[Report] The Story of a 2nd-Year Junior High Student Who Started a Business with New Year's Gift Money #jawsfesta2026 #jawsug #jawsfesta #jawsfesta2026_a

I'm emi, and I love coffee.

I attended JAWS FESTA 2026 in Akita, held on Saturday, 2026/11/07.
I listened to the session "The Story of a Second-Year Junior High Student Who Started a Business with New Year's Money", so here is my report.

The Story of a Second-Year Junior High Student Who Started a Business with New Year's Money | Timetable | JAWS FESTA 2026 in AKITA

https://jawsfesta2026.jaws-ug.jp/timetable/11344134-5fea-44e8-b3be-3022b12049f1

Session Information

• Session: The Story of a Second-Year Junior High Student Who Started a Business with New Year's Money
• Track: Classmethod Track (Medium Hall)
• Time: 15:50 - 16:10
• Speaker: Reiya Ono, First-year student at National Institute of Technology, Akita College / Founder / Owner of Reytech

In my second year of junior high school, I was invited to take a part-time job, and that led me to start a business.
In this LT, I will explain what kinds of difficulties there are when someone aged 15 or under wants to work part-time.
Then I will introduce why I chose starting a business as the way to solve that problem, and what advantages starting a business brought.
I will also talk about the process from knowing nothing about starting a business, to researching the necessary procedures, and actually starting the business using my New Year's money as capital.
I will also introduce the Akita bear problem-solving project I worked on after starting the business, and the work I was in charge of in it.
Furthermore, I will talk about my experience struggling through my first tax return, and the incident when a letter suddenly arrived from the Sendai Regional Taxation Bureau afterward.

Session Report

The presentation proceeded like a drama, using pictures on the slides.

At First, He Showed His Work to His Mother

• Mr. Ono loves making things with programming
• He would show what he made to his mother, saying "Look, look!", running it and explaining it
• His mother would say "Amazing!", but she had no idea what was inside the programs

A Drone-Related Company Reached Out at Hy-Labo

His mother, who didn't understand programming, wanted someone to talk about programming with her son, and what she found was "Hy-Labo".

It was described as a technology hub where children mainly aged 10 to 18 can freely experience making things and technology. I didn't know there was a place like this in Akita... amazing.

https://hy-labo.com/

Surrounded by mentors he could talk programming with, Mr. Ono talked about programming to his heart's content, and then Hy-Labo offered him a development job.

• A consultation from a drone-related company about detecting bears
• A request asking whether anyone who works with Python, uses AI and image analysis, and is interested in joint development could develop together with them

For the job details, a drone school called D Academy Tohoku was introduced.
https://www.3eye-bird.jp/

Taking the Job as a Business Owner Rather Than a Part-Timer → Starting a Business

• He was asked, "Once this system is done, how about a part-time contract for XX yen?"
• Until March 31 of the third year of junior high school, one generally may not be employed as a worker
• He consulted the Labor Standards Inspection Office about part-time work for those 15 or under
  • It was not approved

What he came up with when thinking about how it could be done was to take the job as a business owner rather than as a part-timer. In other words, starting a business.
He also went to explain it to his junior high school, and they approved it after he promised to work hard on his studies and not neglect his junior high school life.

The Startup Funds Were 100,000 Yen of New Year's Money

When he consulted his mother about the expenses needed to prepare the application...

• His mother said "It's your own company, so there's no point if your parents pay, right?"
• He remembered he had 100,000 yen in New Year's money, and started the business with it as capital
• The trade name is Reytech
• He prepared a registered seal, a company seal, a square seal, business cards, and so on
• He submitted a notification of business commencement and an application for registration as an invoice issuer (qualified invoice issuer) to the tax office

And so he successfully started his business and became able to do drone work under a service contract. Starting a business as a junior high school student... it's just amazing.

Changes After the Work Began

Once the work began, meetings continued, and he was so nervous that he could only say "Yes"; he said he was desperate the whole time.

• The place where he wrote programs was the same desk at home as before
• Unlike making whatever he likes however he likes, there is responsibility

The outline of the work Mr. Ono took on is as follows.

• Find and track bears with a drone
• Build the AI bear detection part using machine learning
• Discuss in meetings how far things have progressed

• His usual way was to think and proceed on his own, but things changed once it became collaborative work
  • If his own work is delayed, it makes things hard for others
  • He had to look at the overall progress
  • He started learning not because he was interested, but because it was necessary for the work

The venue was in an uproar when he said that, like a salaryman, he learned to switch his life between ON during meetings and OFF afterward in his second year of junior high.

Collecting Thousands of Bear Images for Training

To track bears, it was necessary to collect training data.

• Collected thousands of bear images at a bear park
• Organized and processed them so they could be used for AI training

He said he cried "Wow!" when recognition succeeded.

• Delivered the deliverables
  • What used to be shown only to his mother came to be seen by people at the company and many others
  • It was even featured on TV

Tax Return and Consumption Tax Filing

After that, a tax return was required. Mr. Ono was a student preparing for entrance exams, but he said he started preparing in December.

• He needed to file a tax return with the tax office and asked about how to use filing software
  • His mother, who holds a bookkeeping certification, said "It's fine, you can do it"
  • He decided to think and proceed on his own, asking ChatGPT about the parts he didn't understand
• Though he had started programming, before he knew it he was making account books and filing a tax return

The reassuring ChatGPT

• A letter arrived from the Sendai Regional Taxation Bureau
  • What he had forgotten was the consumption tax filing
  • He created a payment slip and paid at a convenience store
• His mother scared him, saying "It might be an additional tax," but when he asked the tax office, they said "That's not the case"

Now a First-Year at KOSEN, and Still Running Reytech

Mr. Ono is currently a first-year student at Akita KOSEN and is continuing Reytech, writing programs after receiving consultations from local companies.
He also said he now has more opportunities to talk about his own efforts.

Closing

What impressed me was that he didn't start out with the intention of "I'm going to start a business"; he just kept doing the programming he loved, and before he knew it, he had started a business.

Sorry to talk about my own company for a moment... but recently my department had a retreat, and our company's president, Mr. Yokota, said, "Something you love and don't find hard at all turns into work before you know it, and you enjoy it and the customers are happy. That's the best and the strongest." Mr. Ono is exactly that, and I thought it was the best and the strongest.

I also felt that the presence of Mr. Ono's mother was significant. I was impressed by her attitude of supporting his interests while leaving what's necessary to Mr. Ono himself and watching over him.

The presentation was full of humor, and the venue was in an uproar at moments like "I was explaining so earnestly to my mother, but it turned out she hadn't understood at all," "I learned work ON/OFF in the second year of junior high," and "It's okay. We have ChatGPT."

Also, I was surprised that Akita has a place like Hy-Labo where people can enjoy learning technology.
In the keynote, there was a talk about how, when trying to start a business in Tokyo, there are few places and the rent is expensive, whereas Akita has facilities for startups, so "if you're going to start a business, do it in Akita."
It connected with Mr. Ono's talk, and I thought it was a great initiative.