Rebranding Chiapuru: Going English-First
Today I flipped the switch — chiapuru.com is now an English-first site.
Why the change?
When I first built this site, everything was in Japanese. That made sense at the time — I'm based in Japan, and my early tools were built for my own workflow.
But things have changed. My desktop app, SheetToolBox, solves a problem that isn't unique to Japan. Spreadsheet pain is universal. People everywhere deal with extracting sheets, removing macros, and merging files. And the privacy angle — keeping your files 100% local — matters even more when you're handling sensitive data at work.
If the tool works for anyone, the site should speak to anyone.
What changed
- Site language: All UI text, metadata, and navigation are now in English
- Brand messaging: The old tagline was "仕事を効率化するツールを作っています" (roughly: "I make tools to improve work efficiency"). The new one: "Crafting tools I wish existed"
- Product positioning: Privacy-first, local-only processing, built by an indie maker
- SEO & OG tags: All updated to English for better international reach
The blog posts I wrote in Japanese are still here — I'm not deleting anything. Going forward, new posts will be in English.
What's coming next
SheetToolBox is getting ready for its public release. It's a Tauri + Rust desktop app that currently includes three tools:
- SheetPic — Extract specific sheets from spreadsheet files
- MacroRemover — Strip VBA macros from workbooks
- SheetMerge — Combine multiple sheets into one file
All processing happens on your machine. No uploads, no cloud, no data leaves your device.
I'll be sharing more about the launch process — pricing, distribution, code signing, and everything else that goes into shipping a desktop app as a solo developer.
Building in public
This rebrand is part of a bigger shift. I want to build in public, share the real process, and connect with other indie makers.
If you're interested in following along, the best way is through X (Twitter) or the RSS feed.
Thanks for reading. More updates soon.