As an entrepreneur/angel investor/sushi master with 35 years of experience living in Japan, I introduce the best places and people in Japan.

Since last April, I have been living in San Francisco and have made many friends. Friends are not something that can be measured by the number of followers on a social networking service.

Just for reference, when I was in Japan, I had only about 300 connections on Linkedin, which was in Japanese at the time. I am very grateful to have over 3,800 followers as of January 15, 2024, and expect to have over 5,000 as of April 1, 2024. Because of this, I have been hearing this from my friends around the world who are entrepreneurs, managers, investors, and MBA students and graduates.

"Taisho, I want to go to Japan. What do you enjoy about Japan? What do you recommend?" I am asked. They also ask, "If there are any investors, entrepreneurs, or executives in Japan that I recommend that you should meet with, and if so, could you introduce them to us?"

I think they ask me these types of things as my friends know about my background as an entrepreneur and angel investor in Japan. When I returned to Japan for the year-end and New Year's holidays, I was very happy to be able to actually show friends I made in the US around Tokyo and introduce them to other entrepreneurs, managers, investors, and friends who are going to MBA programs abroad.

I have blogged before about the characteristics of the Japanese startup ecosystem, and the startup I founded ten years ago in Tokyo was no exception.

And in fact, this challenge is connected to the challenge of education. I graduated from the University of Tokyo, the top university in Japan, but all my classes were in Japanese. So, now that I am here in the US for my MBA, I am having difficulty catching up with the MBA classes in English.

And then, of course, when I enter the startup world after graduation, that ecosystem will be closed only within Japan. The truth is that until I went to an MBA program in the U.S. and lived in San Francisco, I honestly could only count my overseas friends on two hands.

I also introduce challenges in Japanese school education. This is also discussed in the book "The Growth of Theory," which I co-authored with Hideki Wada, a Japanese doctor and best-selling author in 2022, who is also a senior alumnus of the University of Tokyo. The book is in Japanese, so if you would like to read something similar to what he wrote there in English, please see the following article.

Therefore, I am more than happy to support the creation of startup connections that are not confined to Japan, even if only a little. With VC LP fundraising in the U.S. struggling, perhaps the Japanese government is steering in the direction of supporting startups and has a real desire to look at Japanese VC and business firms for investment.

Unlike American VCs, a high percentage of Japanese VCs are funded by operating companies, not institutional investors. It is necessary to proceed with the discussion while understanding the difference in the nature of this situation.

I have also received investment from CVC and raised money from angel investors, and because of my experience in M&A once with a Japanese listed company, they are very grateful when I connect them with other friends while telling them about the startup scene in Japan. So I would like to continue this kind of activity in the future.

I am a graduate of Japan's top university, the University of Tokyo, and just recently, at the University of Tokyo's Commencement Ceremony, startups were mentioned.

This was unbelievable more than a decade ago when I graduated from the university. It was unbelievable to me, at least when I entered the University of Tokyo in 2007, to hear the president of Japan's top university speak so positively about starting a business while in university or after graduation. So I am very happy to hear this. Little by little, the expectations and ecosystem for startups in Japan are changing.

In the U.S., I think there are stories of graduates from top universities such as Stanford and Harvard starting their own businesses while still in school or immediately after graduation. Of course, I understand that not all students are like that.

However, ten years ago in Japan, the fact is that VC investment funds were one-tenth the size of today's funds, and the startup ecosystem was not yet established even within Japan alone. I have fond memories of my first startup in Japan, where I read Y Combinator's blog posts with Google Translate and tried desperately to put them into practice. I learned a lot from Paul Graham's blog posts. The scale of VC investment in Japan has increased to around 8 billion dollars in the past ten years, and the amount of money available for VC investment in Japan has increased ten-fold.

Specifically, Anteler Japan (first launched in Japan by my friend, Ryo Umezawa), 500 Startups (now an independent program, renamed Coral Capital), and others. If you are interested in running such an accelerator program in Japan or Asia, please contact me. I can probably help you.

Let's get back to the story. If you are going to visit a country or region, you may want to go there for its delicious food (sushi is one of them, of course, which I love) or to visit its tourist attractions, but who are you going to meet there?

This is what I consider to be the best part. That's why I love the experience of bringing friends together and introducing them to friends. I have had many opportunities to do this myself by being brought together with wonderful friends.

If you are the people who don't know the startup ecosystem in Japan, don't even know who to meet, want to know what kind of startup entrepreneurs are out there, want to know what the current entrepreneur visa requirements are in Japan, or if there is any possibility of LP investment, Could you reach out to me casually?

I would be happy to be a bit of a wayfinder in these places.

However, I am not necessarily in Japan. So, whether I am in Japan or not, I would like to introduce some of the places I recommend individually at the end of this article (if you would like to not only visit the places I list here but also meet some nice people, please contact me.)

When it comes to using reservation agents for tourist information and concierge services, places and services that can spend plenty of advertising fees are inevitably introduced. Therefore, I dare to introduce places and services that are not so.

As the title of this blog says, I introduce the best places and people in Japan, experiences that can only be found there, and people that you can only meet there, and I hope that you will take home with your impressions of those experiences.

And I hope you will come to Japan again. When I visit there, I would love for you all to tell me how wonderful the country and region you live in is. As an entrepreneur/angel investor/sushi master who has lived in Japan for 35 years, here are some of the places that have delighted me as a result of showing around 100 of my overseas friends (mainly entrepreneurs, managers, investors, MBA students and graduates).

(1)Making and eating sushi together "Taisho Sushi Making"

We hope that you will experience "Taisho Sushi Making" in Tokyo, make and eat sushi together, and return home after becoming a sushi master. I strongly recommend that you make reservations in advance to participate in this activity, as it seems to be packed every day.

Mikoto Kikuchi offers "Taisho Sushi Making", an experience of making and eating the best sushi together, with the best friends, and with the most fun.

You can learn about the Japanese culture of sushi in a fun way. And by participating in this opportunity, you can become a sushi master in a day.

It seems to be a place where people can connect with each other through sushi, as some people have started business, launched projects, or started their own businesses because of the relationships they formed here.

You can make sushi together on a date and take a commemorative photo. Or if you want to find a great new match in Tokyo. Or if you are curious to try making sushi at home after you return home.

As a side note, why did I become a sushi master? If you want to know why, please read this article.

(2)Climb the stone steps of success at Atago Shrine and get ahead!

Atago Shrine is famous for its "Ishidan (stone steps) for success in life. There are many shrines in Tokyo. I recommend Atago Shrine. I recommend Atago Shrine because I would like everyone to experience the stone steps of success. There is an anecdote that if you climb the stone steps at this shrine, you will be successful in your career. The story goes that a vassal once successfully rode his horse up the steep stone steps, which caught the attention of his superiors and led to his success in life.

Incidentally, as I write this article, my friends usually call me by the nickname "Taisho" in the United States. However, my last name is "Atago," which is the same name as this shrine. This is also the reason why I always carry a portable sign that says "Taisho Atago" with me when I make and eat sushi with others. This sign was written by the best calligrapher in Japan (and therefore in the world) in person. It is the one and only signboard in the world.

And Atago Shrine, of course, is not my property, but this shrine is so famous in Japan that it is said that if you make and eat sushi made at Taisho Sushi Making, the first one I mentioned, because it has the same name, you will get ahead in life, which is famous.

As entrepreneurs, managers, investors, MBA students and alumni, we realized that many of us have dreams and goals for the future. So, why not try making and eating sushi at Taisho Sushi Making and visit Atago Shrine? I am sure that by doing so, your dreams and goals will come true (although, of course, it is ultimately up to you).

In fact, I am happy every time I get a call that after making and eating sushi at Taisho Sushi Making, it led to an M&A or IPO (since many of the people who come there are entrepreneurs, managers, and investors, it seems to sometimes lead to such discussions).

(3)Enjoy the festive atmosphere in Shibuya, a town that mistakenly believes that every day is a festival!

When I first visited Shibuya as a teenager, I thought that there was some special festival going on in Shibuya and that so many people would be there today. But the campus of the University of Tokyo, which I attended, is close to Shibuya, so I went there every day, and not only on that day, but every day there are many people in this town. The atmosphere here is very different from that of San Francisco, where I live now.

I hope you can feel the heat of this city. There is a ramen shop called "Ichiran" (in the U.S., as of this writing, there should be only one store in New York), and I recommend the ramen here, so I am posting a link.

Amazingly, you can eat ramen in Japan for one-third the price of eating ramen in San Francisco. I am a little saddened by this situation in Japan, but in this regard, how do you go about making Japan a place where economic growth has stalled and the working population is shrinking? I have written my own ideas in this article, if you are interested.

(4)Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan, and enjoy "Kishinen," where you can feel the Japanese wabi and sabi, and the murmuring of the river!

When I take my entrepreneur, manager, or investor friends, we often have lunch together while talking about how mountain climbing and management are similar, and looking at Mt. Fuji.

Futakotamagawa is a family-friendly town, so even those with small children can easily have lunch in a relaxed atmosphere (such restaurants are limited in Shibuya.)

After eating a delicious lunch, I went to Kishin-en, a beautiful Japanese-style garden shown in the following photo, and enjoyed the beautiful garden.

Afterwards, I enjoy a cup of coffee at a nearby Starbucks and talk about various topics with my friends while strolling and listening to the murmuring of the Futakotamagawa River. I love this time.

(5)Japanese convenience stores supporting the city that never sleeps are a miraculous experience

Convenience stores in Japan are really great, and in Japan, there are convenience stores everywhere. Convenience stores in Japan are open 24 hours a day, so if you have any problems in the middle of the night, you can go to a convenience store, which makes Japan very safe.

The prices of low carbonhydrate products that you can easily buy at convenience stores are reasonable, delicious, easy to carry, and sure to impress you, so I encourage anyone who thinks they have eaten too much ramen or sushi to try them.

(6)Let's explore the campus of the University of Tokyo, the best university in Japan!

The University of Tokyo is my alma mater. You can see Japanese-style buildings on campus. I also have a mentor on campus, and friends who have remained at the university after graduation to continue research in their laboratories.

There is a building in Todai where startups from the university are gathered, and I often talk with entrepreneurs, managers, and investors who are involved in the startups in the building because I worked there when I was a student, away from my classes.

I wish I could introduce you to some of the people involved in startups from Japan's top university, the University of Tokyo, but even if I were not here, I hope you will enjoy the inside of Japan's first university, which was founded in 1877.

Finally, I hope that the information shared here will make your trip to Tokyo as enjoyable as possible.

Have an insanely great trip in Tokyo!!!!!