Interop Tokyo 2027
Overview
One of Japan's largest network and infrastructure technology events, running since 1994. Its hallmark is ShowNet, a live interoperability demonstration network built from scratch on the show floor by hundreds of top engineers using over 2,000 products contributed by exhibitors, letting visitors see the latest networking, AI infrastructure, and security technology on real hardware. The 2026 edition drew over 140,000 visitors across three days.
Foundation
- Founded
- 1994
- Founder
- NANO OPT Media, Inc.
Started in 1994 as the Japanese edition of US Interop. Centered on ShowNet, an experimental network rebuilt in the venue every year, it has supported the practical expertise of Japan's network engineers for over three decades since the early days of the internet
Transition
- 1994 First Interop Tokyo held
- 2020 Shifted to a hybrid online format during the COVID pandemic
- 2025 Held at Makuhari Messe, drawing 136,875 visitors over three days
- 2026 Attendance reached 143,312, surpassing the previous year. AI-related exhibits grew sharply
- 2027 Announced for June 9-11 at Makuhari Messe, with exhibitor applications opened
Voices
A new hire was impressed by talks on agentic AI-driven autonomous network operations and AI security exhibits, and overwhelmed by the scale of ShowNet combining 5G, cloud, and AI (from Tokyo Electron Device new employee's report, in Japanese)
A ShowNet NOC team member learned hands-on from Day 1 of the pre-show HotStage build, from rack installation to building the team's operations network (from ShowNet NOC Team Aoki's build report, in Japanese)
AI Expo Summer 2026
The summer edition of the AI-focused exhibition hosted by AIsmiley, operator of Japan's AI portal media. Over 100 companies present 200+ AI solutions alongside 40+ conference sessions. Following the Spring 2026 edition at Tokyo International Forum, it moves to Sankaku Hiroba at the Shinjuku Sumitomo Building. Free to attend, it serves companies comparing generative AI and AI agent products.
Innovation Japan 2026 (University Trade Fair)
Japan's largest university-industry matching event, hosted by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). Patented technology seeds from universities nationwide are exhibited for matching with corporate R&D and new business teams. The 2025 edition drew about 14,000 visitors to 291 exhibited seeds. Less a startup conference and more a trade fair that seeds technology transfer and joint research.
Open Developers Conference 2026
A developer-focused open source conference run by the OSPN community behind the Open Source Conference (OSC) series. Billed as an "open source culture festival," it packs seminars, hands-on sessions, and community booths on DevOps, dev tools, and cloud into a single free day. Modest in size at 100-plus attendees, its strength since 2018 has been direct access to the developers behind OSS projects.