In the 44th episode of Colors of Web3 & Entrepreneurship, Aru Sasaki, founder of TON Japan, joins us to discuss the growing TON ecosystem and how TON Japan is playing a crucial role in bringing Web3 to the Japanese market. In this episode, we learn about Aru’s journey into Web3, his experience working with a crypto family office in New York, and his passion for social business. We also explore the unique challenges and opportunities of building a Web3 community in Japan, where platforms like LINE and Instagram dominate the social media landscape. Aru explains how TON Japan is supporting both Japanese and global projects, acting as a bridge between the two markets, and fostering collaboration within the TON ecosystem. We also discuss the future of TON and its potential to become the biggest gateway into Web3 through its integration with Telegram and user-friendly features. ⌛ Timestamps: 00:00:00 Episode trailer 00:00:32 Introduction to the show and guest - Aru Sasaki, founder of TON Japan 00:02:45 Aru’s journey into Web3, experience working in finance in New York, and move back to Japan 00:05:07 Founding his company, Hyphen, and its Web3 communication protocol, DMTP 00:09:07 How Aru discovered TON 00:10:11 Aru’s hobbies outside of Web3 00:13:25 Deep dive into TON Japan 00:16:12 Discussion about the social media landscape in Japan and the use of LINE and Instagram 00:18:38 Overview of Telegram and TON’s user base and growth 00:21:08 About TON Japan and partnership with Japanese companies 00:24:00 Why global companies are interested in TON Japan 00:27:40 Popular apps on TON, including Hamster Kombat and Catizen 00:33:53 Concerns and questions users and companies have about TON 00:36:04 The team behind TON Japan and future plan for hiring 00:36:54 Funding and support from the TON Foundation and TON Society 00:37:44 The size and growth of the global TON community 00:40:48 Discussion about TON’s programming languages: FunC and Tact 00:43:03 The global distribution of the TON Foundation team 00:43:40 Future outlook for mini apps developed by the local community in Japan 00:44:38 Aru's vision for the future of TON and Web3 in general 00:51:06 Aru's take on how to onboard 1 billion users into Web3 00:53:27 His advice for building a Web3 community 00:55:24 Where to follow Aru and TON Japan online 00:56:46 Episode outro and next episode preview Follow Aru and his community: Aru's Twitter/X: https://x.com/Aru_Web3 TON Japan's Twitter/X: https://x.com/TON_jp_org TON Japan's Telegram group: https://t.me/ton_jp_org TON Japan website: https://ton-japan.org/ My social media: Twitter/X: ⁠https://www.twitter.com/LamWeb3⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/lamweb3/⁠ Website: ⁠https://lamtrinh.xyz⁠ My latest article: https://lamweb3.substack.com/p/the-importance-of-decentralized-science If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe to stay updated on our upcoming episodes with industry experts and innovators in the Web3 and Entrepreneurship spaces. Thank you for listening!