Hello everyone, it's been a while — this is Shotaro. I hope you've all been well.
I haven't posted a video in quite some time, so some of you may have been wondering where I disappeared to. Starting today, I'm going to begin sharing my thoughts in writing, and I'll also be easing back into social media little by little.
On What I've Been Up To
Recently, in one of my videos, I mentioned that during the time I wasn't posting, I had been focusing on things outside of social media — mainly input. I'd like to explain a little more specifically what I meant by that.
My style up until now has mostly been output-driven, whether through social media, Japanese education, that kind of thing.
Act before you think.
Build and fix as you go.
Learn by doing.
That's how I've moved through everything.
But we're living in a time of intense change. Society, technology, the way the world moves — all of it is shifting at a remarkable pace.
Because of that, I had always felt, somewhere in the back of my mind, that I needed to sit down properly and spend time increasing the number of "drawers" inside me — the range of knowledge, ideas, and perspectives I can draw from.
Filling the Drawers
It also happened to be a period where my personal life became a little calmer, so I spent a lot of time reading, watching, and thinking about things I had always been interested in but hadn't had the time to fully explore: philosophy, geopolitics, behavioral economics, AI, changes in society, and the future of work and life.
AI in particular — for the past year or two, I hadn't really kept up with just how far the cutting edge had come. I figured I couldn't afford to fall behind, so I started playing with AI tools that caught my eye and building various websites and simple apps through vibe coding with Claude Code.
It turned out to be far more fun than I'd expected, and before I knew it I was completely absorbed in it. This site, by the way, was also built with vibe coding.
After continuing that kind of input for a while, I started to feel the desire to output again. I also found myself with many things I wanted to share, so I decided to restart like this.
Why I'm Starting the long thought
I want to use this platform as a space to put out whatever happens to be on my mind — not limited to Japan or the Arab world.
With short-form videos on Instagram and TikTok, I inevitably have to compress what I want to say into a very short format. So, just as the name suggests, I wanted to create a space called "the long thought," where I can write in a more relaxed and open way about the things on my mind.
Going Forward
There's a lot I want to share, so I'll be posting all kinds of articles and videos, freely and from my own perspective.
Whenever I publish something new, I'll let you know through my Instagram stories, so I'd be glad if you'd check in from time to time. This article doesn't have a comment section, so if you have thoughts — or something you'd like me to write about — feel free to send it to my Instagram DMs, and I'll read them.
Thanks for being here, as always. See you soon!