5 Reasons Tokyo Is the New Global Hub for Impact Technology

In February 2026, a Cabinet Office Order made sustainability disclosure legally mandatory for the largest companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. In 2025, Japanese startups raised $3.37 billion across 546 rounds. The TSE has spent three years pushing listed companies to account for their cost of capital, and the government has set a target of 100,000 startups by fiscal 2027.

1. Mandatory sustainability disclosure from March 2027

In March 2025, the Sustainability Standards Board of Japan (SSBJ) published three disclosure standards, covering governance, strategy, risk management, and emissions targets, aligned with the ISSB’s global framework and adapted to Japan’s market structure. By February 2026, a Cabinet Office Order made SSBJ compliance legally mandatory for companies listed on the TSE Prime Market, beginning with the 69 largest firms (market capitalizations above JPY 3 trillion) for the fiscal year ending March 2027, and expanding to nearly 300 companies by 2029.

Each of those companies has to buy or build the data systems and hire the staff to measure and report emissions, whether it wanted to or not.

Japan’s Web3 framework, including legal clarity on token classification, exchange licensing, and security token offering (STO) rules, remains among the most developed in any major economy.

2. The TSE’s cost-of-capital push

The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 2023 directive asked listed companies to implement “management conscious of cost of capital and stock price.”

By March 2025, over 90% of Prime Market companies had disclosed capital efficiency improvement plans. Share buybacks exceeded JPY 10 trillion in fiscal year 2024 and hit JPY 6 trillion in the first two months of 2025 alone. Dividends rose from JPY 2 trillion to JPY 16 trillion over the same period.

Japanese corporates, from Nikkei 225 names to mid-cap manufacturers, are now under pressure to show that ESG spending produces returns. That means buying climate analytics platforms, supply chain traceability tools, carbon accounting software, circular economy solutions, and AI-driven sustainability reporting. Corporate venture capital arms and open innovation programs keep multiplying as companies look outside their walls for the technology.

Hiroshi Aoi of Marui Group and Ken Shibusawa of Commons Asset Management have been running stakeholder-capitalism strategies for years. The TSE directive now asks the same of every Prime Market company.

3. $3.37 billion raised in 2025

In 2025, Japanese startups raised $3.37 billion across 546 equity funding rounds, a 17.5% increase over 2024. The government’s Startup Development Five-Year Plan, launched in 2022 with a target of 100,000 startups and JPY 10 trillion in investment by fiscal 2027, has already grown the startup count from 16,000 to approximately 25,000. Japan now hosts over 40,000 startups with a cumulative $87.6 billion in venture and private equity funding.

Foreign firms have set up in Tokyo, among them Andreessen Horowitz, Eurazeo, and Vertex. OpenAI opened a Tokyo office. AN Venture Partners closed a $200 million Japan-focused fund in 2025.

On the institutional side, the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the world’s largest pension fund with over $1.5 trillion in assets, has kept adding ESG-integrated mandates. Government-backed funds continue to put capital into deep tech, climate innovation, and digital transformation. For an impact tech company that means seed money, growth-stage funding, and a plausible corporate buyer in the same city.

4. SusHi Tech Tokyo, April 27-29

SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026, Asia’s largest innovation conference, brings more than 700 startups from around the world to Tokyo Big Sight from April 27 to 29. The SusHi Tech Challenge pitch competition received 820 applications from 60 countries; 20 reached the semifinals and finals. Over 60 city governments will send representatives. The 2025 edition drew 28,000 attendees, including 6,000 employees from major corporations and 1,700 VCs and investors, and produced over 6,000 business meetings in three days.

The conference runs on top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s startup support programs and the city’s incubators, accelerators, and research universities. Tokyo is also compact enough that a visitor can take a morning meeting in Marunouchi, visit a hardware lab in Ota in the afternoon, and make a demo night in Shibuya, all on the metro.

The government has committed approximately JPY 350 billion ($2.3 billion) to strengthening the startup ecosystem, with investments spanning biotech, deep tech, climate, and AI.

5. 社会のための技術

The Japanese phrase 社会のための技術 (shakai no tame no gijutsu), technology for society, is an old one. Japan imports nearly all of its fuel, its population is aging, and earthquakes and typhoons are routine.

Japanese elder-care robotics and energy-efficiency technology matured against those constraints at home before finding buyers abroad.

Many Japanese impact founders describe their motivation with the word ikigai. So do a growing number of senior executives at Japan’s largest companies who have left secure positions to start ventures that pair profit with purpose.

Yoshito Hori, founder of GLOBIS and one of Japan’s best-known business educators, and Kathy Matsui, whose “Womenomics” thesis changed how the world reads Japan’s economic potential and who now invests through MPower Partners, both fit that description. Taro Kono brought a technologist’s approach to government reform. Charles Hoskinson continues to back blockchain infrastructure for financial inclusion through his long partnership with Japan’s developer community. Jesper Koll of Monex Group, Ken Suzuki of SmartNews, and Sota Watanabe of Astar Network and Startale are also on the program.

April 26: the Tech for Impact Summit

On April 26, 2026, the day before SusHi Tech Tokyo opens, the Tech for Impact Summit convenes an invitation-only gathering of the leaders shaping this ecosystem. Confirmed speakers include Taro Kono, Charles Hoskinson, Yoshito Hori, Kathy Matsui, Ken Suzuki, Jesper Koll, Sota Watanabe, Ken Shibusawa, Hiroshi Aoi, and Kiyoshi Seko.

The organizers call the format a “Japanese Davos.” Sessions are small. Company founders, investors, and a former cabinet minister sit in the same room.

Request your invitation to the Tech for Impact Summit →

Seira Yun is the Founder and CEO of Socious Inc. and convener of the Tech for Impact Summit. He is based in Tokyo.