Overheard at Tech in Asia Tokyo 2015

If you noticed the Shibuya district in Tokyo buzzing with more activity than usual on September 8 and 9, you weren’t imagining it. This week our Tech in Asia Tokyo conference played host there to over 1,500 people from Japan and around the world.

Located in a prime location on the ninth floor, the conference venue offered a splendid view of the city:

A highlight of Dave McClure’s session on day one was a surprise appearance from James Riney, who will join 500 Startups as head of Japan:

Behind the scenes, some of our favourite tech figures were goofing around:

There was no way you could miss out on seeing Pepper(s):

A few steps away from the main hall was Bootstrap Alley. This year, we had a record 194 booths exhibiting, with a good mix between Japanese and International startups.

The rain persisted through day two, but did nothing to dampen spirits at the conference:

The star of the show was undoubtedly Ben Horowitz, hip-hop fan and managing partner at venture capital firm a16z:

Many left the conference with bragging rights, having met Ben himself up close and personal during a book signing session of The Hard Thing about Hard Things:

Our top ten finalists at Arena, a major highlight of our conference, were nothing short of amazing this year:

Mana.bo was the biggest winner of the evening:

Then of course there was Night Crawl – whoever said tech geeks don’t know how to have fun?

But all good things must come to an end:

Couldn’t make it to Tokyo this time round? We’ll be bringing the party to Tech in Asia Jakarta 2015 on November 11 and 12, and we hope to meet more of you there!

Get your passes at 25 percent off now using the code tiajkt25.