Unlocking AI in Small Businesses: Insights from a Recent Seminar

Seminar Highlights: Addressing Labor Shortages with AI

On March 10, 2026, Meets Consulting, led by CEO Yuta Ito, held an insightful seminar at KOTOBUKIYA-Hall in Tachikawa, Tokyo. Titled '2026 Latest AI × EC Trends: Practical AI Strategies to Solve Labor Shortages for Small Enterprises,' the event attracted 68 participants, including small business owners and e-commerce professionals. The focus was on demystifying AI and providing actionable insights for its application in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Why AI Adoption is Lagging in Japan

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the personal use rate of generative AI in Japan stands at only 26.7%, lagging behind countries like the USA (68.8%) and China (81.2%). Furthermore, a 2025 study by Taskhub reported a mere 5% adoption rate of generative AI among Japanese SMEs. The most common reasons cited for not using AI include: 1) not seeing the need and 2) lack of understanding on how to use it. Ito perceives this gap as a knowledge issue and designed the seminar to equip attendees with straightforward, practical knowledge to help them start using AI immediately.

Seminar Structure: Knowledge, Experience, and Practice

The seminar was divided into three parts, seamlessly interlinking Knowledge, Experience, and Practice:

PART 01: Key Changes to Anticipate (15 minutes)

The first segment highlighted three pivotal transformations that will affect the business environment in 2026:
1. Transitioning from searching to asking AI for information.
2. The evolution of AI from being a tool to becoming a co-worker.
3. The intensification of the AI gap among businesses.

Ito emphasized that customers will increasingly rely on AI rather than traditional search engines for purchasing decisions, noting that review quality and product information will become far more important than advertising budgets. He also showcased a case study from Fujitsu, which demonstrated how AI reduced system reconstruction time from three months to just four hours.

PART 02: Live Demo with Claude (35 minutes)

The audience experienced the capabilities of the generative AI assistant Claude, developed by Anthropic. Three demonstrations were conducted:

DEMO 1: Drafting Customer Response Emails
Simulating a renovation company in the Tama region, Ito demonstrated how to create a response email to customer complaints by combining role settings, background information, output formats, and instructions. Participants witnessed how high-quality, personalized responses could be generated within seconds.

DEMO 2: Bulk Generation of Product Descriptions & Social Media Posts
A single input about a product led to the automated creation of product descriptions for platforms like Rakuten and Amazon, as well as posts for Instagram and articles for newsletters. Ito illustrated this technique's applicability to various industries, including construction and manufacturing.

DEMO 3: AI as a Co-Decision Maker for Executives
Participants learned how AI could suggest concrete actions for common concerns in SMEs, such as hiring and online client acquisition. Ito portrayed AI as an always-available advisor ready to assist in crucial business decisions.

PART 03: Three Immediate Actions to Take (10 minutes)

Lastly, Ito presented three actionable steps:
1. Register for Claude for free.
2. Reevaluate your company's information dissemination (product details, reviews, website).
3. Instill a habit of having AI draft at least one email per week to foster a comfortable relationship with AI.

Ito concluded with a powerful statement: “Create a rough draft in three minutes and polish it to perfection later; this is the essence of effective AI usage.”

Post-Seminar Reactions: Spark of Transformation

Following the seminar, 18 out of 68 participants sought individual consultations with Ito. Business owners already utilizing AI expressed their needs for guidance on selecting optimal AI tools and differentiating between tasks best left to AI versus human expertise.

Conversely, those considering the adoption of AI voiced concerns about where to begin and how to leverage existing internal data and human skills into AI assets. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many noting the seminar's enlightening nature, showcasing the growing fervor for transformation among small business leaders.

Speaker Profile: Yuta Ito (CEO, Meets Consulting Inc.)

Hailing from Hult International Business School (USA, MBA with distinction) and certified as a small business consultant, Ito's journey began at just fifteen when he lost his father, who was also an entrepreneur. His desire to support fellow business owners drove him to create Meets Consulting. Having previously received the highest accolades during his three years as an e-commerce consultant at Amazon Japan, Ito has supported over 200 companies in growing their digital presence.

Ito embodies a hands-on approach, believing in practical solutions over mere theoretical support. His directing of a web retail company led to an impressive annual turnover of 1 billion yen within just four years. Specializing in the intersection of e-commerce, AI, and management, he remains committed to bolstering the growth of SMEs in Japan.