Two countries. One shared urgency around education and technology. And a summit in Tokyo that might be the right moment to do something about it.

I’ve been thinking a lot about EdTech Asia lately — not just as a conference, but as a signal of where the conversation is heading.

This year’s summit is in Tokyo. And for me, that changes something. It makes this personal.

Three years in Fukuoka

I spent three years building a Japanese entity in Fukuoka — running local POCs, navigating market development, learning how business actually works on the ground in Japan. Not from a deck. From inside the room.

That experience gave me something that’s hard to get any other way: a practical understanding of what cross-border collaboration between Korea and Japan actually looks like. The friction. The trust-building. The pace. The reward when it works.

”Cross-border isn’t a strategy. It’s a practice. You learn it by doing it — slowly, repeatedly, honestly.”

Korea’s EdTech scene deserves more visibility

Korea is home to some of the strongest EdTech companies in Asia. The talent is deep. The product quality is high. The domestic market pressure has forced these companies to build things that actually work.

But here’s the gap: many of them aren’t yet part of the broader Asian EdTech conversation.

They’re building in relative isolation — strong locally, but underconnected regionally. That’s a missed opportunity. For them, and for the ecosystem.

I’d love to see more Korean EdTech players engage with and contribute to the EdTech Asia community. Not as observers, but as voices.

What I want to see more of

The sessions I care about most aren’t the keynotes. They’re the ones that get specific:

  • Cross-border partnership case studies — what actually worked, what didn’t, and why
  • AI-enabled education — not hype, but real implementation stories
  • Workforce development — how companies are rethinking talent pipelines
  • Market expansion playbooks — practical paths from one country into the next

These are the conversations that move the needle. Not theory. Practice.

Showing up differently this time

I’ve attended the summit twice before. Once, I helped bring a delegation of Korean startups and support organizations to the event. I’ve seen what happens when the right people are in the same room — and I’ve also seen what gets lost when follow-up doesn’t happen.

This time, I want to contribute more actively.

Share feedback. Connect strong Korean EdTech players to the community. Help bridge the Korea-Japan gap with people I actually know on both sides. And if it’s helpful — support the summit as an ambassador.

The best communities aren’t built by spectators. They’re built by people who show up and do the work of connecting.

Why Tokyo, why now

There’s a window right now. Korea and Japan are in a better place diplomatically and commercially than they’ve been in years. The EdTech markets in both countries are maturing. AI is creating new shared ground.

Tokyo this year isn’t just a venue. It’s a signal.

A signal that East Asia’s EdTech ecosystem is ready to be more than a collection of isolated markets. It’s ready to be a network.

I want to be part of building that.