Why TokyoTacos Was Born in Mexico?

Why Tokyo Tacos Was Born in Mexico

Tokyo Tacos was not originally created as a company name.

At first, it was simply the TikTok username I used while living in Mexico.

A Japanese guy from Tokyo who liked tacos.

That was the idea.

Tokyo Tacos.

In the beginning, it really was that simple.

But when I chose the name, there was one thing I had in mind.

I wanted it to be a name that would slightly catch people’s attention.

I am from Tokyo, so “Tokyo.”

And when people think of Mexico, one of the first things that comes to mind is “tacos.”

The two words are easy to understand, but they are not usually placed next to each other.

That small mismatch was important.

It made people pause for a second.

When I started posting videos, some people reacted to the name even before they reacted to the content itself.

“What is Tokyo Tacos?”

“A Japanese guy and tacos?”

“Why that name?”

That was when I realized that a name can become an entrance.

Tokyo Tacos was just a username.

But at the same time, it was also my first small marketing experiment in Mexico.

I did not come to Mexico to start a company

The first time I came to Mexico, I came as a tourist.

I did not arrive thinking, “I am going to build a company in Mexico.”

But I did feel that Mexico and Latin America had a lot of potential.

I studied advertising and media in the United States, and even back then, I felt that Latin America would become an increasingly important market.

One example is Disney.

Disney Channel Latin America launched in 2000 and gradually became a major presence in the region. Around 2004, it became a basic cable channel reaching a broader audience. Later, Latin American productions such as Violetta in 2012 and Soy Luna in 2016 were created for the region.

Large companies were investing time, money, and people into creating content for Latin America.

Watching that, I felt that this region would become more and more important.

Of course, at that time, I still did not know exactly what I would do in Mexico.

But I had a strong feeling that Latin America, and especially Mexico, had big opportunities ahead.

I came as a tourist, and found work

When I first came to Mexico, I was staying as a tourist.

During that stay, I received a job offer through LinkedIn.

So it was not as if I jumped into Mexico without thinking at all.

I went back to Japan, prepared my passport and other documents, and then returned to Mexico for work.

My first job in Mexico was at a logistics company.

The work involved arranging land, sea, and air routes to move cargo.

Trucks, ships, airplanes.

When you move goods across borders, many people, companies, rules, documents, and timelines are involved.

To be honest, it was very different from my original background.

My interests were in advertising, media, business, and content.

But at that time, the most important thing was to build a life while working in a foreign country.

Still, that job taught me a lot.

What logistics taught me about value

Working in logistics made me realize that “moving things” is not just a physical task.

Someone moves from Japan to Mexico.

An expatriate rents a home.

Personal belongings are transported for life overseas.

Machines or products are moved for a company.

You have to confirm what can be imported and what cannot.

You have to understand what documents are required and where things may get stuck.

It is not simply about moving boxes from one place to another.

It is about moving people’s lives.

It is about moving business activity.

It is about moving value between countries.

Behind that, there is a huge amount of work that most people never see.

Through that job, I also had opportunities to see the lives of expatriates, executives, and VIP clients in Mexico.

What kind of homes they lived in.

What areas they chose.

What they brought from Japan.

What they bought locally.

What made them feel safe.

What made them feel uncertain.

By seeing those details, I slowly learned what it actually means to live in Mexico, do business overseas, and move things and value across borders.

That experience is still connected to what Tokyo Tacos does today.

When you try to do something overseas, a good idea is not enough.

You need to understand local rules, people’s senses, how things move, how things are shown, and how to actually make things happen.

I learned that in the world of logistics.

The company closed, and I had to create my own work

After some time, the Japanese branch of the company closed.

The pandemic was also part of the reason.

When I came to Mexico, I had a job.

But after that job disappeared, I had to think about how to survive on my own.

Suddenly, I was no longer a salaried employee in a foreign country.

That was a big turning point.

SNS was something I could start alone

One of the things I turned to at that time was social media.

Why social media?

The reason was simple.

I could start by myself.

I did not need special equipment.

I could test my ideas immediately.

I could see people’s reactions through numbers.

And in today’s world, it is impossible to talk about marketing without talking about social media.

I had studied advertising.

I had experience working around business in Japan.

Through logistics, I had seen how people, things, and value move in Mexico.

And I was living in Mexico as a Japanese person, looking at the country from that point of view.

So I began using TikTok not just as entertainment, but as a place to experiment.

Why do people follow someone?

Why do people want to support someone?

Why do people keep watching the story of a person they do not personally know?

How can someone become more than just “a foreigner in Mexico”?

Tokyo Tacos started from that question.

Tokyo Tacos was just a username

The first version of Tokyo Tacos was just a TikTok name.

But as I kept posting, I realized that social media is not just a place to upload videos.

Social media is a place where people get to know people.

It is a place where people learn how someone thinks.

It is a place where people say, “This person is interesting,” or “I want to support this person.”

That is very close to advertising and brand building.

If you only show a product, people do not necessarily move.

If you only make beautiful visuals, people do not necessarily remember you for a long time.

What matters is what that person or brand is thinking.

What kind of world they want to show.

And how that is received by the people watching.

By continuing to post on TikTok, I was testing that on myself.

Why Mexico matters as a market

The reason I believe in Mexico is not just based on feeling.

Mexico has a large population and is one of the most important markets in Latin America.

According to the 2025 ENDUTIH results, 86.1% of Mexico’s population, around 105 million people, use the internet. Household internet access has also reached 78.3%.

What is especially important is the smartphone.

The same study shows that 97.3% of internet users in Mexico access the internet through smartphones.

In other words, many people now discover information, watch videos, learn about products, and encounter brands through their phones.

This is a big opportunity for small brands and individuals.

In the past, only large companies could reach people through TV commercials and major advertising campaigns.

But today, restaurants, fashion brands, artists, small businesses, and individuals all have the possibility to reach many people depending on how they use photos, videos, social media, and storytelling.

That is why I believe Mexico is worth betting on.

Mexico is big.

Smartphones and social media are strong.

There is interest in Japanese culture.

And there is still room for new ways of showing things and new kinds of brands.

For Japanese brands and creators, I believe Mexico can be an interesting place to take a first step overseas.

Of course, it is not an easy market.

The language, culture, and business customs are different.

But there is interest in Japan, information spreads through social media, and younger generations are open to new things.

That is why Mexico can become an important entry point for people who want to build results overseas or bring something Japanese to the outside world.

Value is not decided only by cost

Living in Mexico, working in logistics, using social media, and being involved in different kinds of projects made me think deeply about value.

In ordinary business, there is the idea of buying low and selling high, or making profit from the difference between cost and price.

That is very important.

But in the worlds of fashion, photography, video, jewelry, restaurants, social media, and branding, there is value that cannot be explained only by cost.

The same dish can feel different depending on how it is photographed.

The same clothing can change in value depending on who wears it and where it is shot.

The same product can become more desirable when it has a story.

The same place can look completely different depending on the combination of photos, video, words, music, and people.

Value is not decided only by the object itself.

How it is shown.

The context.

The story.

The people.

The place.

The timing.

The translation of culture.

And the ability to actually make it happen on the ground.

When all of these things come together, people feel, “This is valuable.”

That is one of the most important things I have learned in Mexico.

Work expanded through personal connections

At the beginning, I did not have a clean service menu.

It started with personal connections.

A question from someone I knew.

An introduction from someone I met on-site.

Tour guiding.

Photography.

Video production.

Local coordination.

Jewelry-related projects.

Fashion and production work.

Each one may look separate.

But once I actually worked on them, I realized they were all connected.

Through tour work, I guided people from Japan around Mexico and learned what Japanese visitors find surprising, beautiful, or uncertain about this country.

Through photography and video work, I shot restaurants, streets, events, people, and fashion while thinking about what needs to be shown in order for something to feel like a brand.

Through jewelry projects, I was involved from the idea stage to communicating with local craftspeople and partners, making products, and delivering them to Japan.

In the fashion world, I saw how important atmosphere, presentation, relationships, and story are—not just clothing, photos, or models.

What all of these things had in common was turning ideas into something real on the ground.

Tokyo Tacos slowly became what it is today

Tokyo Tacos did not begin with the plan of creating a creative studio.

It began as a TikTok name.

Then I experimented with social media, created work for myself in Mexico, and slowly expanded into photography, video, tour work, coordination, and creative projects through personal connections.

At some point, I realized that what I was doing was not just video production, photography, or tour guiding.

It had become work that connects Mexico and Japan.

Connecting people and brands.

Turning ideas into real projects on-site.

Communicating those projects through photos, videos, social media, and words.

In other words, Tokyo Tacos was not born in its current form.

It became this form by moving.

And now, I am trying to define that form more clearly and bring it out into the world.

What TokyoTacos can do

What we can do is not only take photos.

It is not only making videos.

It is understanding the local reality of Mexico, understanding the Japanese point of view, and thinking together about how a brand should be seen.

Then we translate that into photos, videos, social media, styling, words, and on-the-ground execution.

That is the work of Tokyo Tacos.

Tokyo Tacos exists for people such as:

Japanese brands that want to enter Mexico or overseas markets.

Creators and companies that want to build work outside Japan.

Restaurants and products in Mexico that want to use Japanese culture in a meaningful way.

Mexican brands that want to refine how they present themselves to the Japanese market.

People who want to communicate their value through social media and video.

People who want to do something locally but do not know where to begin.

We are based in Mexico first.

But we are not looking only at Mexico.

How do we show Japanese things overseas?

How do we communicate overseas products and culture to Japan?

How do we cross cultural differences?

How do we turn ideas into real execution?

Standing in that space is the role of Tokyo Tacos.

Standing between Japan and Mexico

Mexico will continue to be an important market.

But simply bringing something “Japanese” does not guarantee success.

The way something is presented in Japan and the way it is understood in Mexico are different.

What Japanese people consider premium is not always the same as what Mexican people find attractive.

Words that work in Japanese do not always work in Spanish.

That is why someone needs to stand between cultures and shape things in a way that actually communicates.

Tokyo and Mexico.

Japanese and Spanish.

The field and social media.

Products and stories.

Ideas and execution.

Tokyo Tacos exists to connect those spaces and shape value into something people can understand.

It started as a TikTok username.

But now, little by little, it is becoming a team that helps people and brands between Mexico, Japan, and the world turn their value into something real.

Kaoru Takuma