, Columnist
Silicon Valley Made AI Powerful. Tokyo Wants to Make It Work
Playing catch up.
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
There was a time when Tokyo felt light years ahead of the world. The flip phone I used in the 2000s was a marvel to every American I showed it to, packed with features far beyond anything on the US market.
But during the smartphone and internet era, Silicon Valley pulled ahead. Tokyo’s edge dulled as the country struggled through its lost decades and lagged in the shift from hardware to software. Now it’s trying something more ambitious than just catching up — it wants to become the most startup-friendly city in the world.