Le Wagon is coming to Kyoto!
After one year and a half running Le Wagon in Tokyo, 6 sessions, 88 students and almost 32,000 hours of code, we’re excited to announce our next step in Japan: We are coming to Kyoto!
Our first session is set to start on October 15th, and will run until the end of the red leaves season. Walking home along Kamogawa after a day of code, and seeing the foliage turn gold day after day is coming true.
Why Kyoto?
Le Wagon Tokyo has quickly developed into a diverse community, bringing together 2,500 members for our weekly talks and workshops, but most importantly students from over 20 different countries for our 9-week full-stack curriculum. The next step for us came through a question: how can we broaden that community and give the opportunity for more people to change their life through code?
And Kyoto offers just that. The Kansai region is the second largest after Tokyo, and many people living in the area had already contacted us asking when Le Wagon would open there. On the other hand, Kyoto certainly equals Tokyo in the fascination it creates and should definitely be on the list of cities to visit in your life… By launching in Kyoto, we aim to continue what has made Le Wagon in Tokyo so special: a melting pot of cultures and experiences, all brought together by their growing passion for code and their drive to change their life.
Kyoto is also home for some of the biggest tech companies in Japan: Nintendo has its headquarters located there, and Line just opened an engineering center to provide job opportunities for engineers who want to stay in Kansai. Lastly, Kyoto universities are very active in encouraging high-tech research, and even offer incubation programs such as Innovation Hub Kyoto and Kyoto D-Lab.
But most importantly… Kyoto is an absolutely amazing city. From its small alleys where you can, at random, run into a maiko, a temple or a traditional house, to a much more laid-back, low-rise atmosphere compared to Tokyo’s frenzy, it offers an awesome experience to spend 2 months of your life, learn to code, and once in a while grab a drink with friends along the Kamogawa.
Our new Base
We’ve spent the past month scouting locations to run Le Wagon Kyoto, and Groving Base is meeting all our expectations. A newly opened coworking space in the heart of the city, a 5-minute walk from Karasuma station, and a dynamic founder, Shinoda-san, make it the perfect place to start our Kyoto adventure. We’ll start running our usual talks and workshops really soon, and you can already join our community to be notified about the latest events.
Our Partners
It would be difficult to start talking about our local connections without first mentioning Thomas from Ship&Co, who’s been a great advisor through his experience launching two businesses in Kyoto. He recently gave a talk at one of our Tokyo’s events, and you can discover more about him here:
We’ll also be working closely with two very dynamic communities catering to startups and makers in the region: Osaka Innovation Hub and Makers Bootcamp respectively. They both have been established in Kansai for a few years now, and are strongly contributing to the growing tech scene.
Lastly, we’ll have access to additional event spaces on top of Groving Base with Impact Hub Kyoto and MTRL, so stay tuned for future tech talks and workshops.
Living the Kyoto life
Whether you’re looking to eventually find a job in Japan, or just spend two months learning to code while discovering a world heritage city, Kyoto is the perfect balance of culture, peacefulness and affordable lifestyle. We’re once again really happy to add Kyoto to the Le Wagon map, and can’t wait to welcome everyone for our first session!
Applications for our first session starting October 15th are open.
