“I want to participate in transforming our era.”

Keita Nakamura (@keita0q) has been an AI engineer ever since his student days, accomplishing various feats along his journey. Keita experienced various internships, working at Rakuten as a backend engineer, introducing the foundations for sentiment analysis for video services at DeNA, and helping to launch a programming education service at CyberAgent, before joining Mercari’s research organization, R4D.

After joining Mercari as a new graduate, Keita worked as a blockchain engineer and was involved in the mercariX project within R4D as well as the launch of new services such as Mercoin and Mercari NFT. Keita has been on the front lines ever since starting his career, but reflecting back on his marvelous student days, what potential did he see in Mercari that motivated him to join? And how does he see the future of services built upon blockchain, such as Mercoin and Mercari NFT? In this article, we take a dive into Keita’s mind on the intertwined topics of technology and Mercari’s vision.

Student years filled with passion for engineering

—— Did you already have an interest in technology when you were in school?

Not at first. (laughs) When I was in high school, I was influenced by those around me to try for medical school. But I wasn’t sure if it was truly what I wanted to do, and I wasn’t passionate about studying it either.

Without much interest in the subject, I took the university entrance exam, failed, and ended up having to wait another year to try to get into university again. During that year, I started off doing nothing but part-time jobs, but eventually came to a point where I felt like I had to figure out what I really wanted to do with my life. At that time, the world was in the midst of an “AI boom” with technologies like deep learning, and I was enthralled. As I learned more about AI, I started to think that technology is inevitably involved in the revolutions and turning points in the way our world operates.

From there, I decided that I wanted to play a role in bringing this change to our era and create businesses that leverage new technology. I chose AI as my focus and entered the Nagoya Institute of Technology.

—— What did you learn there?

At NITech, I did research on AI-enabled consensus algorithms while studying practical engineering and programming. However, the classes felt too slow for me, and I begged my professor for opportunities to work on application and software development and to learn about business. That’s when my professor introduced me to an alum who started a company in a brand new field.

I started working at that company part-time to create software for them. That’s also when I fell in love with coding and devoted myself to software development.

——Before joining Mercari, you interned at numerous mega ventures. What did you do at those companies?

I mainly worked as a backend engineer. At the first company I interned at, Rakuten, I observed the level of skill and the quality of work required of people developing large-scale services, and it made me want to test my own skills.

After giving it a try, I realized I was better at it than I thought. The full-time employees also told me I was doing great, which made me feel more reassured about my abilities. From there, I worked on cultivating stronger industry-specific and product-oriented thinking, and I found myself wanting to work on more development projects. So instead of returning to Nagoya, I went on to intern at DeNA and CyberAgent.

From researching AI to discovering blockchain

——What led you to join Mercari?

The companies that I interned at were using AI to make their services more convenient rather than creating unique businesses only possible with AI. I had almost given up hope, thinking that there was no company in Japan where I could fulfill my personal mission, when I discovered Mercari and its passionate research and development efforts in the field of blockchain.

To get a little technical, when I first read the Bitcoin whitepaper and learned of its standardized consensus algorithm, I was intrigued. I came to believe that perhaps it wouldn’t be AI but blockchain that serves as the platform for changing the world, and that’s why I decided to join Mercari.

At first, I wasn’t interested in Mercari at all, because they had already succeeded in creating societal change and a well-known product. But after talking to people at Mercari and hearing them say, “In the era of blockchain, services like Mercari will be the first to face disruption, so we must create the disruption ourselves,” my heart was set, and the engineer in me led me to join the company.

——After joining the company, was it everything you hoped it would be?

Absolutely. In fact, it was more than I could have ever imagined. I was amidst a cohort of geniuses who got together every day to try new technologies, play around with them, and hold discussions. I don’t think there is another environment like this in all of Japan. That’s how valuable being able to join Mercari was to me. I really felt that it was a place where I could take on all the challenges I wanted to pursue.

Pursuing “impact that changes the lives of users”

——Tell us about the domain that you’re in charge of now.

I’m in charge of Mercari’s marketplace for NFT transactions, Mercari NFT. The concept for Mercari NFT was already brewing within R4D when Mercoin was established. We had been thinking about how to convey the value of NFTs ever since they became popular 4 or 5 years ago.

My personal goal is to create a business that leverages new technologies, but I also believe that it’s not worth doing unless it produces a level of impact where it’s used throughout society and is able to change the lives of those who use it.

That’s why Mercoin’s mission, “Circulate your value, anywhere and everywhere,” is not limited to crypto. I interpret this mission to be based on the technologies behind how we discover and circulate new value in society. And among those technologies, I believe that NFTs are one of the most important.

——Why did we decide that then was the right timing to release an NFT service?

The timing wasn’t a factor. A market for NFTs didn’t exist, so Mercari created a marketplace for them. NFTs have experienced their surge and dip in popularity, and we didn’t create this service to chase the trends of the time. What we’re doing is providing a new market to new users.

Plus, Mercoin is an example of the success we have been able to achieve with crypto. Mercari’s user base was largely unfamiliar with crypto, and we were able to educate and motivate them to use Mercoin. Now that the value of NFTs as real-world assets (RWAs) is starting to be recognized, our goal is to use the knowledge we’ve accumulated to set the standard and facilitate the distribution of NFTs that are, by their nature, to be used.

——Mercari NFT explains how everything works simply despite difficult technical terms like “gas fees” and “MetaMask.” How were you able to achieve this?

To get people to use the service, the most important thing was to make it easy. And then, to rebrand the value that we were providing. What we essentially did was get rid of the usual steps required to buy NFTs—like buying crypto and preparing a wallet—and create a user experience in which users could buy and sell NFTs the same way they buy and sell items on Mercari. Right now we’re at the stage of simply conveying what the service currently offers, but as our users become more familiar with NFTs, we plan to enter different stages.

——It sounds like various efforts need to be made to create something that people will use.

Yes. Sometimes, a new technology enters the world and quickly becomes the new norm. For instance, the internet was only used by a limited number of people in the beginning, but the interface continued to evolve, more compact laptop computers were invented, and even that was too bulky for some, leading to the invention of smartphones. And now we live in an age where almost everyone is on the internet for hours every day.

I believe the current age was made possible by the solutions, applications, and services our predecessors created. And I believe that we should prepare for the same to happen with blockchain technology. There are still various hurdles to clear, but a future leveraging blockchain is imminent. And if that’s the case, Mercari will create the “entrance” into this new era.

Blockchain beyond finance

——How do you see the future 5 to 10 years from now?

I think the next 5 years will be critical in determining the future of Web3. Without some sort of game-changing solution or content that gets many more people involved, I think this technology will remain confined to the field of finance.

Due to the nature of crypto, blockchain is currently thought of in terms of its value in relation to money. While that has hindered the growth and expansion of the technology itself, I will say that it has also given the technology disruptive power in a now more refined and mature industry. But I think that if blockchain technology were to be only utilized in finance from here on forward, we would be burying its value.

Although, with blockchain being used in the entertainment industry for IP content, games, and creations by individuals, we are starting to see the potential of blockchain’s value in terms of digital content. I believe this could become the core content needed to provide the breakthrough for spreading the value of Web3 in fields other than finance. Someone, somewhere needs to clear the path for this breakthrough; we have faith in such a future and we’re just working to play our part in making it a reality.

The key to enjoying work: Pursue a goal you believe in

——Tell us about your view on work and what you find to be important.

When you put all your focus into working hard, there are sometimes moments when you lose track of what the right direction is and how you got here. I always come back to the grounding idea of what it is I want to achieve, and using that as my foundation has served me well time and time again.

My advice to those considering joining Mercari would be to have a clear goal in mind. That will give you clarity on what it is you want to achieve and what kind of world you want to create. I hope this advice will help more people enjoy what they do every day, the way I do.

——With all the experience and knowledge you’ve accumulated, there must be times when you feel overwhelmed. How do you take care of your mental health?

I create an environment in which I can come out and say I’m having a hard time if I’m having a hard time. To borrow the words of my mentor Koizumi, “Create an organization in which you can tell your team when you’re struggling, feeling stuck, or think you could’ve done better.”

Conveying how I’m feeling openly not only creates a sense of understanding and unity but motivates everyone on the team to work together in solving the problem. That’s why when I’m having a hard time, the first people I tell are my own members. I feel lighter, and the team feels motivated to work together.

Bonus: How I use Mercari!

I use Mercari to buy clothes. This app is truly a treasure trove for those who enjoy fashion. With time, the fashion-oriented users on the app have developed an eye for good pieces and it’s become harder to snag items for a steal, but on the other hand there are now more opportunities to discover new items. It’s like an enormous thrift shop with a virtually infinite amount of items, and I love digging through it whenever I find a spare moment. (laughs)

Text：Yuta Ishikawa　Photo：Tomohiro Takeshita