JSTORIES ー As Tokyo strives to place itself as Asia’s main hub for innovation and finance, the metropolitan authorities has been pushing ahead initiatives to foster a sustainable startup ecosystem. Probably the most bold efforts on this regard is SusHi Tech Tokyo, one among Asia’s largest worldwide startup conferences, which launched two years in the past.
To know the imaginative and prescient behind SusHi Tech Tokyo and its potential impression on Japan’s startup ecosystem, we spoke with Manabu Miyasaka, the vice governor of Tokyo. (This text is a reconstructed account of the press convention held on Jan. 30, 2025.)
Q: SusHi Tech Tokyo is a comparatively new initiative. Do you’ve got particular long-term targets for fostering startups that may thrive each in Japan and globally?
Manabu Miyasaka, vice governor of Tokyo (known as Miyasaka under): We don’t have a inflexible aim like “producing a particular variety of high-revenue startups by a sure 12 months.” Nevertheless, we now have recognized three key numerical targets to rework Tokyo right into a startup powerhouse:
- Enhance the variety of entrepreneurs in Tokyo tenfold.
- Broaden the variety of Tokyo-based startups going world by tenfold.
- Enhance authorities procurement of startup services tenfold.
These are nonnegotiable targets for us.
That being mentioned, whereas numerical targets are essential, there’s one other essential facet we prioritize: fostering a tradition of challengers. Tokyo is already house to artists, entertainers, and culinary pioneers — folks pushing the boundaries of their respective fields. Startups, in essence, are business-world challengers.
We envision Tokyo as a metropolis the place innovators from all fields — past simply enterprise — are impressed to tackle world challenges. Occasions like SusHi Tech Tokyo are a part of our broader effort to make Tokyo a spot that nurtures and helps daring, bold entrepreneurs.
Q: How does SusHi Tech Tokyo 2025 differ from earlier editions?
Miyasaka: The largest distinction this 12 months is scale. We anticipate a big improve in collaborating startups, attendees, and partnerships with abroad startup ecosystems.
Past numbers, we’re additionally seeing a qualitative shift. Till now, the occasion primarily attracted enterprise leaders, authorities officers, and monetary establishments. This 12 months, we’re introducing a Public Day, permitting college students and most of the people to take part.
Our aim is to have interaction a wider viewers, together with households and younger folks, to coach them on the way forward for cities and expertise. It’s not nearly startups and traders — it’s about making innovation accessible and related to on a regular basis life.
Q: What steps are being taken to extend consciousness and participation, particularly amongst college students?
Miyasaka: Tokyo is house to many highschool college students, and we wish to present them with alternatives to have interaction with enterprise professionals from around the globe. As a result of this can be a startup-focused occasion, most of the contributors are comparatively younger. From a highschool pupil’s perspective, they may see younger professionals — only a few years older than themselves — working laborious in Japan, a international nation to a lot of them.
Given our robust emphasis on English schooling, we hope that SusHi Tech Tokyo supplies a sensible alternative for college kids to make use of English in a real-world setting.
Q: SusHi Tech Tokyo has all the time had a robust worldwide presence, and this 12 months goals to draw much more world contributors. What are the advantages of bringing worldwide startups to Tokyo?
Miyasaka: For Japanese startups, focusing solely on the home market is an possibility — however it’s limiting. The world is huge, and one of the best ways to scale globally is to construct worldwide connections.
That’s why we’re actively inviting worldwide startups, enterprise capitalists, and policymakers to Tokyo. Connecting native startups with world traders and companions will increase their probabilities of profitable abroad enlargement.
To facilitate this, English is the first language of the occasion. Admittedly, within the first 12 months, we had been unsure whether or not an English-first startup occasion in Tokyo would entice sufficient contributors, particularly provided that it was held proper after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nevertheless, to our shock, greater than half of the attendees got here from abroad, and Japanese contributors — no matter their English proficiency — made a real effort to have interaction. This satisfied us that Tokyo can certainly host a very world startup occasion.
This 12 months, we intention to draw much more worldwide contributors, particularly from Asia, to additional strengthen cross-border collaboration.
Q: What’s the long-term imaginative and prescient for SusHi Tech Tokyo?
Miyasaka: That is nonetheless a younger occasion, however continuity is vital. It’s essential that we construct on our experiences 12 months after 12 months, relatively than treating it as a one-time initiative.
Presently, many Japanese companies actively take part in abroad conferences to broaden globally. Nevertheless, we hardly ever see worldwide companies prioritizing Japan as a key vacation spot for innovation occasions.
Given Japan’s financial scale, I strongly consider that we should always set up a world enterprise custom — the place, at the least yearly, Tokyo turns into the place the place worldwide entrepreneurs, enterprise capitalists, monetary establishments, and policymakers collect to debate the way forward for city innovation.
Might is likely one of the finest seasons in Tokyo, with stunning climate. I wish to make SusHi Tech Tokyo an occasion that worldwide startup leaders robotically schedule into their calendars yearly.
Finally, I envision a future the place Tokyo in Might is synonymous with innovation, the place world entrepreneurs, traders, and policymakers come collectively to form the cities of tomorrow.
Translated by J-Tales (Anita De Michele)
High photograph by Tokyo Metropolitan Authorities
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