Asian Boss

Tomorrow, we’re launching AB VOICES with our first-ever livestream.

Our topic: What Happened to Japan’s Salaryman Culture?

The scheduled livestream is now up on our YouTube channel under the Live tab. You can also go directly to it here: youtube.com/live/euq6rhL302A
Click “Notify Me” and YouTube will remind you when we go live.

We’ll be speaking directly with people who have worked inside Japanese companies about what the culture is actually like today, what has changed since the old “salaryman” era, what hasn’t, and why some of them eventually decided to leave corporate life altogether.

This is exactly what AB VOICES is supposed to be about: hearing directly from our community and people with firsthand experience, instead of relying only on reports, statistics, or online stereotypes.

See you tomorrow!

6 days ago | [YT] | 4

Asian Boss

We are super excited to announce that our first-ever livestream session will be on Wednesday, September 16 at 11AM Korea/Japan time.

Even though we now have our signature explainer format that delivers some of the most in-depth and nuanced insights on Asia-related topics, Asian Boss has spent more than 10 years going out onto the streets to hear directly from ordinary people across Asia.

AB VOICES, our new livestream format, is our attempt to scale that original street interview format by letting our viewers and community join us directly and share their own local insights and firsthand experiences with our global audience.

The goal is simple: go beyond AI-generated reports and statistics, hear directly from people who actually live it, fact-check our research in real time, and even help shape our future explainers together.

And hopefully, once and for all, dispel the crazy rumor that our founder Stephen is AI-generated 😂

The topic of our first livestream will be:
Are Japanese salarymen really as overworked and miserable as the internet makes them out to be in 2026?

This is NOT another one-way livestream where Stephen just talks into the camera about himself. We want this to be a genuinely interactive format where we hear directly from our guests and dig deeper into their experiences.

We’re hoping AB VOICES can become a regular recurring format, and this first livestream will help us figure out how to improve it and deliver even more value to our audience beyond our explainers.

So mark your calendar:
📅 Wed, Sep 16
⏰ 11AM Korea/Japan time

Hope to see you there!

1 week ago | [YT] | 280

Asian Boss

Chipotle just opened its FIRST location in Asia, in Gangnam, Seoul 🇰🇷

And surprise, surprise… people are reportedly waiting up to 3 hours to get in, just like they did when Shake Shack and Five Guys first arrived in Seoul.

So why do American fast-food brands generate this much hype in South Korea, and who’s actually behind bringing these brands into the country?

If you haven’t already, make sure to check out our previous deep dive explaining this very phenomenon and the social engineering and business strategy behind it right here: https://youtu.be/WBregydMsqw

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2 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 487

Asian Boss

Remember Huawei? At one point, it was the world’s second-largest smartphone maker and looked like it could seriously challenge Apple and Samsung.

Then it was effectively banned from the U.S. in 2019, and its global smartphone business collapsed as a result.

So what happened to Huawei? Did the U.S. successfully contain the company… or did the ban completely backfire?

Watch our new episode to find out, because you might be surprised by what Huawei has quietly become.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 130

Asian Boss

We’re hiring a Junior Researcher / Scriptwriter!

For over a decade, Asian Boss has been delivering authentic, on-the-ground insights and perspectives from Asia to a global English-speaking audience.

We started from nothing, conducting street interviews with real people across Asia, and eventually became the biggest street interview-based YouTube channel in the world focused on real opinions from ordinary people.

Now we’re evolving into long-form explainers and deep-dive stories that deliver the nuanced Asia-related insights the world rarely gets from Western mainstream headlines. Why? Because our mission is to become THE go-to source for Asia-related insights and help the world understand the real Asia. Relying only on mainstream media narratives often leads to misunderstanding, division, and a shallow view of what is really happening across the region.

After surviving multiple financial hardships during COVID, we’re now growing bigger and faster than ever before. But the only reason we’re here is because of our obsessive work ethic when it comes to research, fact-checking, storytelling, and communicating complex ideas across cultural and language barriers. Because of our reach, we often get held to a higher standard than most mainstream media outlets. That scrutiny is something we take seriously.

Now we’re looking for a superstar researcher/scriptwriter who can help take the quality of our content to the next level.
If you are exceptional at thinking independently and critically, questioning assumptions, asking better questions, digging out original insights, and organizing messy information into compelling stories that can cross cultural and language barriers, your work deserves to be seen by millions.

We couldn’t care less which university you went to or where you worked. You could be a communications major, an aspiring journalist, a PhD candidate, or an experienced lawyer. Doesn’t matter. If you’re a real fan of our mission and our AB Explained series format, and you genuinely think you can help us research deeper and write sharper, smarter, more engaging scripts without relying on AI-generated shortcuts, let’s talk.

Here is the full JD: docs.google.com/document/d/1d4mjnE2gyhwWCH8BIUHdwK…

If you happen to know someone who immediately pops to mind while reading this, please tag them or send them this post.

To everyone, thank you for sticking with us during the hard times. We’ll keep striving to deliver better, deeper, and more consistent stories from Asia, and we hope you’ll stay engaged and grow with us on this journey.

Stay curious,
Stephen
Founder, Asian Boss

2 months ago | [YT] | 402

Asian Boss

From its humble beginnings as a small ice cream parlor, Jollibee has grown into one of the world’s fast food giants—and a true symbol of Filipino pride, representing Filipino culture on the global stage.

But how did they actually pull it off? What’s the strategy behind their global rise—and is there an even bigger plan at play?

More importantly, can other Asian companies ever reach this level of global success?

In our upcoming episode, we go deep into how this Filipino brand is quietly taking over the world.

Watch it on the Asian Boss YouTube channel. Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don’t miss it—we’re going live soon.

⏰ 7:30 PM PT (Thursday) | 10:30 AM PHT (Friday)

See you there. 🐝✨

4 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 907

Asian Boss

BREAKING: South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has just been arrested after a six-hour standoff, following his impeachment for declaring martial law.

1 year ago | [YT] | 3,713

Asian Boss

Joojin Kim is a former corporate lawyer and the founder & CEO of Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), an independent nonprofit organization that aims to accelerate effective climate action and energy transition in Asia. Check out our interview with Joojin Kim on our podcast channel https://youtu.be/DPtJbSRFL-k?si=Aw1Zh...

1 year ago | [YT] | 191

Asian Boss

Tomorrow at 11:30 AM (Korean Standard Time), we’re releasing a very special video—our first-ever story from Malaysia!

Did you know that 29.7% of Malaysian children under the age of five have suffered from stunted growth in the past five years? Or that more than half of the children in low-income households in the capital eat fewer than three meals a day? In this video, we step into the life of a single mom and her children to bring them a surprise.

Make sure to turn on your notifications so you don’t miss it. If you’re inspired to take action, visit Milk for Hope give.asia/campaign/milkforhope#/story to learn more about how you can help. Together, we can shine a light on this important cause and spread hope to those who need it most.

1 year ago | [YT] | 533

Asian Boss

It is with a heavy heart that we share the news of the passing of Byung-wook Lee, the 93-year-old Korean War veteran grandpa who touched many of our viewers' hearts when he appeared in our video two years ago. He passed away just a few days ago, but his spirit, kindness, and incredible life story will remain with us forever.

We are deeply grateful that we had the opportunity to be a small part of his journey. Many of you may remember the special moment when we surprised him in our video—a gesture that, as he told us many times, became one of the highlights of his life. Even until his final days, Mr. Lee remained grateful for that experience and spoke about how much Asian Boss meant to him.

His strength, humility, and warmth left a lasting impression on all of us. As we reflect on his life, we are reminded of the resilience and sacrifices of his generation, and how important it is to share their stories.

Thank you, Mr. Lee, for allowing us to be a part of your legacy. You will be missed, but never forgotten.

2 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 884