About us
Our Mission
Bringing Nagoya’s Tech community together
Nagoya.Tech is an international meetup group. We regularly meet once a month, usually on the last Friday, except holidays. Our group is open to everyone, from student to seniors. There is no membership fee and most of our events are free. Signing up is quick and easy:
Existing members: Have feedback for us?
Events. Education. Community.
Our main focus is improving our quality of life in Nagoya by bringing tech people together, through casual professional networking. At our events, we introduce new members, talk about what we’re working on, trade notes, find out who is hiring, find out which local companies companies are great (and not so great), and sometimes we’ll bring speakers to talk about their careers, discoveries, or just have an open forum about the latest news. This is done through “open mic” pitch night or daytime classroom-style workshops. It’s a fun group.
Follow us on social media for event date/time updates
Is this group for me?
You don’t have to be a tech genius to join Nagoya tech. Our group is open to everyone. We primarily speak English, though half of the group is fluent in Japanese, and we have some Japanese members. We’re not selling anything and we’re not affiliated with recruiters. You’re welcome to pop by and say hello and come and go as you please.
Our Story
WHAT WE DO
Our overarching goal is to bring professional and personal development opportunities to our members, and to make smart friends that do cool things. We’re primarily concerned in creating a fun and safe community that is welcome to people of all ages and career path, and bring everyone out of their routines to share and unite.
Get notified about N.tech events – follow us on social today:
Wait, Nagoya has tech?
Tech in Central Japan exists, but it is very fragmented. You’ll find great groups like WordPress meetups, React meetups, and Startup camps. But let’s face it, moving to Nagoya can be intimidating: There aren’t many professional networking opportunities at a glance, but they do exist. A newcomer to the area shouldn’t have to dig deep: we want to make it easier to discover and enjoy our local tech community.
Regular tech events in Nagoya, as the city is quickly evolving
The Aichi government is making many strides to attract tech startups to Nagoya, such as the incredible Innovator’s Garage in Sakae and the Station AI incubator building in Tsuruma Park. These are semi-public facilities designed for member companies that often host events to the public, definitely worth following them. The Japanese government has begun testing “digital nomad” visas to attract more tech talent to Japan as well. These are just two examples of companies trying to appeal to the global audience, heavily influenced by Western startup culture, even in their names. The highlight of our 2024 is watching so many global startups, universities, and banks come together at STATION.Ai’s grand opening event, pictured below:
Our Role
But, of course, this is Japan. You’re not going to find a ton of English speakers at the events, and English content is far and few between, and that’s why we exist.
Connecting international residents of central japan to opportunties and education is our #1 focus, and we’re starting to make an impact by connecting those individuals through casual events. Our secondary focus is educational workshops, which beyond tech also helping people acclimate to the cultural work/life differences in Japanese society.
We are organizing English events, and Japanese is spoken as a secondary language. While the local government figures out how a tech community works in an official capacity, Nagoya.Tech is also self-organizing an independent International community.
Visibility and Representation
It may surprise some Japanese companies that so many international residents are living in Nagoya, can speak business-level Japanese, and have applicable skills. We want to be a beacon and an advocate for that kind of person. Here is who we represent, and who you can meet at our events:
Our role is to help bridge the gap and improve communication with the global community within the city. The more visible and active we become, the greater the opportunies present themselves for our members. Our role is to make it known that we are here and are interested.
We are working hard to improve the quality of life for techies, to bring the local tech community together. From the start we’ve attracted amazing people, and there’s still so much work to do. We are determined to make an impact!
Backstory
NOT OUR FIRST RODEO
Founder-san Yanier Gonzalez moved to Nagoya from San Francisco, where tech events are a dime a dozen every night — and he really missed that. His gaming company Destructoid hosted the city’s biggest afterparties during the Game Developer’s Conference in SF, and Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, and EGLX in Toronto. Big events were his thing. He missed that.
After Covid lockdowns were finally over, he decided to do something about it. On June 16, 2023, Yanier began looking for techies in the city and found Alan on Reddit. With the help of local events planner Nick, we put the first Nagoya tech meetup together. We’re starting small, but working on this regularly. And it’s already grown to 100 people, so we’re off to a great start. Every month you’ll see improvements as we work towards planning our larger events.
Our final form has not been revealed, and isn’t that exciting?
FOUNDERS
Yanier Gonzalez (right) is an American enterprepreneur. His web dev company “ModernMethod” was acquired by WMX agency. He later founded the gaming community “Destructoid” with Alexis Ohanian, later sold to NYSE:EGLX. Yanier is working on a generative AI community and website called Graydient.ai and a board member at Kenna.ai, a NY based startup for garment design & trend spotting.
Alan Perez (left) – While a bit of a Jack of all trades, most recently Alan has been involved in marketing strategy. Having managed international teams and living around the world, he appreciates and understands the importance of international collaboration. While he may be from the USA, his favorite city is Nagoya, Japan.
Nick Edges (center, currently on leave of absense) a senior dev ops manager, a camera enthusiast and talented DJ, and a well-known figure in the Nagoya events space. He’s lived in Japan for 20+ years and is from Oxford, England, having temporarily left Nagoya.
Want to help?
Join our Discord and chat, there’s various things to get done!
Why Nagoya
Simply put, because we love Nagoya. Our founders put down roots here, Yanier is a permanent Japanese resident and not going anywhere — “I’m here to put in the work.” We see so much opportunity and raw potential as Japan’s central technology hub. We are committed to driving positive changes and creating more opportunities for everyone.
Roadmap
Nagoya.Tech is in “public stealth” and still building our website and events calendar. We are working hard to make an impact.
Follow us to get updates about our next event:
