Jeffrey Funk is a technology consultant and a former professor at Hitotsubashi University. Adam Acar is a freelance researcher, adviser of Japan Team Building at Maikoya Kyoto and a former professor at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies.
While the world experimented with ride-hailing services from Uber Technologies, Lyft, Grab, Didi Global and Ola, Japan resisted, only recently allowing Uber to work through taxi companies. The huge losses for these ride-hailing services suggest that Japan's decision may have been the right one.