Venture Café Tokyo’s Post

🎌 Tokyo, you were something special. 🍙 🏯 From the moment I landed, I was met with nothing but kindness, warmth, and an energy that made my short time there feel incredibly meaningful. I want to take a moment to thank everyone who welcomed me so graciously; from the Venture Café Global Institute, Venture Café Tokyo, Venture Café Global Institute, Venture Café Cambridge, and CIC Japan teams to the incredible organizers and attendees who made me feel like I truly belonged (more on this later). 🏯 I was exhausted from travel, but that didn’t matter. On Wednesday, I arrived straight from the airport to Yokohama. I caught the tail end of their visit to the YOKOHAMA CONNÉCT powered by Venture Café Tokyo CONNECT space. I was warmly welcomed by Nathan Plummer and Hytham Bakir, who invited me to join the leadership group for dinner, where I met incredible people from all over. That same night, Alexander Cheung helped me tow around my carry-on, Tom Dodge kept me awake with great topics, and yes, Yusuke Matsuo helped pick my dinner since my brain was completely fried. These small acts of care mean the world. I learned so much about them, their local initiatives, including that TSMC is setting up shop in Fukuoka! After that, we walked together to the train station, and I somehow managed to get to my hotel without my roaming plan being turned on yet - because, well, you know, shtuff happens. 🏯 On Thursday, the Global Gathering was in the afternoon and into the evening, and it was incredible. I jumped into my "floor connector" role, just like I do at Venture Café Phoenix as Ambassador, chatting with incredible folks like the chingonas at Venture Café Monterrey, Kristen Plymale, Andreas Stillman, Dominika Duda (she/her), and many more. There were incredible sessions, conversations, connections, and the Pitch2Tokyo competition, in which Jannalee Johnson from #VCPHX won the Tokyo Award! I loved the Global directors session "Activating Locally, Connecting Innovators Globally." I couldn't nod in agreement harder. It's about the systems we build and the people in them, it's not just the tech or the funding, it's about global impact.  🏯After the event wrapped up at 9, I was invited to join the organizers for pizza at the CIC Global Headquarters, which turned into yet another unforgettable moment. We had great conversations, and I got an event T-shirt, which was just a perfect way to close the night. The event itself was electric, filled with brilliant minds coming together to push ideas forward - it was one of those moments where you sit back and realize, these are my people. 🏯The best part? Some of the amazing humans I met here also planned to visit Bangkok! Yup, it was a BKK sequel! More on that in the next post. 💙 But for now, Tokyo, ありがとう (thank you). 💙 🏯 #VentureCaféTokyo #VentureCaféGlobalGathering #GlobalConnections #Innovation #Collaboration #Gratitude #GG25 #MakeThingsHappen #InnovationBridge