TechCrunch brings Startup Battlefield to Tokyo: AI, robots, and anime at SusHi Tech 2026

TechCrunch is bringing its legendary startup competition Startup Battlefield to Tokyo — for the first time at a world-class Asian venue. The meeting point will be the SusHi Tech 2026 festival, which Tokyo authorities have turned into Japan's leading technology forum. SusHi Tech Tokyo — not a random name.

The acronym stands for Sustainable High City Tech, and this principle — technology in service of sustainable urban future — underpins the 2026 program. Organizers have focused on four domains that are most actively transforming modern society: artificial intelligence, robotics, resilience, and entertainment industry. The session program promises to be packed.

Visitors will see live demonstrations of humanoid robots — a segment where Japan is traditionally strong: local engineering schools in mechanics and precision manufacturing have set standards for the entire industry for decades. A separate block is dedicated to the revolution in autonomous driving software. The topic in 2026 has definitively exited the laboratory experiment phase: robotaxis operate in several US and Chinese cities, and Japanese automakers are actively embedding driver assistance systems in production models.

In the Resilience track, organizers will bring together cybersecurity specialists and climate technology experts. Following a series of high-profile attacks on critical infrastructure in 2024–2025, this conversation sounds particularly timely. The climate block will focus on Japanese approaches to megacity adaptation: Tokyo — one of the world's largest cities — has long been a testing ground for developing natural risk management technologies.

Perhaps the most unexpected and vibrant track — Entertainment. AI is already actively rewriting rules in the music industry and anime world. Tokyo is the perfect place to discuss this openly: Japan is the world's largest market for physical music media and home to the global anime industry with annual revenue exceeding $25 billion.

As AI tools generate music, voice-overs, and visual style, Japanese studios and labels have found themselves at the epicenter of discussions about copyright, creative authorship, and the future of professions in creative industries. For TechCrunch, participation in SusHi Tech is part of a strategy to expand Startup Battlefield beyond Silicon Valley. The competition, which launched in 2007, has already launched companies like Dropbox, Mint, and Yammer.

The Tokyo format opens doors for startups from the Asia-Pacific region, which were previously underrepresented on Western venture radars. Technology media and investors are increasingly turning to Asia — not as a market for Western solutions, but as an independent source of innovation. Japanese companies, long overshadowed by Korean and Chinese competitors, are again in the spotlight — especially in robotics and industrial AI.

The presence of TechCrunch with Startup Battlefield at SusHi Tech 2026 — an unambiguous signal: Tokyo is bidding for the role of global hub for the conversation about technological future.