This week Anthropic opened its first Asia-Pacific office, in Tokyo, and signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Japan AI Safety Institute. Why does this matter? Because it’s not just a commercial expansion: it’s a move to coordinate how we evaluate and deploy safe AI internationally.
Presence in Tokyo and meeting with authorities
CEO and cofounder Dario Amodei traveled to Tokyo, met with Prime Minister Takaichi, spoke to the LDP’s digitalization committee, met with customers and sealed the agreement with the Japan AI Safety Institute. Anthropic describes Japan as a key hub for its growth and highlights a shared vision: technology drives human progress, it doesn’t replace it.
'Technology and human progress advance together', said Dario Amodei, an idea Anthropic places at the center of its arrival in Japan.
Cooperation for standards of AI evaluation
The note emphasizes that AI development crosses borders and needs common standards to evaluate capabilities, test systems and understand risks. The Memorandum of Cooperation with the Japan AI Safety Institute aims exactly at that: collaborating on evaluation methodologies and monitoring emerging trends.
This adds to previous agreements Anthropic has with the US Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) and work with the UK AI Security Institute. In 2024 those institutes already did a joint evaluation of Claude 3.5 Sonnet — a clear example of how international evaluation can advance the science of AI safety.
What's happening in Japanese companies: concrete examples
Japan ranks in the top 25% worldwide for AI adoption according to Anthropic’s economic index. But numbers only tell part of the story — real cases show the everyday impact:
- Rakuten uses Claude for autonomous coding projects and boosts developer productivity.
- Nomura Research Institute cuts document analysis from hours to minutes while keeping accuracy.
- Panasonic integrates Claude into operations and consumer-facing apps.
- Classmethod reports 10x productivity gains, with Claude Code generating 99% of the code in a recent project.
The idea? In Japan AI is used as a collaborative tool to amplify creativity, communication and productivity, not to replace human judgment.
Culture and creators: alliance with the Mori Art Museum
Anthropic expands its collaboration with the Mori Art Museum and supports the upcoming Roppongi Crossing 2025 exhibition: What Passes Is Time. We Are Eternal. They’ve also been involved in earlier projects like MACHINE LOVE: Video Game, AI and Contemporary Art.
This isn’t just cultural PR: it shows a focus on how AI can integrate with creative practices and the cultural sector, creating public value and critical dialogue.
Community, startups and regional growth
In Tokyo they held their first Builder Summit, with more than 150 startups and founders building with Claude. Anthropic says its run rate in Asia-Pacific grew more than 10x in the past year. They also joined the Hiroshima AI Process Friends Group, reinforcing global commitments to safe and trustworthy AI.
They announced plans to open offices in Seoul and Bengaluru in the coming months, consolidating a broader regional strategy.
And what does this mean for you?
If you work in technology, government, culture or you’re a creator, Anthropic’s arrival in Tokyo matters: it brings infrastructure, collaboration on standards and concrete opportunities with companies already using Claude. Looking for a job in AI? They mention there will be opportunities at the Tokyo office.
If you’re curious about social impacts, it’s a sign that conversations about safety, evaluation and governance are moving from isolated forums to practical agreements between companies, institutes and governments. Want to see where this goes next?
