Why Apache Iceberg is gaining popularity in Japan

Apache Iceberg is gaining traction in Japan due to its ability to address modern data architecture challenges, such as data analytics, AI, and data applications, while offering a flexible solution for managing hybrid data lakehouse architectures. The Japanese market, characterized by the importance of on-premises data for security and compliance and a cautious adoption of cloud computing, finds Iceberg appealing due to its capacity to integrate seamlessly with multiple cloud services and avoid vendor lock-in. Two primary use cases driving Iceberg's popularity in Japan include migrating from Hive table formats, which are limited by the absence of ACID transactions and schema evolution, and preventing vendor lock-in through Iceberg's self-descriptive table format that supports interoperability across different query engines. The recent Iceberg Japan community meetup and Starburst's commitment to supporting the Iceberg community highlight the growing importance of Iceberg in Japan, as it not only solves data silos and maintenance issues but also facilitates seamless analytics across diverse data formats and storage systems.