On April 28, 2026, Yumiko Namiki, representative of DMZ Japan, took the stage at SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026, the global gathering of startup professionals held in Tokyo. The session, titled "From Canada to the World: Building an Inclusive Innovation Ecosystem," was moderated by Masaru Nagura of Founders Nation and featured Dan Herman of North Guide alongside Yumiko. Together, they explored what makes Canada's startup ecosystem so strong and what it can offer Japanese companies. Here are the highlights from the session."Diversity Is Canada's DNA"The session opened with a question from Nagura: "Has anyone here been to Canada?" Only a handful of hands went up. "Canada's ecosystem still isn't that well known in Japan," he noted, framing the conversation that followed and starting with the basics of who Canada is.Yumiko, who lived in Toronto for nearly four years, reflected on her experience there. "When I moved to Canada, I never once felt like an outsider. My roommates and the DMZ team all came from somewhere else in the world. That's why I always say diversity is Canada's DNA."Dan backed up that feeling with data. According to him, 25 percent of Canada's population of 41 million was not born in the country, and in cities like Toronto and Vancouver, the share of immigrants reaches 50 percent. In tech specifically, immigrants make up 35 percent of programmers, 45 percent of engineers, and 55 percent of chemists. "Historically and today, our economy is built on the strength of immigrants," Dan said.How an Open Ecosystem Gets BuiltDMZ is a startup support organization based at Toronto Metropolitan University. Yumiko explained what sets it apart. "University-based incubators in Japan tend to support only the startups that come out of their own campus. DMZ is different. Any team in the world that wants to work with Canada or expand into North America is welcome."That openness shows up in the programs as well. The Women Innovation Summit held just last month brought together roughly 300 to 400 investors who back women founders, and several founders received a total of 200,000 Canadian dollars in funding. DMZ also runs the Black Innovation Summit and a range of programs supporting women, Black, and Indigenous founders.Dan added context on the policy side. "Black entrepreneurs in Canada have historically received less venture capital than their peers, and that gap is real. Successive governments have built funds to address it. The share of women founders is still only around 30 percent, but early-stage funds and angel investor groups are working hard to close that gap."From Research Strength to World-Class UnicornsCanada is home to 33 unicorns, far more than Japan's eight. One of Dan's flagship examples is Cohere, an AI company that came out of the University of Toronto. "The valuations are different, but Cohere goes head to head with OpenAI. The research expertise behind Cohere rivals the top five AI companies in the world." Another standout is Xanadu, a quantum computing company headquartered in Toronto, which went public on both Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange in March 2026 and is now drawing significant attention."These companies are powered by world-class research that has been building up in Toronto and across the country," Dan said. "Canada spent years building research capacity, and then worked hard to translate that into commercial strength. It has been about a decade since the major policy shifts, and we're now seeing the results in the form of unicorn companies." With figures like Yoshua Bengio, often credited as a founding father of modern AI, Canada is home to some of the world's leading research institutions in deep tech, quantum, and cybersecurity.What Canada Offers Japan: Talent, Markets, and PartnersDiversity isn't just an ideal in Canada. It pays off in practical ways. Yumiko shared the story of a Japanese company she visited in Toronto. "When I asked why they chose Toronto, they told me, 'Toronto gives us access to the best talent in the world. It doesn't matter where they're from, and geopolitics don't come into it.'" For companies competing at the frontier of AI or quantum computing, that kind of talent pool is a powerful advantage.Canada is also known for strong government support for early-stage startups. R&D subsidies can reach 40 to 50 percent, and federal and provincial programs are deep. On top of that, the community itself is flat, with no closed circles. "I've heard that in the US, there are inner circles you can only get into if you already have local connections. That doesn't really exist in Canada. If you reach out to DMZ from day one, the whole ecosystem will support you," Yumiko said.Where to Set Up: Regional StrengthsFor any company seriously considering Canada, the first real question is where to base themselves. "Canada is geographically enormous, and each region has its own clear strengths," Dan explained.Vancouver is a stronghold for clean technology and life sciences. Calgary is rapidly diversifying from its traditional energy roots. The central Prairies are an agricultural technology hub. Ontario and Quebec are home to some of the world's top AI and quantum research, while Halifax on the east coast hosts an ocean research organization backed by hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, making it an ideal destination for ocean tech startups. "The real first challenge is matching the specifics of your sector with the right regional strengths," Dan said.Dan also pointed to a virtuous cycle that has emerged in regional hubs, where venture capital attracts talent and that talent attracts more VC. "Specific technology hubs are growing in specific cities. The right destination really depends on what you want to build."To help Japanese founders navigate these choices, DMZ Japan and North Guide are co-authoring a practical Canada Market Entry Playbook for Japanese entrepreneurs. It will be released next month and available on the DMZ website.What Japan Can Learn From CanadaToward the end of the session, Yumiko left a quiet message for the Japanese audience. "Canadians are exposed to so many different cultures that they take it for granted that every individual is different. In Japan, we tend to assume everyone is the same, so we read the air. But what we really should be doing is reaching for mutual understanding through communication. I think that's what we can learn from Canada."Inclusive ecosystems are not built by policy alone. How do you design a place where people actually feel welcome? That, perhaps, was Canada's biggest question to Japan.DMZ Japan supports Japanese startups expanding into Canada, as well as Canadian companies entering Japan. If you'd like to explore collaboration with Canada, please feel free to reach out.