We are one of the few builders of systems
that keep working deep in the mountains, beyond mobile coverage.
We are a "jōhō kōmuten" — a hands-on software builder, like a local building contractor. For more than ten years, we have built communication and location-sharing systems that work in forestry sites out of mobile coverage. We build everything from embedded software to apps, business systems and AI agents.
We also repair systems built with AI that have stopped working.
At a smart forestry training session held by Nagasaki Prefecture (FY2024)
News
- NewsWe released Yomu-co, a free app for recording field notes by voice
- TalkOur CEO explained in-forest communication in the Forestry Agency of Japan's Smart Forestry Online Course 4
- NewspaperSoko-co was featured in an article on JVCKENWOOD in Nokei Shimpo, No. 3598
Our track record as an FDE in forestry
A Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) works on site with the customer and turns the problems found there into systems that work on the spot.
It began in 2015, when our founder, Kentaro Kitahara, joined an ideathon on forestry. There he learned that in the mountains, beyond mobile coverage, forestry workers could not see where their coworkers were, and he started visiting forestry sites. He took prototypes into the mountains, listened to the workers, fixed what they pointed out, and eventually worked through trial and error all the way to developing hardware. He has kept doing this for more than ten years.
To understand how radio signals travel inside forests, he entered the Graduate School of Kagoshima University as a working adult student after turning 40, and ran repeated communication tests in the mountains. What he learned was that the radio standard of our own devices could not deliver enough performance.
The system was then rebuilt around JVCKENWOOD's professional two-way radios, and it is now used by forest owners' cooperatives (member-owned organizations that manage private forests) across Japan. In 2025, we obtained a patent for the location-sharing system.
He was also honored to serve as a lecturer on in-forest communication in the Forestry Agency of Japan's Smart Forestry Online Course. We work the same way outside forestry: we go on site and build there. We look forward to your next challenge.
Services
By using generative AI thoroughly as a tool, we can now build end to end, with one person, work that used to require adding more people.
But judging whether AI-written code is correct and will last takes the experience of having written code yourself.
We check what is inside with eyes trained by over 30 years of programming, and deliver it as a craftsman's work.
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AI agentsBusiness systemsSmartphone apps
We build AI agents that search your internal documents and data to answer questions, and that operate your business systems. We also take on web-based business systems and smartphone apps as a whole, from sorting out requirements to operation. We are also good at building AI into your work: reading paper forms and PDFs, voice input, counting objects in photos, and more.
Guide price: from about $3,300Track record
- Operation and improvement of a payroll system that could never stop, 24/7 (nearly 9 years)
- An AI agent platform connecting internal document search with business systems (prototype, 2025)
- An app that reads PDF questionnaires with OCR and tallies them with AI on our own server (2026)
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Hardware integrationEmbedded softwareSmartphone integration
We build systems that connect devices such as radios, sensors and smartwatches with smartphones and servers, covering everything from device-side software to apps and servers. We also welcome inquiries from field-based work such as agriculture, fisheries, construction and local governments.
Pricing: quoted individually based on your needsTrack record
- Mobile phone handset development (two feature phones and two smartphones)
- A location-sharing system that works with professional digital two-way radios (patented)
- Low-power wireless communication devices and a smartwatch app
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R&DPoCJoint research
We turn ideas that have not yet taken shape into working prototypes to test them. We also take on joint research with universities and research institutes.
Pricing: quoted individuallyTrack record
- Development of a location-sharing system under a Forestry Agency of Japan project
- Joint research with Kagoshima University
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Repairing AI-built systemsTakeoverSmall business tools
Something you built with ChatGPT or Claude that stopped working, or a system whose developer you can no longer reach: we read the code, find the cause, and propose whether to fix it or rebuild it. We also take on small business tools, such as automating Excel tallies or input apps for field staff.
Guide price: diagnosis from about $350Track record
- Rebuilding an AI-built social media marketing tool and smartphone app
- Taking over and improving web systems and tablet apps built by other companies
- A web system for checking seedling inventory
Products
For forestry
Recommended
The forestry edition of Soko-co. It shares workers' locations and hazard spots on a map designed for forestry. Combined with JVCKENWOOD's professional two-way radios, it works even in the mountains beyond mobile coverage.
We recommend this edition for forest owners' cooperatives introducing it for the first time.
Visit the product site
An AI that counts logs from a single photo. At log yards and during transport, it cuts the work of counting by hand and reduces miscounts.
Product site
A free app that records log top-end diameters and survey items just by reading them aloud. Even with your hands full on site, you keep a record without writing in a field notebook.
Product siteFor work beyond mobile coverage (any industry)
Standard
Shares locations with two-way radios and smartphones, even out of mobile coverage. Besides forestry, it can be used at quarries, mountain construction sites, power line maintenance, search operations during disasters, and more.
As a product listed in the Safety Products Catalog of the National Federation of Forest Owners' Co-operative Associations (Zenmoriren), it is eligible for subsidies under The Norinchukin Bank's forestry worker safety improvement program when introduced by forest owners' cooperatives and similar organizations.
Visit the product siteAwards, patents and media coverage
Awards & patents
- 2025Patent obtained for the location-sharing system (Japanese Patent No. 7655489)
- 2020Special Award from the Director-General of the Hokkaido Regional Forest Office (Kita-no-Kuni Forest Development Technology Exchange Presentations)
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- 2019NoMaps NEDO Dream Pitch: Judges' Special Award and Mt.Fuji Innovation Engine Award
- 2019Letter of appreciation from the Governor of Hokkaido (for naming the Hokkaido Kita-no-Mori Zukuri Senmon Gakuin, a vocational school for forestry)
Talks & presentations
- 2026Special lecture at the Hokkaido Crushed Stone Technology Study Group (safety initiatives in forestry)
- 2026Lecturer, Forestry Agency of Japan, Smart Forestry Online Course 4
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- 2025Speaker, Forest Civil Engineering Technical Seminar (Sapporo)
- 2024Presentation at Zenmoriren's Symposium on Strengthening Forestry Management; pitch at the Mori Hub Symposium (Shin-Kiba, Tokyo)
- 2020Speaker, Forestry Mechanization Promotion Symposium
- 2018Speaker, NoMaps "Innovation in Forestry as a 'Growth Industry,' Seen from Hokkaido"; National Wood Town Summit 2018 in Tsubetsu
Media
- RadioONE MORNING on 35 stations nationwide (2021); an internet radio program for forestry workers (2020)
- NewspapersHokkaido Shimbun, Nikkan Mokuzai Shimbun, Min'yurin Shimbun, Rinsei News, Nokei Shimpo, Noson News, Hokkaido Kensetsu Shimbun (The Hokkaido Construction News)
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- Magazines & journalsShinrin Kumiai (journal of the forest owners' cooperatives), Rinya (Forestry Agency of Japan's public relations magazine), Gendai Ringyo, Kikaika Ringyo, Forest Journal, Zorin Jiho, Green & Life (The Norinchukin Bank)
- TV & webNHK Hokkaido news (2018, interviewed in Tsubetsu), JVCKENWOOD customer case study, Kurashigoto
Exhibits at our sales partners' booths
- 2026FORESTRISE 2026 (Tokyo Big Sight, JVCKENWOOD's booth)
- 2025CEATEC 2025 (JVCKENWOOD's booth), Forestry Machinery Innovation Festa 2025 in Oita (JVCKENWOOD's booth)
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- 2024FORESTRISE 2024 and the Fukui Prefecture forestry mechanization exhibition (Yazaki Corporation's booth), Disaster Prevention EXPO (JVCKENWOOD and SoftBank's booth)
- 2019FORESTRISE 2019 (Nagano, Plum System's booth)
Pricing guide
These figures are guides based on our past projects; they are not a cap or a promised price.
Depending on scale and scope, costs may exceed these ranges. After hearing about your needs, we will give you a written quote.
Note: Additions beyond the scope agreed at the start are quoted separately. Meetings are generally held online.
Prices are shown as rough US dollar figures (about ¥150 = $1). Quotes and invoices are issued in Japanese yen.
Diagnosis & quick fixesRising demand
Guide$350–1,000excl. tax
- What's included
- Interview, diagnosis of the current state and a security check with a written report, and fixes that take about one or two days
- Timeline
- 3–5 business days
- For example
- "The app I built with AI doesn't work"
"Please look at the system our previous vendor built"
"Please check for data leaks before we launch"
Small toolsPopular
Guide$1,300–3,300excl. tax
- What's included
- A small tool with about three features and three screens
- Timeline
- 3–6 weeks, with free fixes for one month after delivery
- For example
- Automating Excel tallies
A smartphone input app for field staff
A booking and reception admin screen
Automating routine daily emails and notifications
Business systems & AI agents
Guidefrom $3,300excl. tax
Most projects run to tens of thousands of dollars, and some go beyond that
- What's included
- Systems with multiple features, AI agents, and built-in AI such as OCR, document search and voice input
- Timeline
- 1–6 months, with free fixes for one month after delivery
- For example
- Reading handwritten PDFs with AI OCR and searching them with RAG
Smartphone apps (iPhone and Android) with an admin screen
Business systems connected to sensors or two-way radios
Maintenance after delivery
Guidefrom $70/monthexcl. tax
For a monthly fee, we check that things are running, make small fixes, and answer your questions. We also welcome inquiries about maintaining systems built by other companies.
Before you ask us
When we build something new, or rebuild an existing system, we design it with operation after delivery in mind.
In maintaining existing systems, we kept improving a payroll system that ran 24/7 for nearly nine years, and saw it through until the system was retired in 2025.
For that reason, if your request is "money is no object, just make it fast," or if you choose a vendor on price alone, we recommend other companies. Something built in a hurry costs more to fix later.
With customers who will think through what to develop together with us, we stay committed all the way to the end.
Availability
Please ask about our availability through the contact form.
◎ Plenty of room◯ Available△ Please ask✕ Fully booked
Check availability and contact usEarly-start offerFirst 3 clientsUntil January 31, 2027
If you start development by January 31, 2027,
we will take 10% off the development fee. The offer applies to Small tools and Business systems & AI agents. We can offer this because other projects are wrapping up and we will have a little room.
Note: The offer requires a maintenance contract after delivery (from $70/month).
Contact
This form goes directly to my own sales inbox. There is no one in between.
Whether it is about development or our products, feel free to get in touch, even if your thoughts are not fully organized yet!Note: I do not accept sales pitches from system development companies or recruitment agencies.
Please understand that I will not reply to such messages.