How Japan un-banned defense investing, Anduril, Terra Drone, and the 2026 white paper | Build with Japan #1

“Things happen slowly in Japan until they don’t.” In the first episode of Build with Japan, Coral Capital Partner Rie Yano sits down with Founding Partner & CEO James Riney to unpack Japan's defense tech awakening. James tells the inside story of how a firm that is "not a defense tech investor per se" ended up helping unwind the decades-old side letter restrictions keeping venture money out of defense, a change he expected to take three years that landed in six months. Also: Why Coral is investing in Defense Inside the 2026 bōei hakusho, and why Japan is adopting AI and drones out of demographic necessity The public vibe shift: Rakuten stepping into defense drones, boycott calls fizzling, and support for strengthening the SDF tripling since 2009 Terra Drone's interceptor drone win Anduril's plan to pour hundreds of millions, maybe billions, into building in Japan Connect with us: James Riney: LinkedIn X Rie Yano: LinkedIn X Coral Capital: https://coralcap.co/ Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:06 Why We Are Looking at Defense 09:33 The 2026 Defense White Paper 16:37 Rakuten Enters the Defense Sector 20:20 Terra Drone Deep Dive 27:40 Who Should Build Japan's Defense Base? 31:03 Key Players in Japan’s Defense Tech