About

I'm Hiro, a solo marketer based in Japan. I spent years in SEO consulting before going out on my own, and these days I run several small projects by myself. The only way that works is automation, so most of what keeps my business running is built with Make and AI.

I'm not an engineer. Everything here was built by someone who learned by breaking things, and I write it down the same way: what I built, what it costs each month, and what went wrong.

Why "Shikake"

Shikake (仕掛け) is a Japanese word for a mechanism that quietly makes something happen. There is even a field of study around it, called Shikakeology, about designs that nudge people into acting without being told. That is what I want from my automations: small mechanisms that keep a one-person business moving while I do the work only I can do.

What you'll find here

• Build logs: automations I actually run, and how they are wired.
• Cost breakdowns: operations, plans and real monthly costs, in USD and JPY.
• Japan angle: connecting Japanese services such as LINE.
• The Shikake Log: notes from running a one-person business in Japan.

How I write

Every build log is based on something I built and use. If I haven't tried something, I say so. Some links are affiliate links; see the affiliate disclosure for how that works.