Kafkai attended the inaugural Ambassador & Partner Event Meeting on February 16, 2026 — here's what happened.

On February 16th, we attended the very first SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 Ambassador & Partner Event Meeting, held at the Tokyo Innovation Base (TiB). This was a new initiative — as the organizers themselves admitted, nothing like this had been done in SusHi Tech's history before. About 130 ambassadors and partner event organizers gathered, both in-person and online, for an afternoon of briefings, group discussions, and networking.

The Meeting (16:00–16:55)

The meeting kicked off with a greeting from Shinichi Kudo, Senior Director for Startup Strategy Promotion at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. He set the tone — we're just 10 weeks out from the event, and it's time to get things moving. This was the first time SusHi Tech brought all its ambassadors and partner event organizers together in one room, and you could feel the energy.

The secretariat walked us through the ambassador program details: our roles in PR and outreach, logo placement on the official website, and the partner event registration process. They emphasized that SusHi Tech this year isn't just about traditional business events — they want art, music, food, entertainment, and Cool Japan content in the mix too.

Group Discussion

We were split into groups — "A" tables for ambassadors and "P" tables for partner event organizers. The discussion topics covered best practices for SusHi Tech promotional activities, collaboration between ambassadors and partner events, and sharing experiences from past years.

In our group, the conversations were practical: what audiences are we trying to reach? How do we serve overseas startups looking to enter Tokyo? What information do they need about the market environment, hiring, setting up offices? There were also people interested in sending information outward — using SusHI Tech as a launchpad to connect Tokyo startups with overseas opportunities. The consensus was that each of us has a unique angle to contribute.

Partner Event Introductions

Several partner event organizers introduced their upcoming events. These included a waterfront development collaboration in Takeshiba, the AI International Film Festival (which held its first Japan edition through TiB last November and is planning a kick-off event during SusHi Tech), a Shibuya-based Israel-focused AI community hosting Tokyo Mobility Night and sustainability events, and an acceleration mentor planning events around new exit strategies beyond traditional IPOs.

The Main Announcement (17:00–19:00)

Right after the meeting, we moved to the TiB Stage for the SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 Main Announcement — a polished, media-facing event with real-time translation in over 40 languages.

Vice Governor Manabu Miyasaka, who chairs the SusHi Tech Executive Committee, opened with the vision for 2026. He highlighted that SusHi Tech has grown into Asia's largest innovation conference in its fourth edition. Key announcements included the AI & Robotics theme featuring NVIDIA's Howard Wright and NAVER CEO Sooyeon Choi as keynote speakers, autonomous vehicle exhibitions, robot exhibits, and the transformation of the KK Route (the former expressway above TiB) into a promenade with special content.

Ecosystem Partner Pitches

Several key ecosystem partners took the stage:

Kayoko Sawada from METI spoke about Japan's five-year startup development plan, highlighting the growing momentum — more entrepreneurs, three times more university-based startups than 10 years ago, and even Nobel Prize-winning technology being commercialized through startups.

Kiyoshi Seko from Kyoto Fusioneering made the case for fusion energy as the ultimate answer for humanity's energy bottleneck. His company won first prize at the original SusHi Tech Tokyo and has since grown to 160 members globally with over $130 million raised.

Shinpei Kato from TIER IV presented their open-source autonomous driving platform and teased Level 4 public test rides during SusHi Tech. "Seeing is believing" was his message.

Tomoyo Ouchi from Sony Group joined online to present the Sony Acceleration Platform and the Creative Entertainment Cluster under Tokyo's TIG Catapult program.

STT2025 Results

The organizers also shared impressive numbers from last year: 93% of STT2025 participating companies gained follow-up connections, 45% achieved business partnerships or funding, and participating companies saw a 3.8% increase in market capitalization on average. One startup reported a 30x increase in customer adoption and over ¥25 billion increase in valuation after exhibiting.

What's Next for Us

As ambassadors, our job now is to spread the word and bring people to SusHi Tech. We have 10 weeks. The event runs April 27–29 at Tokyo Big Sight, with the SusHi Tech Forum spanning all three days.

It was encouraging to see this level of coordination between the organizers and the ambassador community. The fact that they created this meeting format for the first time shows they're serious about making 2026 the biggest edition yet.

If you're interested in attending, as official ambassadors we're able to offer exclusive community discount tickets. You can apply for yours here.

See you in April.