Hello, Brian, and welcome to Steemit.

As you say, this is a great platform on which you can learn and experience much that is related to either cryptos or blockchain. And you can publish post and earn Steem at the same time.

Re Japan, it's interesting how the country has suddenly started to accept / adopt bitcoin. Its economy has been in a deflationary spiral for decades, and it remains in a serious funk, but maybe cryptos / blockchain will provide at least one field of growth.

Best of luck, and Full Steem Ahead.