SusHi Tech Tokyo 2025: Big Energy, Regional Recruiting, and the Missing Aussie Pavilion

Almost a million Australians visited Japan last year, edging the country closer to overtaking Bali as our favourite holiday spot. Yet when it came to business at SusHi Tech Tokyo, Australia was almost invisible. The absence was disappointing, but it also points to a clear chance for us to make a bigger splash over the next few years.

A tale of excitement and absence

Walking into SusHi Tech Tokyo for the second year in a row, this time with some tagalongs instead of flying solo. The numbers were as big as ever: 657 startups from forty-six countries and 613 exhibitors packed the East Halls. The corridors hummed with investors, city officials, and researchers.

But the southern-cross logo was nowhere to be found. Last year Western Australia and Queensland fielded seven booths. This time not a single Australian startup booth in sight. For a country that is making progress in leaps and bounds in deep-tech, AI and more, it was hard to ignore.

However, I was there waving the Tekkon (and perhaps Aussie) flag again this year, albeit with no booth, in exchange for complete roaming freedom, but that made for a much better, more ‘on my own terms’ experience.

Heavy hitters that set the tone

Google for Startups ran mentor match-ups from a buzzy booth and appeared on the partner roster beside Salesforce and Fujitsu, funnelling founders into its global support network.
KDDI / au packed its stand with seven Open Innovation Fund portfolio companies, demoing everything from edge-AI platform Actcast to a coffee-making service robot.
SoftBank shared silver-partner billing with Google and KDDI, its scouts roaming the aisles in search of the next Vision Fund ticket.
Line Yahoo drew long queues at an experiential booth where visitors tried new generative-AI search features and self-serve ad tools for small businesses.
Toyota rolled in Woven-Planet mobility prototypes and autonomous-shuttle models, letting attendees test the in-cabin user experience.
Mori Building showcased a scale model of the Azabudai Hills eco-district, highlighting carbon-neutral tower design and on-site corporate innovation labs.

Other big names—Japan Airlines, JR East, Mitsui Fudosan, Salesforce, Fujitsu and several megabanks—rounded out a sponsor slate that made SusHi Tech the one venue where startups could meet nearly every major Japanese buyer under one roof.

Singapore and Taiwan stole the international spotlight

Enterprise Singapore brought a climate-tech and fintech showcase, plus stage sessions on how policy can speed innovation.

Across the aisle, Startup Island Taiwan drew steady foot traffic with twenty AI and semiconductor hopefuls such as Turing Drive and NextDrive. Even Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike stopped in, underscoring local appetite for Taiwanese tech.

Deep-Tech Kansai steps into the light

While Tokyo hogged the headlines, a Kyoto–Osaka coalition rolled out quantum-safe chips, carbon-negative concrete, and new superconductors. The booths were modest, but the science ran deep—proof that Kansai is done playing second fiddle to Kanto.

Show-stoppers at the entrance

A full-size Tier IV robotaxi greeted visitors, lidar sensors gleaming and a steering-wheel-free cabin hinting at 2025 commercial rollout.

A sprawling model of Takanawa Gateway City illustrated JR East’s newest Yamanote-line district, complete with drone pads, carbon-neutral towers, and underground logistics tunnels.

Both displays pitched urban planning itself as a startup challenge.

Food tech and circular economy take centre stage

Personalised nigiri rolled off a 3-D printer. Matcha parfait emerged from another. Around the corner, waste-to-protein processors and algae-based plastics vendors pitched closed-loop solutions as serious business rather than garnish.

Robots, drones, and fully immersive everything

VR safety simulators, long-range delivery drones, and humanoid concierges you can rent by the hour made the expo feel like a living prototype of tomorrow’s city. All that was missing was a visible Australian contribution.

Tokyo Innovation Base (TIB) and its growing role

If you wandered outside the main halls you probably heard about Tokyo Innovation Base (TIB), the metropolitan government’s new year-round landing pad for founders a few blocks from Ginza. TIB officially opened during the 2024 edition of SusHi Tech and has since hosted pitch nights, visa briefings and corporate reverse-demo days. This year it ran the “PITCH Global” competition; the winners earned free exhibition booths and mentoring inside SusHi Tech itself. Plus, playing host to a range of after parties and side events.

TIB is fast becoming the permanent extension of SusHi Tech, giving overseas teams a place to test Tokyo before committing long-term. It is also where city officials walk foreign founders through visa options such as the six-to-twelve-month Startup Visa that many regional pavilions – Aichi, Fukuoka, Kansai, Hokkaido and others – were promoting on the show floor.

Regional pavilions hunting for foreign founders

Japan’s municipalities used SusHi Tech as a live recruiting ground, each offering its own startup-visa perks.

Aichi – STATION Ai (booth B-313): Demos from drone maker PRODRONE and privacy startup Acompany, plus a one-year startup visa and discounted lab space in Nagoya.
Kansai Pavilion (booth B-314): Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe teamed up with material innovators like Atomis and forest-tech player DeepForest. Each city now issues a 12-month visa that converts to Business Manager after milestones are met.
Fukuoka – RAMEN TECH (booth B-317): Fintech and health-tech under neon ramen bowls, backed by Japan’s first municipal startup visa, renewable up to a full year.
Startup Hokkaido – Sapporo: Tourism-tech and agri-AI showcased Hokkaido’s two-year visa option and lower living costs for founders willing to brave snowy winters.

Every city crew delivered the same pitch: “Bring your company here and we will smooth the paperwork.” (although, many founders have reported a different experience in the past).

What Australia risks by sitting out

Deal flow: Organisers arranged more than five thousand curated meetings; most involved founders from Singapore, Taiwan, or Europe.
Brand amnesia: In Asia’s fastest-moving tech corridor, absence quickly becomes irrelevance.
Talent drain: Deep-tech researchers follow ecosystems where prototypes meet buyers on stage.

Call to action for 2026

SusHi Tech returns next April 27-29 2026, aaand I am think that I would love to unoffically lead an Aussie Startup Delegation there, as I did live there for 9 years, and have a pretty solid network across the startup ecosystem.

If you are working in climate, food, robotics, or AI, or anything else. Tokyo served 3-D-printed sushi this year. Let’s serve Australian ingenuity this time next SusHi Tech. See you in 2026?

Anyway, if you’re working on something cool, or just want to chat about Japan’s ecosystem, SusHi Tech or growing your startup, connect with us on LinkedIn, say hi via email (sales@tekkon.com.au) or contact us via our website.