In January of 2017, little did I know that a chance meeting in the Venetian in Las Vegas would eventually lead to the creation of Japan’s most influential and well-attended food tech event.
We’d just come off our second North America Smart Kitchen Summit a couple of months prior, and two first-time attendees who had made the trip to Seattle, Hirotaka Tanaka and Akiko Okada, asked if we could meet during CES.
I said yes, and the rest is history. Half a year later, we got together in Tokyo for the first-ever SKS Japan, and I was wonderfully surprised at the excitement and innovation around the food system taking place in this beautiful country. And now, seven years later, we just had the seventh SKS Japan, and it’s incredible how this show has matured into one of the most important food tech events on the calendar.
This year’s event spanned three days and brought in over one hundred speakers from across the globe and the food system. Below are some snapshots from the show.
Above: Myself and Hiro Tanaka giving the opening keynote to kick of SKS Japan 2024 (and announce SKS 2025 dates).
Above: Robin Liss (Suvie), Kevin Yu (SideChef) and Assaf Pashut (Chefee) join me for a conversation about how the consumer kitchen has evolved over the past decade and where it will go over the next ten years.
Above: Jasmin Hume (Shiru) joins me on stage and Adam Yee (Sobo Foods) and Tarini Naravane (Grainge AI) dial in to talk about the impact of AI on developing new food inputs and products.
Above: Lee Kindell, the founder of MOTO Pizza, comes to Japan from Seattle to talk about his fast-growing restaurant and how he leverages technology such as robotics to help “scale craft”.
Above: Author and Wired’s kitchen tech reviewer Joe Ray sits for a fireside chat on his thoughts about food tech journalism and first impressions of Japan’s food and restaurant scene.
Above: A talk about new approaches using upcycling and food life extension technologies with Moody Soliman (Ryp Labs), Daichi Takada (AlgaleX Co.), and Lina Sakai (Fermenstation).
Above: Akiko Okada (UnlocX), Hirotaka Tanaka (UnlocX), Michiaki Matsushima (WIRED JAPAN), Hiroki Nakajima (University of Tokyo) during a session entitled Tokyo Regenerative Food Lab in Action
Above: The SKS Japan exhibition space. Bottom right is demo table for AlgaleX’s upcycled algae protein product line, Umamo.
Above: Exhibitors head out to the streets of Tokyo for a street fair on the final day of SKS Japan to share their innovations with a wider audience.
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