The Journey of Connecting Japan to the Global Go Community

05/08/2026 Slides for the presentation at GopherCon.

Transcript

1. The Journey of Connecting Japan to the Global Go Community Takuto Nagami @logica0419
2. Who here traveled from abroad?
3. Ever wished more Gophers from your country could attend international conferences?
4. They Don’t. Especially in Japan, many people think the language barrier is too high
5. Japanese community is large & active • Go Conference (annual) ◦ 500+ attendees, 99% from Japan • Local meetups in Tokyo ◦ 1-2 times in a month • The most active TinyGo community in the world What if we could expand this beyond Japan…?
6. Gophers EX project
7. What is Gophers EX? • A project to encourage Japanese Go community to participate in international conferences • Three major initiatives ◦ Proposal Challengers ◦ COEFL Go-JP ◦ GopherCon Tour
8. Proposal Challengers
9. Proposal Challengers • Support for writing proposals • Proposal study sessions • Reviews from GopherCon Co-Chair ◦ Thanks to Madhav! • Peer review sessions
10. COEFL Go-JP
11. COEFL Go-JP • A Japanese-English bilingual meetup
12. GopherCon Tour
13. Providing a package tour • With a support of Reiwa Travel, Inc. • Making the trip easier and more effortless
14. GopherCon Tour • Pictures from GopherCon Tour 2025
15. GopherCon Tour
16. Results
17. JP community is motivated • 5+ first-time international conference attendees • COEFL Go-JP motivated people to learn English #2 #4 COEFL Go-JP Survey: “Did you motivated to learn English?”
18. Continuous stream of JP speakers • 2024 ◦ 5 sessions • 2025 ◦ 2 sessions / 1 LT • 2026 ◦ 5 sessions / 5 LTs / 1 workshop
19. Gophers Japan started a scholarship • Sponsor participation in international conferences
20. We learned the limits
21. We can't support who truly need it • Only those who take the leap get opportunities • People who really need support can’t take one
22. We need a paradigm shift Gophers EX sends Japanese people abroad
23. We need a paradigm shift Gophers EX sends Japanese people abroad → Bringing the world to Japan
24. We need a paradigm shift Gophers EX sends Japanese people abroad → Bringing the world to Japan Launch of a new conference
26. About GopherCon Japan 2027 • A bilingual Go conference in Japan (JA & EN) • Dates 🗓: Feb 13-14 or Feb 20-21 (Sat & Sun) • Venue 🏙: Abema Towers (Shibuya, Tokyo)
27. Website / Social media • • • • • • • https://gophercon.jp X:@GopherConJP Bluesky: gophercon.jp Mastodon: @gopherconjp Facebook: GopherConJP Instagram: gopherconjp LinkedIn: gopherconjp YouTube: @GopherConJP
28. Mission statement Let the world's passion reach Japan. Let Japan's untapped wisdom travel to the world. We bring the world's inspiration to Japan. We share Japan's pride with the world. GopherCon Japan offers a space where Gophers from around the world connect and enjoy without barriers.
29. Who am I?
30. Who am I? • Takuto Nagami (@logica0419)
31. Who am I? • Takuto Nagami (@logica0419) • Master’s student at Chiba Institute of Technology
32. Who am I? • Takuto Nagami (@logica0419) • Master’s student at Chiba Institute of Technology • Founder & Organizer of Gophers EX
33. Who am I? • Takuto Nagami (@logica0419) • Master’s student at Chiba Institute of Technology • Founder & Organizer of Gophers EX Co-chair
35. See you in Japan! Thank you! ;)