First of all, I believe that the earnestness and diligence of the Japanese people is a national trait that we can be proud of on the global stage. If we can continue to produce great engineers like Mr. Kaneko, who are dedicated and express themselves purely and unadulteratedly through programming, I feel that we can compete on equal terms with the rest of the world.
One of the most striking scenes in the piece depicted Kaneko’s struggle with not being able to write two lines of code to solve a problem. I felt that the pain was portrayed very well.
I am relieved that Japan has been able to avoid the worst-case scenario where excellent engineers would not be cultivated like the attitude Mr. Kaneko experienced. Having been in the business myself for over 10 years working with technology that will utilize Blockchain and Token, I have often recognized the restrictions caused by the regulations.
Of course, regulation is not necessarily bad. What is not good, I believe, is that regulations make it difficult for innovative ideas and technologies to flourish.

Take the regulations around crypto assets for example.
The first is the tax system. The current maximum tax rate of 55% is one of the highest in the world, so it is not surprising that the best investors and crypto asset operators often move out of the country to pursue their activities. It is safe to say that no foreign investors or crypto asset developers have come to Japan to operate. I have not heard of any developer wanting to enter and operate in Japan in at least the last 10 years.
The second is consumer regulation. While I think it is right that the existing regulations should be replaced, the bigger problem is that they have remained unchanged for years. Japan was one of the first countries in the world to develop regulations after the major problem of Mount Gox occurred, but there has been no significant progress since then. If Japan had taken the initiative by creating special economic zones (SEZ) as other countries (Malaysia, Estonia, UAE, etc.) have done to attract foreign companies and had them create advanced initiatives, it would have been enough. Sadly, there still are no such initiatives.
Japan’s current regulatory environment drives talented domestic human resources out of the country and fails to attract talented foreign companies. I think SEZ could have been an opportunity to overhaul this system.
Recognizing Mr. Kaneko’s efforts and hard work that went into creating Winny is a very important step toward improving Japan’s chances to succeed on the global tech stage again.
This film is a wonderful representation of Mr. Kaneko’s continued fight for the future of Japanese engineers, and I would like to express my respect and admiration not only for Mr. Kaneko but also for all those involved in the production.