I'm a solo developer from Japan trying to ride the AI wave before it's too late — What would you want me to build?

Hey everyone,

I'm a solo developer based in Japan, working as an IT consultant by day and building products on the side.

Here's some context about why I'm doing this:

Japan is in a weird spot right now. The generative AI boom is exploding globally, but most Japanese people and companies are barely riding the wave. Japanese corporate culture is extremely cautious — decisions go through endless layers of approval, and "let's wait and see" is the default response to new technology. While the rest of the world is shipping AI-powered products every week, Japan is still having meetings about whether to start having meetings about AI.

I don't want to wait. I want to be one of the first Japanese developers to actually build and ship products using AI, and make a real business out of it. I figured: why not leverage the one thing I have that most indie hackers here don't — being Japanese.

Being based in Japan gives me some unique advantages:

• I can read Japanese (sounds obvious, but most of the world can't)
• I have access to Japan-only websites, data, and services
• I understand Japanese culture, regulations, and daily life from the inside

I want to build a small tool that leverages these advantages. Here are some rough ideas:

1. Japanese Product Label Scanner
You take a photo of a Japanese beauty product, supplement, or food item → get a full English translation of every ingredient with safety info and effects. (Google Translate can't handle specialized cosmetic/pharmaceutical terms accurately.)

2. Japanese Restaurant Menu Translator + Allergen Detector
Take a photo of a Japanese restaurant menu → get English translations, dish descriptions, and allergen warnings. (Dishes like "もつ煮込み" or "天ぷら盛り合わせ" don't translate well without cultural context.)

3. "Local's Pick" Japan Travel Spot Finder
Enter an area + your preferences → get hidden local spots that aren't on tourist sites. (I can access Japanese-only review sites like Tabelog that foreigners can't read.)

4. Japan Product Researcher (for resellers/importers)
Enter a product category → find trending products on Japanese Amazon/Rakuten that aren't available overseas, with pricing and margin estimates.

5. Japanese Font & Design Asset Finder
Enter your design use case → get a list of commercially-usable Japanese fonts with license info in English. (Japanese font licenses are written only in Japanese, so overseas designers can't tell if they're allowed to use them.)

But honestly, I'm more interested in what YOU actually need.

Is there anything you've wished a Japanese person could help you with or build for you? Something where the language barrier or lack of local knowledge has been a real blocker?

Would love to hear your thoughts — even if it's completely different from the ideas above.