Jensen Huang arrived in Tokyo with gifts: a series of artificial intelligence and robotics partnerships for Japan’s tech industry, and red bean buns for the crowd. On Wednesday, the Nvidia CEO visited a red-lanterned izakaya, a traditional Japanese bar, in Tokyo’s Kanda district, where a crowd gathered outside hoping to catch a glimpse of “kawa-jan”
Jensen Huang arrived in Tokyo with gifts: a series of artificial intelligence and robotics partnerships for Japan’s tech industry, and red bean buns for the crowd.
On Wednesday, the Nvidia CEO visited a red-lanterned izakaya, a traditional Japanese bar, in Tokyo’s Kanda district, where a crowd gathered outside hoping to catch a glimpse of “kawa-jan” – “leather jacket” – as it is affectionately known in Japan.
The CEO of Nvidia became a snack distributor in Tokyo. Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
The centerpiece of the journey, announced Thursday, is a partnership with Noetra Corp, the state-backed AI developer made up of SoftBank, NEC, Sony and Honda, to build a 27,500-GPU “AI factory” billed as the world’s first national AI infrastructure for robotics.
Huang also stopped by a former Sega arcade in Akihabara to thank the gaming giant whose $5 million lifeline he said saved a struggling Nvidia in the 1990s, and visited the chipmaker’s Build-a-Claw event.
Huang at the Build-a-Claw event in Tokyo. Bloomberg/Getty Images
However, it was the off-schedule itinerary that stole the show. Huang was seen dining at Yakiton Sankichi, a bar chain popular for after-work drinks, where Japanese outlet Diamond Online reported that the CEO of the world’s most valuable company ate offal stew and a mountain of “baka-mori” (roughly, “stupidly large”) fries.
米半導体大手、エヌビディア
ジェンスン・フアンCEO来日
「東京での1日」を追う！東京・神田のやきとん三吉で取引先と懇談
フアン氏が食べたのはもつ鍋や山盛ポテトフライ
(写真はお店の許可をいただき撮影しました)ダイヤモンド編集部が密着したシーンを順次お届けしていきます。… pic.twitter.com/6IN9fUYxyH
– ダイヤモンド・オンライン (@dol_editors) July 15, 2026
His table companions: the top executives of Kioxia, Tokyo Electron, Shin-Etsu Chemical, Sumitomo Electric, Taiyo Yuden and Ajinomoto, according to Bloomberg.
Huang had dinner with the heads of Japan’s major chip suppliers at Yakiton Sankichi, an izakaya near Kanda Station. Andrew CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images
When dinner was over, Huang appeared in the waiting crowd and pressed red bean buns, a popular Japanese snack, into his outstretched hands.
Huang was surrounded by fans in Tokyo, as is often the case when he reviews local food. Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
For Huang, eating like a local has become a tradition on his business trips. In May, he was seen eating fried noodles with bean sauce on a Beijing sidewalk after accompanying President Donald Trump on his state visit to China. “It’s so good,” he told a crowd of onlookers.
Over the years, Huang has been photographed at street food spots in Vietnam, Hong Kong and South Korea, where photographers crashed his fried chicken dinner with Samsung and Hyundai bosses last year.
Huang had Korean barbecue dinner with tech leaders in Seoul in June. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Wherever Nvidia announces its next AI factory, local restaurants should probably start preparing now.