Tokyo crypto places and players
Some ideas if you are coming to Tokyo for a short visit or to work.
EVENTS LISTINGS
I list up ALL the blockchain/crypto/fintech events I know of here on a monthly basis — it’s a great resource if you are in town and want to meet people in the crypto/blockchain/fintech/DeFi space!
Norbert of Tokyo Fintech lists bigger events over a longer timeframe too.
Techy Tokyo lists software/tech events and also has a jobs section
[Most of events are on Meet Up and Eventbrite and there’s also Peatix which often lists the Japanese language only events and seems to reach more local Japanese people.]
Another Japanese site has some different events including the Japanese language ones that I don’t usually list, Rising Bitcoin, and also Tokyo Start Up Events (it’s in Japanese but you can toggle to English, but many of the events are in Japanese).
EVENTS VENUES
Base Layer this company has a relatively small, intimate space near Harajuku / Meiji-jingumae / Kita-sando and is one of my favorites; Ethereum Japan often have high quality events there, they also arrange events at, for example WeWork.
FinGATE Kayaba — it’s a fairly large space available to rent, a bit soulless and not so convenient, but with large capacity, in Kayabacho which used to be Tokyo’s financial center and where the Tokyo Stock Exchange still is.
nagatacho GRID — funky, industrial co-working facility with a couple of spaces for rent, 6F best for presentations and a more intimate B1 bar type space, near Akasaka Mitsuke, Nagatacho and Kojimachi.
FABcafe — smaller space, has a lot of 3D printers for creatives, in Shibuya, intimate presentation area with screen and bar.
Forum 8 also in Shibuya, a bit of an old building and dingy spaces, but cheap and cheerful I guess and different capacity rooms.
Neutrino — interesting OmiseGO project for co-working at which some interesting events (e.g. Dfinity) have also been held, funky, industrial vibe.
WeWork (multiple inc. Ginza 6, Meiji-jingumae) obviously upmarket venue, Ginza 6 better than Meiji-jingumae for events I think.
Fabbit — TeamZ often use the Otemachi/Tokyo station branch for their blockchain events, stylish modern venue and co-working space.
ninetytwo13 — Cool retro design, co-working, living and events space on the boundary of Roppongi and Akasaka.
Blink — another co-working and events space with a developer/techie slant, in Azabu, near Roppongi.
Impact Hub in Meguro is another co-working and space rental venue, again with a techie slant. Home of Tokyo Fintech (see below).
Bitcoin Center Japan opened in 2017, near Hanzomon station.
Hashhub — co-working and events space, near Hongo-san-chome station
EDGEOf — funky, industrial, clubby space in heart of Shibuya; Cryptokitties had their Tokyo launch there
ADVISORS / MARKETING
Base Layer — nice people, high quality events and attendees (including myself ha ha)
TeamZ — promote a lot of Tokyo events, including summits, cool space
SwissBorg — another slick operation, Alex Fazel is a great presenter and very well connected!
Dot partners — slick and very active, big players, you are sure to meet Jason!
Finetiq — the remit is fintech, founder Maurizio Raffone is often a speaker on the fintech/blockchain circuit ( profile here with Alex of Swissborg)
Smart Contract — ETH ecosystem, blockchain/DLT advisory services related to block chain and distributed ledger technology, media business and promotion service, liquidity provider
SamePage Ltd. — friendly Japanese team handling their own ICO and advising on others
Collabogate — events and advisory services, young Japanese startup
Blockchain Hub — events, media, academy
Crypto Promotion Japan — support for entering the Japanese market, translation, community building
FEB Inc. — Asia and CIS countries especially
Metaps — good Asian connections
BIG (Singapore based) — Jason and Jerry organize extensive Asia roadshows.
INTERPRETER / MODERATOR / INFLUENCERS
Zaq (the best crypto interpreter in Japan) — I’ve heard him interpret and, yeah, he’s very good both on the crypto knowledge and the interpretation ( twitter)
Russian OL-chan — she’s an influencer and a panel moderator in English and Japanese
Miss Bitcoin Mai — great to see women taking a part in the crypto world; I would say she is one of the leading crypto influencers here ( some blog details and ACCJ article)
Ken Shishido — he started the first bitcoin meet up and is an advisor and event organizer amongst other things
Norbert Gehrke runs Tokyo Fintech Meetup and puts on events in the fintech and occasionally blockchain space
Kaeru, the Online Doodler — this guy makes visual notes of events; check some out here
Tokyobitcoiner — umm, it’s me on twitter!
LAWYER
So Saito — the most famous practice dealing with blockchain and crypto
TRANSLATION
Japanese Translation Blockchain Nomad — run by Japanese early adopter Hakka, active on BitcoinTalk
APPS & TOOLS
Interactio is an app which broadcasts the onsite interpreter’s voice to iPhones
Kahoot is a quiz app to have questions on screen and participants interact on their phones — great for giveaways
Mentimeter is a website that enables audience to choose topics or panel to talk about
Walls.io — easy-to-use social wall that allows you to collect, curate and display content from multiple social media platforms and display it on screen at events.
CODING SCHOOLS
Code Chrysalis — Immersive coding programs, part-time and summer courses
“Silicon Valley-style coding boot camp seeks to reset Japan Inc.” (Japan Times)
Le Wagon — multilingual coding bootcamp since 2013
ELECTRONICS STORES ACCEPTING BITCOIN (implementation by bitFlyer)
BIC Camera accept bitcoin up to 100,000 yen
Yamada Labi Shinjuku and the Concept Labi across from Tokyo Station accept bitcoin
BARS/CLUBS ACCEPTING CRYPTO
The Two Dogs Taproom — it’s often the home to BTC and BCH meet ups, you can pay with either currencies and is in the Roppongi entertainment district.
Rakan, it’s a club/night lounge in Roppongi too, accepting BCH and having held a few BCH events there.
Mezzo, luxury bar and lounge, again Roppongi
The Pink Cow — the first retailer to accept bitcoin in 2013 and now a big BCH supporter, in Akasaka, which has quite a few hotels and good connections.
Good Heavens! — it’s a British-style pub, with sports screening and a comedy club; the pre-party for Satoshi Vision 2018 was held there. In Shimo-kitazawa which is a pretty cool interesting place; think used/retro clothes and one-off shops, easy access from Shibuya (Inokashira line train).
The biggest evangelists for adoption are the Tokyo BCH gang, check out their meet ups past and present for restaurants and bars which accept bitcoin cash.
The app Marco Coino lists BCH accepting merchants worldwide, incidentally.
And there is also bitcoinmap.cash (I like the dark theme) that shows similar.
OTHER TOURISTY STUFF
Taxis — in my opinion use regular taxis or the train/metro network, UBER is in Tokyo but it is more of an expensive black limousine service, a regular taxi hailed from the street would be faster and cheaper, and the trains are regular and safe, if jam packed at peak times.
Accommodation — booking.com, hotel.com, expedia all have lots of options. AirBNB sadly got kind of regulated out of existence, but there is a kind of crypto one; Cryptocribs (but I haven’t tried it).
Trunk Hotel Shibuya — it’s a cool, boutique hotel, trendy coffee/bar space, even sells its own goods; suitable for Bitcoin OGs or whales.
Nest Inn Hakone — stylish hot spring hotel as a getaway from Tokyo; post-conference relaxation, or romance.
Robot Cafe — has a part of bitcoin history “where Roger met Nic”.
Streamer Coffee — it’s my favorite coffee shop and a great place to get some work done with fast WiFi and nice industrial chic spaces; the Tokyo Garden Place expresso branch (Akasaka Mitsuke/Nagatacho) near to Yahoo! Japan offices is a relaxed space shared with a Famima upmarket convenience store.
Guzman y Gomez — my fave Tex Mex (although it’s Australian!); Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinagawa.
Mt. Takao — easy place to get to see some countryside, very light hiking, eat udon, Japanese-y feeling.
Kamakura WeBase hostel/capsule hotel — budget accommodation that’s actually stylish and clean and good for exploring Kamakura (hire a bike) or beach; more for shrimps than whales; a very Japanese place to stay would be Zen Vague
Enoshima — another easy day trip, beach, some Japanese culture, could combine with Kamakura; there’s also a capsule hotel there In Frame.
Akihabara — take your pick: manga, anime, maid cafes, cosplay, trading cards, model kits, character goods, retro-gaming, electronics, used cameras, computers etc. and lots of kebab shops.
Ghibli museum — you need advance reservations and you can do this outside Japan. It’s in Kichijoji which is a nice place to stroll around.
Ueno Science Museum — there’s a Zero fighter, some space exhibits, engineering; also natural history.
Odaiba Miraikan — it’s the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation; Asimo, humanoid androids, exhibits on the Japanese space program; if you know London, Odaiba is a kind of “docklands” with a light driverless railway, there’s the famous Gundam statue, shopping malls and Oedo Onsen — an urban hot spring.
Edo-Tokyo Museum — if you have two hours or so and you’d like to see something Japanese-y (and maybe the weather is bad) this museum has some interesting exhibits and reconstructions + it’s near the sumo stadium and Tokyo Skytree direction.
Other ideas
“10 places techies should visit in Tokyo” via Code Chrysalis
On a budget? Check out Tokyo Cheapo for excellent ideas!
Any tips appreciated! Tips 💰AIRDROPS 💧ALTCOINS 💩
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NEO/NEP-5 Tokens: AWe1uspbH85aKX7A3ByEwQTSi3uNSGUiWy
BCH: qzza8yuygwj37hs0u468yavcvzcwx9an25lkl9c9vk
BTC: 3BAvHXJN2MfR9pjjqkvFKqec8QdzpRQpet
Originally published at http://github.com and https://www.tokyobitcoiner.com/
