Japan’s Evolving Open-Source Culture: A Rapid Change in Traditional Companies Like Hitachi

In the early 2000s, I was an American in Tokyo, serving as president of TurboLinux Japan, the largest Japanese Linux company. During this period, I encountered many exceptional Japanese open-source developers. Their skill and dedication were apparent, showcasing a meticulous focus on quality and detail — a true hallmark of Japan's approach to software development. 

This focus has led to contributions that have shaped global projects and produced standout examples, like the Ruby programming language, in the realm of open-source development. However, while Japan excels in contributing to open source, it often plays a supporting rather than leading role on the international stage. It's a long list of examples including the Linux kernel, Kubernetes, KeyCloak, and many, many more.

A key difference between Japan and the United States in those days was the professional environment for open-source talent. In Japan, many of the most talented developers worked full-time in large, traditional technology hardware companies. These companies were well-established, with hierarchical structures and focused on long-term employment. This setting contrasted sharply with the more dynamic and freewheeling culture surrounding open source in the US, where contributors often worked independently or in small, fast-moving startups.

This cultural contrast between the structured world of Japanese technology firms and the flexible, experimental ethos of the US open-source community fascinated me. It highlighted how different work environments could shape the contributions and careers of talented developers. Despite these differences, the commitment to excellence in both settings demonstrated the universal passion that drives innovation in software development.

Last month, I had lunch in Palo Alto, California, with a group of Hitachi engineers involved in open-source education. I learned about big changes in large Japanese companies in a new movement to embrace open source. This is a departure from the traditional Japanese strategy of building proprietary value internally and protecting the value generated with patents.

I decided to read through Japanese articles on open source and found inspiring information about the work of a Hitachi employee, an open source specialist, and advocate, Yuichi Nakamura. Currently, Nakamura is the chief OSS strategist of the OSS Solution Center, as well as an evangelist at the Linux Foundation Japan and a founder of CNCJ, and is committed to developing the open-source community in Japan. 

Nakamura got involved in open source while doing research in college at Tokyo University, an elite school in Japan. He started using Linux around 2001 because it was free. He got deeply involved with open source and joined Hitachi’s research and development department to pursue a career in open source. His initial research focused on SELinux, a security variant of Linux.

Hitachi has been contributing to various open-source communities since the 1990s and has strengthened and promoted proactive open-source utilization proposals to customers. It is also active as a platinum member of The Linux Foundation.

As most of the information is in Japanese, I have spent time translating and summarizing the information to better understand Japan’s open-source strategy. I have compiled some of what Nakamura has been saying online.

Nakamura believes that the era of building systems using internal technology only is over. Companies around the globe regularly incorporate open-source software to build advanced solutions. He says that it is important for companies to incorporate open-source software into their company strategies.

You Can’t Do System Integration Business Without OSS

How did you get involved with OSS after joining Hitachi?

At first, I was young, so I was allowed to do whatever I wanted in research, but then I started incorporating it into products, and I became involved in development projects for products using so-called open source. But it didn't go well. I missed everything.

Why didn't it go well?

It was simply because I had no business experience. Up until then, I had only been doing research, so I didn't know how it would be used on the front lines, what kind of requests customers had, or how to proceed.

After that, I left the research and development department to gain business experience, and at that time, I continued it as a personal academic hobby rather than as a job. Then, about seven years ago, the current department, the OSS Solution Center, was established, and I transferred there and have been working on OSS-related business ever since.

You've been doing OSS activities for a long time, but it was only seven years ago that you established a specialized department.

That's because there were still few OSS personnel. Linux was an exception, but until about ten years ago, there wasn't much awareness within the company of actively using OSS, which was not a commercial product.

In that situation, an executive who understood OSS promoted the establishment of a specialized department, thinking, "Without OSS, we can't do the system integration business," and I was very grateful.

I Want To Continue Creating Cloud-Native Technology Originating in Japan

Speaking of Nakamura, you are also one of the founders of CNCJ (Cloud Native Community Japan), which was launched recently. Please tell us about the background of the launch of CNCJ.

The idea of "cloud-native" has been spreading recently, and globally, about 850 companies and organizations around the world, mainly including large cloud ventures, have joined the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) to develop basic technologies and provide them as services while differentiating them well.

Looking at Japan, the large cloud services that were created are just used as they are, and original technology development is not being done. Frankly speaking, it's not interesting, and technology development in such an environment does not get much traction.

What is the biggest reason for the lack of excitement?

I think it's that we can't decide the direction of the technology ourselves.

There are many things that are difficult to use, and we want to fix, but when it comes to general foreign vendors, they are not made in Japan, so they are not very good at fixing them.

Of course, many people are working hard individually, but it is difficult to find a company. The habit of a closed strategy that differentiates from patents is ingrained, which is important, but I feel that the big problem is that open source has not been incorporated into the technology/management strategy.

With this background, we launched CNCJ to continuously produce cloud-native technology originating from Japan. Hitachi also started saying "cloud-native" a little late, but there are few companies in Japan that are doing open source and cloud, so as a company, we are participating with that sense of purpose.

The establishment of CNCJ was announced on November 8, 2023. Please tell us about the situation since then.

Our biggest activity is holding meetups. We have already held more than ten meetups, and from Golden Week in 2024 onwards, we have had many people participate by having each subgroup lead the meetups. Other than that, we just promote the organization and help attract people to events. We also discussed CNCJ's efforts at KubeDay Japan 2024, held in August 2024.

What do you want to work on at CNCJ in the future?

Currently, we have just under 500 members, but we would like to expand our reach and become number one in Asia.

It is important to increase contributions to the CNCF itself, but I think one of the challenges to do so is to have it incorporated into the technology/management strategy, as I mentioned earlier.

That is a matter specific to each company, so it seems like it will be difficult to move forward quickly.

From that perspective, I hope that CNCJ can function as a kind of external pressure and promote it by introducing examples from other organizations.

Over the past ten years or so, there has been a lot of momentum for "using open source in business," and the number of companies actually getting involved is increasing, so things are changing. On the other hand, it is still only a matter of using it, so I think the next point is to take it to a strategic level.

I Think “I” Am the One Who Benefits the Most From Job-Based Human Resource Management

Please tell us about the positive impact of OSS activities on Hitachi.

I think this was mentioned in a previous interview with Tabata from our company, but by developing a business that utilizes OSS as a company, we end up contributing to the community. Promoting our efforts outside the company also comes back to Hitachi's business. I think this cycle is a valuable system for Hitachi, and we are currently receiving more inquiries from customers about using OSS.

That's the joy of OSS! Please tell us about the appeal of being involved with OSS as an employee of Hitachi, a major Japanese company.

I am very grateful that the company officially recognizes these activities and evaluates them as specialist career paths. Hitachi is a company with a long history, so it has traditionally been a generalist company, and it was rare for people to work as specialists.

With the introduction of job-based human resource management and the clear career path for specialists, I feel that I can be involved in open source freely. 2021, when you interviewed us previously, was a transitional period, so I feel that the scope of my career has expanded more than it was then.

So, such a change has occurred in about three years.

If you ask me which member has benefited most from job-based human resource management, I would answer without hesitation, "It's me." Again, I think one of the attractions of the company is that they recognize the importance of OSS to their business and have set up a specialized department in the form of the OSS Solution Center. After all, there are limitations to what you can achieve when working as an individual.

For example, what are the limitations?

For example, travel expenses to attend conferences must be borne by the individual, and cultivating personal connections is also difficult, so if you want to make an impact on the world, it will be difficult without the backing of a company.

In the case of Hitachi, we are a platinum member of The Linux Foundation, so if you contact us, we will give you top priority and introduce you to people. There are only three companies in Japan that can enjoy platinum status.

Another good point is that we can engage in OSS activities while taking advantage of the Hitachi Group's vast resources and know-how. Generally, when a business company tries to engage in OSS activities, it is necessary to work only on things that are used in the company's own services, but in the case of Hitachi, we develop so many services that we need a wide range of OSS. I feel that this is a really big advantage.

I Want to Change the Culture of Open Source in Japan

What do you think is rewarding about OSS for you, Nakamura?

It's the fact that it's open as a technology, so you can see what's inside. As someone who originally studied basic academic subjects such as physics, I personally find it attractive and rewarding to be able to explore the contents. And then there's the "people." You can meet people from all over the world and have academic discussions, regardless of competition. I find it fun in that sense, too.

Please tell us about your future efforts and challenges.

I would like to make the OSS cycle I mentioned earlier something that goes beyond the OSS Solution Center and can be carried out throughout Hitachi.

If we do this across Hitachi, we can utilize the Hitachi Group's vast resources and know-how to carry out OSS activities. I believe that if we work seriously while collaborating with and revitalizing communities outside the company, Japan's OSS culture will change.

I would also like to develop my career as an OSS specialist while also creating a path for other members to improve their skills and follow a career path as specialists.

References

I Want to Transform Japan's Open Source Culture! Exploring the Multifaceted Contributions of a Hitachi OSS Specialist