - are very welcome. Thanks again for reading. While Real Gaijin [https://realgaijin.substack.com/] lives in Substack [https://realgaijin.substack.com/], you can also find Real Gaijin on a few other platforms (listed in alphabetical order). https://www.instagram.com/real_gaijin_on_substack/ [https://www.instagram.com/real_gaijin_on_substack/] https://www.threads.net/@real_gaijin_on_substack [https://www.threads.net/@real_gaijin_on_substack] https://www.tiktok.com/@real.gaijin [https://www.tiktok.com/@real.gaijin] https://x.com/Real_Gaijin_ [https://x.com/Real_Gaijin_] https://www.youtube.com/@RealGaijin [https://www.youtube.com/@RealGaijin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-wilt-kennedy/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-wilt-kennedy/] Get full access to Real Gaijin at realgaijin.substack.com/subscribe [https://realgaijin.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]
58 episodios
Comentarios
0Sé la primera persona en comentar
¡Regístrate ahora y únete a la comunidad de Real Gaijin — Japan’s Business, Culture & Life Podcast: A podcast about Japan’s economy, work culture, foreign residents, regional revitalization, and the people shaping the country’s future.!