Shibuya Startup Support

Yoshiro Tasaka

Joined Shibuya City Office in January 2020 and currently in charge of building a startup ecosystem and internationalizing Shibuya City.

He worked for the Consulate-General of Japan in San Francisco for eight and a half years. He was long involved in various activities in the SF Bay Area, including setting up non-profit organizations.

Upon returning to Japan in 2016, he worked as a board member of a startup in Tohoku and then joined Komatsu Ltd. He also served as Vice President of Landlog, a venture company established by Komatsu.

He is eager to contribute to the startup ecosystem in Shibuya City, leveraging the skills he acquired overseas and the work experiences at both major corporates and startups.

Yoichiro Suzuki

He joined Tokyu Corporation in 2015, where he was in charge of several projects based on public-private partnerships, including the works related to Shibuya Station Area Management Association.

He was assigned to the Shibuya City Office in April 2020, tasked with international strategy promotion at the Industrial Promotion Division, working on various projects across departments leveraging his experience and knowledge in the private sector.

He accomplishes difficult tasks such as public-private partnership projects and proof-of-concept projects one after another. His nickname in the Shibuya City Office is "Goku (the Dragon Ball fame)."

Kayoko Tanigawa

She joined the Shibuya City Office in 2011 and worked in several departments, including the Welfare Department, Child and Family Department, and Secretary to the Mayor. She has been actively participating in various local governments' study groups and has a network both within the Shibuya City Office and throughout Japan.

In May 2020, she joined the International Strategy Promotion Division in a dual role. She has demonstrated her outstanding coordination and administrative skills in the Shibuya City Office, including budgeting and launching projects, proving her irreplaceable talent.

Gai Sato

He joined Shibuya City Office in 2017. After working as a revenue collector, he was tasked as an industrial promotion section chief in April 2020 and now also in charge of international strategy promotion.

He is a "local government administrator thoroughbred" whose parents also contributed to regional government offices in 23 wards. His recent success includes sealing the agreements with WeWork and Yokohama City. A leading GenZ figure to take charge of Shibuya City of the future.

Tsutomu Nakaya

He joined the Shibuya City Office in 2015. After working at the Board of Education, he joined the Cabinet Office in 2020, took part in the international affairs in Science, Technology, and Innovation, coordinating bilateral and multilateral cooperation and ministerial meetings.

In 2018, he visited Estonia as a delegation member from the Shibuya City Office, where he experienced the cutting edge of the digital nation.

Joined the Global Core Cities Promotion Office in April 2021, where he levelages his international business and central government experience to help build a startup ecosystem.

Saeko Seno

She joined the Shibuya City Office's Global Core Cities Promotion Office in April 2021, leading the department as the No. 2. Before that, she worked in various fields at the Office, including public relations, foreigner registration, welfare for the elderly, human resources, and system operation.

She has a deep understanding of IT systems, something hard to come by in the regional government officials, and is fluent in English, making her a valuable asset. She has good communication skills, is trusted by her colleagues, and has a wide network. She is in love with Southern California and her dog.

Paul Bragiel

Paul Bragiel is a three-time entrepreneur whose venture includes Bragiel Brothers, an early stage technology fund focusing on Silicon Valley. He's collectively invested in the seed rounds of over 250+ companies with holdings in other multi-billion dollar companies like Niantic (Pokemon Go), Stripe & Zappos.

Chika Yamamoto

Chika is an entrepreneur and ecosystem builder based in Berlin. She is the founder of CROSSBIE , which focuses on bridging Japan and the global startup ecosystem. Also, she is an ambassador for AsiaBerlin, a collective platform, powered by the Berlin Senate Department, to bring together startup communities in the world, and Digital Hub Global Ambassador for, Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), the economic development agency of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Taisuke Alex Odajima

Taisuke Alex Odajima is the CEO of EDGEof Innovation. He has been a bridge for startup ecosystems in Japan and overseas. Working with embassies and startup support organizations in more than 20 countries, he is involved in innovation-related policies in each nation. He was appointed as the selection committee for the “J-Startup” program by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Japan.

Julian Morie Hara Nielsen

Julian is the Lead Asian Ecosystem Consultant at TechBBQ, the largest tech summit focusing on linking Nordic startups and tech solutions to the world. He bridged the Nordic innovation community with Japanese stakeholders through the Innovation Lab Asia project.

Yosuke Sasaki

Yosuke Sasaki is a partner, chief of staff and head of CEO Office at SoftBank Investment Advisers(SBIA). After starting his career at the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi (now MUFG Bank), he joined Softbank Corp (now SoftBank Group Corp), where he led multiple financing activities, M&A transactions, and the management of several portfolio companies. As part of the SoftBank Vision Fund’s founding team, Yosuke helped launch and build the world’s largest technology fund. He is based at SBIA headquarters in London and serves as co-representative of SBIA’s Tokyo office. Yosuke also acts as an advisor and investment committee member of Deepcore, which is AI-focused early stage VC fund. MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Tom McInerney

Tom McInerney is an active angel investor and company advisor. Tom was a seed investor in Segment, Notion, Bird (series a), Arcadia Power, Getaround, Memsql, Mode, Labgenius, Tala and others.

Tom began his career as an engineer / scientist at Apple’s worldwide headquarters in cupertino and worked at sony on the VAIO computers before becoming an entrepreneur and investor.

An avid environmentalist, Tom is on the national council of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Justin Waldron

Justin Waldron is co-founder / President of Playco, based in Tokyo. He’s an active angel investor in 60+ companies and previously co-founded Zynga, an unicorn company based in San Francisco.

Jonathan Siegel

Jonathan Siegel is a Founder of Xenon Partners based in Japan and Silicon Valley. Jonathan is the author of “The San Francisco Fallacy.” He has multiple degrees like MBA, Computer Science and others.

Ayumi Ode

Special Advisor for Global Outreach. Ayumi Ode represents the Japan chapter of 500 Startups, one of the most active accelerators in the World. Ayumi has previously worked for two startups. She gained an MBA from Columbia University.

Naotake Hibiya

Special Advisor for Public Relations: Naotake has helped many startups through his experience of PR/Marketing. He leads many NPOs including Public Meets Innovations, Japan Public Relations Associations, Shibuya Connectors 30 and others

Naoko Yamanaka

Special Advisor for Diversity and Community: Naoko is a foudner of meetalk that provides support to female entreprenuers and creators. As a memnber of the Campfire, the largest crowdfunding platform in Japan, she has organized over 100 projects for communities.

Matthew Waldman

Matthew Waldman is a professor at the Keio Media Design. He founded the SAMCARA “evolution by design” research lab in the Fall of 2017 at KMD. Previously he led NOOKA – the lifestyle design brand bringing the revolution of interface design to physical products. Before NOOKA, he gained recognition as a pioneer in digital interactions and UX design, founded New York Zoom in 1997, built an award-winning global team at Reuters in 2002.

Sophie Meralli

Venture investor at Eight Roads supporting founders in technology and fintech. Previously worked at Innospark investing in AI startups. During her MBA at MIT, she worked with N26, a European neobank and published research on cryptocurrencies with the MIT Digital Currency Initiative.

Sasha Kaverina

Sasha is a journalist and community builder at Le Wagon Tokyo, the world’s most acclaimed coding bootcamp. She organized 70+ tech and startup events in Tokyo, and actively promotes gender diversity in tech as a WomenTech Network global ambassador.

Caven Cade Michell

Caven is a co-founder of SIVENTH. With an MBA from McGill University, he focuses on sustainability-related new businesses and cutting-edge technology applications for enterprises. He also founded organizations such as Dev Japan, Design Japan, and Net Impact in Tokyo.

Sylvain Pierre

Sylvain is the founder of Le Wagon Tokyo, a coding bootcamp geared towards entrepreneurs. He is an angel investor in The Family, a Europe-based startup accelerator, and regularly blogs about Tokyo's startup ecosystem.

Kani Munidasa

CEO of Code Chrysalis. Kani helped industry leaders transform the way they build software, drive customer success, innovate, and disrupt businesses across industries in multiple geographies. Worked in the US for 18 years before deciding to pursue his passion for education at Hack Reactor.

Yan Fan

CTO of Code Chrysalis. Born in China and raised in Seattle, Yan graduated from Dartmouth College with degrees in Economics and Arabic. Before Code Chrysalis, Yan was a software engineer at Ayasdi, a leading Silicon Valley machine learning startup, and co-founded a coding bootcamp in Jordan helping refugees.

Dimitri Akimaru

Serial entrepreneur who founded IT companies in both the United States and Japan. He also founded TokyoTechStartups, one of Japan's largest tech-focused communities comprised of foreign tech talent and investors. The founder of Morphus AI, a VR/AI startup, and a mentor at 500 startups.

Aiko Teranishi

indigo inc. CEO & Business Producer. Aiko joined an advertising company in 2007 and started to handle new business development in 2017. Since then she has engaged in consultation from a technology and branding point of view to form an ecosystem connecting enterprise and startups in Japan. Founded indigo inc. in January 2020.