SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 will run April 27–29 at Tokyo Big Sight with TechCrunch as official media partner, and one semifinalist from the SusHi Tech Challenge will earn a slot in the Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco on October 13–15. The Tokyo program is structured around four technology domains — AI, robotics, resilience, and entertainment — each with its own exhibit floor and session track. Business days run April 27–28; April 29 is a free public day.
The AI track is built around infrastructure and deployment rather than demos. Onstage speakers include Howard Wright of Nvidia, Rob Chu of AWS, and Eric Benhamou of Benhamou Global Ventures, with university-backed AI startups pitching alongside global firms on the exhibit floor.
A partner event, the AI Film Festival Japan, runs at Tokyo Innovation Base in Yurakucho and focuses on how generative models are reshaping production workflows in film, music, and publishing. That sits alongside startup pitches building tools to translate manga globally and generate music from text prompts.
Key facts
- 01SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 runs April 27–29 at Tokyo Big Sight, with April 27–28 as business days and April 29 a free public day.
- 02TechCrunch will pick one SusHi Tech Challenge semifinalist for the Startup Battlefield 200 at Disrupt 2026 in San Francisco, October 13–15.
- 03The agenda is built around four domains: AI, robotics, resilience, and entertainment, with on-floor demos and live sessions.
- 04The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will host G-NETS leaders from 55 cities across five continents, a forum it has run since 2022.
- 05Disrupt 2026 expects 10,000+ founders, investors, and tech leaders across 250+ sessions, with early tickets up to $410 off.
Robotics gets a physical-AI framing. Nissan, Isuzu, and Applied Intuition chief executive Qasar Younis will discuss software-defined vehicles, while interactive robots are placed on the open floor rather than behind glass. The pitch is that physical AI is a 2026 deployment story, not a research preview.
“SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 runs three days at Tokyo Big Sight and feeds one Challenge semifinalist into the 200-startup Disrupt Battlefield cohort in San Francisco this October.”— Jaeden Schafer
The resilience track pairs cybersecurity with climate. Eva Chen of Trend Micro and NEC's Noboru Nakatani will speak on cyber defense, while investors from Breakthrough Energy and Cleantech Group address where capital is moving in climate tech. Attendees can also tour Tokyo's underground flood-control system and try a VR disaster simulator on-site.
Entertainment is the most distinctly Tokyo angle. The chief executives of Production I.G, MAPPA, and CoMix Wave Films will debate whether Tokyo can become the global capital of animation, and floor exhibitors are showing AI tools that turn Japanese IP into anime for worldwide distribution.
Running in parallel, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will convene leaders from 55 cities across five continents under the theme "A New Urban Future Built on Climate and Disaster Resilience." The summit is part of G-NETS, the Global City Network for Sustainability the city government has organized since 2022, and it will be streamed live on YouTube.
For people who can't fly to Tokyo, organizers are offering a remote participation option in which on-site staff carry a device displaying the remote attendee's face, allowing two-way conversations with exhibitors and other attendees. Ticket holders can also stream sessions online, though some won't be available on demand.
The Disrupt fast-track is the bigger draw for founders. The Startup Battlefield 200 is a curated cohort inside TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, which expects more than 10,000 founders, investors, and tech leaders across three days and 250+ sessions in San Francisco. Early registration discounts run up to $410.
The caveat: trade shows have struggled to justify their cost since the pandemic, and four-domain agendas can drift into surface coverage rather than depth. Tokyo's lineup leans on named operators from Nvidia, AWS, NEC, Trend Micro, and the major anime studios, but the test is whether the SusHi Tech Challenge produces a Battlefield finalist with real traction or just a polished pitch.
The interesting structural move here is the funnel. Tokyo gets a curated showcase with a clear prize, TechCrunch gets a non-US pipeline into Battlefield, and Japanese startups get a path into a San Francisco audience without having to cold-pitch their way in. If even one Tokyo company breaks out at Disrupt in October, the partnership stops being a media deal and starts looking like infrastructure for cross-Pacific deal flow.
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