tonari, Inc., is a technology startup based in Tokyo, Japan, that develops “tonari,” a life-sized portal that unifies remote places using a floor-to-ceiling, always-on screen. Since 2020, tonari has been implemented across more than 40 locations in Japan and internationally, with clients including JR East, Sompo, PlatinumGames, and the Tokyo University of Science.
tonari’s mission is to remove distance as a barrier to career, education, and community, and to enable people to maintain genuine human connections with colleagues, classmates, friends, and loved ones around the world. tonari also uses its own technology to connect its international team between multiple locations in Yoyogi, Hayama, and Prague.
Company name: tonari, Inc.
Founded: 2018
Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan
Taj Campbell, CEO
Taj is co-founder and CEO of tonari. He leads tonari’s product, roadmap and vision to align a superb international team of creatives, engineers, and operators. He previously worked at Google from 2007 to 2015, where as a Product Manager he co-led the design and development of Google Maps, along with numerous other projects. In 2016, he also co-founded Straylight, a Tokyo-based collective of makers pushing the boundaries of technology, art, and design.
Ryo Kawaguchi, CTO
Ryo is co-founder and CTO at tonari, leading software and hardware engineering, prototyping, design, manufacturing, and production. He previously worked at Google Japan for 6 years as a Staff Engineer and Technical Lead for Google Maps, where he managed large-scale engineering efforts that impacted hundreds of millions of users, ranging from semantic analysis to restaurant search. He also led the early engineering team at Infostellar.
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