4 MIN READ
Hilary Carter | 16 December 2025
Over the past several years, LF Research has had the privilege of studying open source adoption across regions and industries worldwide. What consistently stands out about Japan is not hesitation, but intentionality. Japanese organizations are thoughtful, exacting, and deeply pragmatic in how they adopt technology, and our latest report, The State of Open Source Japan 2025, shows that this approach is paying off in measurable business value, even as important gaps remain. Last week in Tokyo I had the opportunity to share these findings with the attendees of Open Source Summit Japan, AI_Dev, and Automotive Linux Summit. Here are a few of the highlights for those who couldn’t join us in person.
Let’s start with the headline: 69% of Japanese organizations report that the business value they derive from open source has increased over the past year, significantly outpacing the global average of 54%. That is not a marginal difference. It signals that when Japanese organizations commit to open source, they do so in ways that are tightly aligned to operational outcomes. Open source is no longer viewed primarily as a low-cost alternative; it is now recognized as foundational business infrastructure, with 74% of respondents saying open source is valuable to their organization’s future. That’s an optimistic view, and a positive signal for where open source is headed in this market.
Leadership where it matters: AR/VR and specialized technologies
One of the most striking findings in this year’s report is Japan’s global leadership in specialized open source domains, particularly augmented and virtual reality, 3D simulation, blockchain, and manufacturing technologies. Japanese organizations adopt open source for AR/VR and visual technologies at four times the global rate. This is not accidental. These are sectors where Japan has long combined hardware excellence, precision engineering, and advanced manufacturing with software innovation—and open source has become an accelerant rather than a disruptor.
This pattern tells an important story: Japan is not “behind” in open source. Instead, it is focused according to the needs of its market, deploying open source most concertedly where it delivers clear differentiation and competitive advantage. That same strategic discipline, however, has consequences when it comes to more generalized infrastructure layers.
The infrastructure gap: Cloud native and DevOps
Despite strong business value and leadership in advanced domains, Japanese organizations lag significantly in foundational open source infrastructure, including operating systems, DevOps, databases, and cloud native tooling. The gap is substantial: adoption of open source operating systems, for example, trails the global average by nearly 40 percentage points.
This matters because cloud native infrastructure is no longer just plumbing, it is the substrate for speed, resilience, and scalability. Organizations that underinvest here risk missing productivity gains, increased developer velocity, and reduced vendor lock-in. In many cases, this gap reflects understandable concerns: risk aversion, regulatory constraints, and long-standing reliance on proprietary or mainframe systems. But the data suggests that business value increases when organizations pair their specialized strengths with modern, open infrastructure rather than treating them as separate tracks.
A highly discerning market for services and support
Japan also stands out as one of the most demanding markets globally for open source support. Nearly 90% of organizations expect sub-12-hour response times for critical issues, which is far higher than the global norm. Expectations for long-term support guarantees and rapid security patching are similarly elevated.
This tells us something important: open source in Japan has crossed a maturity threshold. It is no longer “experimental” or “community-only.” It is mission-critical. As a result, Japan represents both a challenge and an opportunity for service providers. Those that succeed will need to move beyond basic maintenance contracts and operate as partners in operational risk management, especially for regulated industries and sensitive workloads.
Governance and the C-suite awareness gap
Perhaps the most consequential finding in this year’s study is not technical but organizational. While engineers and practitioners clearly recognize the value of open source, C-suite understanding lags behind. Only 70% of executives see open source as valuable to their organization’s future, compared to 85% of non-C-level respondents.
This gap shows up elsewhere as well. Fewer than half of Japanese organizations have implemented an open source program office (OSPO), and even fewer have defined a clear, visible open source strategy or public position. Governance, policy clarity, and IP risk management remain top barriers—despite the fact that organizations with active engagement consistently report stronger competitiveness, better security outcomes, and improved talent attraction. At the same time, Japanese organizations are ahead of the rest of the world on the establishment of OSPOs, engaging with open source communities, funding open source ecosystems, and defining a public position on open source, lagging only slightly in terms of having a defined open source strategy.
The opportunity ahead
The takeaway from the State of Open Source Japan 2025 report is not one caution but one of optimism. Japan is already demonstrating that open source delivers outsized business value when applied strategically. The next phase is about scale and alignment: extending that same rigor to cloud native infrastructure, formal governance, and executive-level strategy.
Organizations that close these gaps by investing in foundational platforms, strengthening security and governance practices, and elevating open source conversations into the boardroom will be well positioned not just to keep pace, but to lead globally. Japan’s open source moment is already underway. The data makes clear that the greatest gains are still ahead.
I’d like to say a special word of thanks to our team in Japan, whose engagement across the Japanese open source community is noteworthy, hosting executive briefings for enterprise and government leaders, along with research workshops, among other activities. Their translation of our reports and graphics into Japanese have informed strategy and decision-making, and are very likely to be driving some of the year over year positive trends we’re seeing since we first conducted Japan-focused research three years ago. I am truly appreciative for everything they do, and to all who work with them to accelerate the impact of open source projects.