Noriyuki Matsuda, CEO of AI Simultaneous Interpreter “Pocket Talk” — This is the Real “Honyaku Konyaku

Poketalk X” is scheduled to go on sale this year. It is a stationary AI simultaneous interpreter developed based on “Pocket Talk-Sentio,” software that enables real-time interpretation and understanding of 42 languages spoken by the other party in 77 languages with voice and text. The system has already been tested at airport counters, and Japanese and foreigners who cannot speak Japanese at all are said to be able to communicate without any problems.

We had a hard time studying English. Moreover, no matter how much I studied, I could never be as good as a native English speaker. I thought it was too difficult for Japanese people to begin with. I thought we needed something magical to make it happen.”

Part 1: Instant translation of 42 languages! Noriyuki Matsuda, CEO of Pocket Talk: “We have finally created what we really wanted to create.

Sales have increased sevenfold.

This is what a translator was all about. In fact, he tried to work on it in the sixth year after the founding of Source Next, but gave up when he realized it was impossible. The turning point came four years after the move, in 2004. He had started a service that forwarded the voicemails on his smartphone via text, and was amazed at the accuracy of the service. The technology had evolved.

The key to a translator is to first convert the Japanese spoken by the user into proper text. Until then, the problem was poor Japanese language recognition capability.

From there, it was a quick turnaround, and within a year the first machine was released to the world.

We chose the best translation engine for each language. We chose the best translation engine for each language, so we didn’t have to use the same company’s engine.

This led to amazing translation accuracy. The microphone performance was carefully selected so that it could pick up the words well, and the system can be used immediately after purchase, without the need for a complicated contract. After repeated interviews with users, the following year the company released a second model with a larger screen and easier-to-use features. A third model with a camera function was also released. However, in 2008, the new Corona arrived at a time when sales of Pocket Talk alone had reached 9 billion yen. Travel demand disappeared. Seventy percent of sales disappeared. However, unexpected demand was found.

In fact, about 20% of the people in the U.S. could not speak English well enough to begin with.

When the new coronas were used in hospitals providing treatment for the new type of corona, there was a storm of additional orders. There was also a need for workers in warehouses and other facilities. Corporate demand boosted sales to seven times the pre-Corona level.

To be honest, we never expected this.

In fact, there had been calls to invest in the Pocket Talk business for some time. However, the Poketalk business accounted for too much of Source Next’s sales. In order to detach the Poketalk business, a resolution of the general meeting of shareholders was required. However, the COVID-19 crisis reduced the sales ratio of Poketalk, and this problem was eliminated. Matsuda decided to spin off Poketalk. In 1947, he created the company and later raised 10 billion yen. Based on this, development proceeded on “Pocket Talk Subtitles,” the Pocket Talk application, and “Pocket Talk-Sentio,” real-time interpretation software. As mentioned above, the words spoken in any language are displayed on the screen with ease. Moreover, the accuracy is quite high. Recently, it has been used at international conferences.

The market is worldwide. Half of the company’s sales are already overseas, but such a Japanese start-up is rare, he says.

I think this is one of the good things about moving to Silicon Valley,” he said. In fact, there are examples of this right around the corner.”

During a walk with his children, he once had a conversation with Larry Page, one of the founders of Google. He smiled like an angel and shook my hand.

I learned that a very ordinary, decent person had achieved tremendous success.”

His hobby is baseball. He pitches for a grass-roots baseball team, and in his 40s once threw a complete game with nine strikeouts. In recent years, he has appeared on the ceremonial first pitch of a professional baseball game, once throwing a pitch 110 km/h. “When I return to Japan, I will definitely go to the storefront,” he said.

When I come back to Japan, I always stand in the store,” he said. Some people complained on the sales floor for almost an hour, but they were surprised when I handed them my business card at the end. But the key is to make sure they don’t recognize me as the president (laughs). Otherwise, you can’t get the real story.

The day may not be far off when the English complex among Japanese people will disappear. (Honorifics omitted in the text)

From the May 15-22, 2026 issue of “FRIDAY.