Roughly six months ago I was fortunate enough to visit Tokyo by way of an invitation from Smart Contract Japan and during that trip, I gleaned some insights into the state of FinTech in Japan by participating at the Finolab FIBC 2016 event where I described Ethereum and the Total Return Swap decentralized application ConsenSys developed earlier this year. The event was much bigger than I anticipated and was a clear signal that Japan is well positioned to develop and adopt next generation financial technology solutions into its stagnating financial IT infrastructure.

After spending some time in Tokyo and speaking with many Japanese enterprise organizations, we decided there was an opportunity to bring Ethereum to the forefront and organize a conference focused on the business application and utility of smart contracts in the Japanese market - we called it the Smart Contract Conference. After many months of hard work and organization and with the strong support of Microsoft Japan, led by Ken Otani and our local partners at Smart Contract Japan, we were able to put together what turned out to be a sold out event that included a one day business conference and two day hackathon. Take a look;

The event was hosted by Toranomon Hills, a spectacular venue and location in Tokyo. Photo credit: http://goodway.co.jp/fip/htdocs/jow3gyd6r-3242/

The list of presenters included Ethereum co-founder and ConsenSys founder (and all around Rockstar) Joseph Lubin. For those that don't know who Joe is or are new to Ethereum, check out this great primer video from ReasonTV

Marley Gray, head of blockchain at Microsoft was also in attendance, and as always, Microsoft not only sponsored the event but continues to provide tremendous support to the Ethereum community around the World.

One of the keys to success at this event was the professional technical translators who were providing real time translation services in Japanese and English to conference attendees. Essentially, one could think of this event as a large, coherent, real-time information exchange in Japan on topics related to Ethereum. In countries where language barriers can be an obstacle, strong technical translation services dramatically add value to conferences. In this picture, Shimpei Ogawa (from BitProperty) and I are conducting a panel discussion where Shimpei is speaking in Japanese and I in English and we're talking about Ethereum applications and potential uses cases in the Japanese energy sector.

Pokemon Go was a hot topic among the cool kids like my colleague Jesse Grushack who drives Ujo Music, a project that aims to reshape the music industry on Ethereum.

After the one day business conference concluded we got down to what really matters the most; developing software. Here's a few pictures from the two day hackathon that followed and a big thank you to BlockApps who supported this event and John Crain and Charles Crain who flew all the way from Brooklyn to help teach and support.

This guy was on another level and hacking away with his iPhone + key board + external HD. He was also easily one of the most fashionable and well dressed people there.

And of course, Pokemon Go Truffle version is on its way to Ethereum

And just in case you were wondering, yes, Japan is all kinds of amazing and you should come here. Enjoy a couple of gratuitous Japan pics.

Sometimes Tokyo doesn't even look like real life especially for such a big city to be so remarkably clean, well organized and basically already living in the future

Oh and the beaches here are amazing, if you have an opportunity be sure to visit Okinawa

And last but not least, the food in Japan is simply the best.