Agile Japan 2026
Overview
One of Japan's largest agile conferences, drawing practitioners from across industries and job functions. The 2026 theme, "Agile Paradox," revisits what the acceleration driven by AI changes in agile development and organizations, and what role people should still hold. Runs two days as a hybrid of on-site and online participation.
Program
- Hybrid format (on-site and online) with a single-track timetable on both days
- Two keynotes (Daisuke Watanabe and Shuzo Narita)
- Slots for selected talks, sponsor sessions and silver-sponsor lightning talks
- A networking slot closes Day 1; a hallway Open Space Technology (OST) session also runs
- Ticket holders can watch session videos for one month after the conference
Speakers
- Daisuke Watanabe (Head of Engineering Division, SB OAI Japan; keynote "Agile Paradox"; 2026)
- Shuzo Narita (Co-Founder and CEO, MW Inc.; keynote "Agile, Dead or Alive?"; 2026)
Foundation
- Founded
- 2009
- Founder
- Agile Japan Organizing Committee
Founded by Japan's agile practitioner community as a venue for practitioners to pool their field experience
Transition
- 2009 First edition held
- 2020 Moved online during the pandemic
- 2025 Held November 13-14 on the theme Reboot Japan, linking venue and online participants via Miro
- 2026 Held November 12-13 at Bellesalle Shinjuku Central Park as a hybrid event
Voices
Learned that the necessary shift is toward agentic coding in partnership with AI rather than vibe coding aimed purely at speed, and was struck by the framing of AI as an amplifier of knowledge rather than a substitute for it (from JP Ohtaki's report, in Japanese)
Even online attendees could ask questions on the dedicated Miro board, with speakers answering at the venue or later on the board (from the SHIFT Group tech blog's report, in Japanese)
Japan Mobility Show Bizweek 2026
A B2B mobility co-creation event hosted by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA). Held in the interim year of the main Japan Mobility Show (biennial at Tokyo Big Sight, drawing about one million visitors), co-located with CEATEC at the same venue and dates. Focused on business matching among automakers, startups, universities, and cross-industry companies, with the online matching tool Meet-up Box available before and after the show.
SPI Japan 2026
A specialist software process improvement conference run by the Japan SPI Consortium (JASPIC) since 2000. It travels to a different host city each year, and in 2026 runs for three days at AOSSA in Fukui City. Built around corporate improvement case studies and tutorials, its ¥40,000 main-conference fee marks it as a dense, practitioner-facing event.
GREE Tech Conference 2026
A technology conference hosted by GREE Holdings under the theme "How We Build", framed around the process of development rather than the finished product. Three parallel tracks cover AI, data analysis, game development, infrastructure, and security, with a keynote by the company's Masaki Fujimoto. Free to attend in a hybrid format, including seats that come with an office tour.