Saturday
I wake up in Tokyo, having caught an evening flight from South Korea after seeing a range of leading Korean industrial companies as part of an Asia research trip. This week I am in Japan and Taiwan seeing a range of companies across various sectors.
I have a long walk through Tokyo to the Ninja-Samurai class I booked on Viator. I head to a local gym in the afternoon, followed by dinner at a French-Japanese fusion restaurant.
Sunday
I start the day with a run around the Imperial Palace. This is an extremely popular running route with locals. I blend right in.
After calling home, I head to the station to catch the Shinkansen train, or the bullet train, to Osaka ahead of tomorrow’s meetings.
I spent the evening walking around Osaka, which has recently redeveloped the shopping precinct, which is booming.
Monday
Ohayō Osaka! Good morning, Osaka!
Today is focused on meeting companies in the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Kobe), which has a deep culture of monozukuri — the art of making things with extreme precision, patience, and pride. Osaka and its neighbouring prefectures host one of the highest concentrations of factories, workshops, and small-to-medium manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) in the world.
I met my interpreter at the first stop, MonotaRO, a current portfolio company. MonotaRO is the “Amazon of industrial supplies,” operating a massive e-commerce platform for MRO (maintenance, repair, and operations) goods. The meeting went well and I took a few samples of the famous MonotaRO catalogue which is customised for the individual based on past purchasing behaviour.
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After a short taxi ride, I arrived at the KEYENCE offices. KEYENCE is notoriously secretive. The office is minimalist scattered with fossils, a reminder for employees ‘not to be fossils’, which speaks to their innovative approach to developing high-end factory automation equipment.
Next stop was the ASICS, previously known as Onitsuka Tiger, headquartered in Kobe. Kobe had a deeply established history as a port city with excellent manufacturing capabilities, especially in rubber and textiles. Onitsuka’s first major breakthrough was a basketball shoe that utilised a specialised rubber suction-cup sole, inspired by octopus tentacles Mr Onitsuka saw in a salad bowl.
We took the bullet train from Kobe to Kyoto. Kyoto has a concentration of high-precision technology companies owing to its proximity to Kyoto University and the largest number of Nobel Prize winners in Japan. The region is famous for its Nishijin textile weaving, which laid the groundwork for precision machinery and advanced printing technology which produced companies such as SCREEN Holdings, a global leader in semiconductor wafer cleaning equipment and my last stop for the day.
After my meeting I take the 6pm bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo.
Tuesday
My day starts nice and early at 5am with a run around the Imperial Palace.
Today is packed with back-to-back meetings with small-to-medium sized Japanese companies that meet our quality-growth criteria across software, semiconductors and industrials.
My day starts at Bengo4.com offices, where I meet my interpreter for the day. Next stop is a former portfolio company, Advantest, before heading to Daiwa Capital offices for the remainder of the day.
At lunchtime I manage to navigate my way through the famous Japanese department stores to take advantage of the weak Japanese yen and pick up a small feast of local delicacies, including my favourite, Japanese omelette.
My day ends with a flight to Taipei at 6pm.
Wednesday
Gautza Taiwan! Good morning, Taiwan!
I’m in Taiwan visiting companies across the semiconductor supply and design chain, including portfolio company TSMC.
After a quick session at a local gym, my day begins at 8am with meetings at the Daiwa Capital offices in Taipei.
The remainder of the day is spent visiting companies in the Hsinchu Science Park, which are physically close to TSMC’s engineering teams and represent fabless design and software-heavy franchises.
The day ends at TSMC offices where security is tight and no cameras are allowed.
I spend the two-hour taxi ride back to the hotel, facetiming my two daughters and husband, to check-in and see if they are all surviving without me!
Thursday
Another packed day requiring an early start to beat the morning traffic out to Taoyuan City.
The first stop of the day is a company specialising in compound semiconductor materials essential for high-speed optical connectivity and wireless sensors. Next stop is an up-and coming company at the heart of the RISC-V ecosystem.
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Before I know it, it’s time for a traditional Taiwanese lunch recommended by a local broker. I order a sizable amount of food and yet the total comes to less than $50 Australian dollars. I am always careful to take note of how much a comparative meal would cost back in Australia as it is a great barometer of purchasing power and relative value. My version of the Big Mac index.
After lunch I have more meetings, finishing at the Mandarin Oriental hotel where I’m attending the inaugural Morgan Stanley Asia AI summit.
After my final meeting I walk back to my hotel in the Taiwanese heat.
Friday
My final day of the trip is spent at the Morgan Stanley AI conference listening to CEOs and founders talking about the various innovations they are investing behind.
The most interesting of which is a technology company that is bridging the gap between hardware and software by applying vision AI to robotics, a crucial component for the future of smart factories and automation. The use of Agentic physical AI enables machines to perceive, reason and act reliably in complex physical environments.
I fly out of Taipei in the early evening with a stop-over in Hong Kong before arriving in Sydney midday Saturday.
