Joichi Ito, president of Chiba Institute of Technology. Chiba Prefecture (©Sankei by Masato Yamamoto).
Chiba Institute of Technology president Joichi Ito is unlikely to be reappointed to the operating committee of Japan's government-backed Global Startup Campus Initiative, sources revealed on March 2. The move follows reports linking Ito to the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was indicted on charges including the sexual abuse of minors and later died by suicide. According to the New York Times, Ito's involvement has complicated the initiative's efforts to secure cooperation from overseas.
Over 4,000 Emails
The Global Startup Campus Initiative was launched under former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as part of his "New Form of Capitalism" agenda. Government officials have billed it as an effort to draw top researchers and entrepreneurs to Japan. It is also intended to spur startups in advanced-technology fields.
Plans call for the campus to be built in Tokyo's Meguro Ward on land next to a ship-equipment research facility run by the defense ministry's procurement agency, the Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency. A ¥63.6 billion JPY (about $405 million USD) fund was created, and full-scale operations were targeted for around fiscal 2028. However, the project has yet to make progress.
Ito served as an executive adviser through July 2025 and has since played a central role on the operating committee. His term ends in late March, and he is expected not to be reappointed, people involved said. The Cabinet Secretariat said "nothing has been decided at this point."
The New York Times reported on February 26 that Ito resigned in 2019 as head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab after scrutiny over donations tied to Epstein. It reported that documents released by the US Department of Justice showed more than 4,000 email exchanges between Ito and Epstein.
Citing Ito's role in Japan's Global Startup Campus initiative, the paper said potential partners later backed away after being approached. Among them were MIT, Harvard University, and Carnegie Mellon University, as well as Japan's Keio University.
Questioned in the Diet
In 2025, Tomofumi Honjo — then a Lower House lawmaker with the Constitutional Democratic Party and now part of the Centrist Reform Alliance — raised the issue three times in the Diet.
Government officials have pushed back. State Minister of the Cabinet Office Kiyoto Tsuji said Ito was not, in the government's view, "a barrier to working with relevant institutions overseas." Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy Minister Minoru Kiuchi said claims to the contrary "unfairly damage" Ito's reputation.
Honjo lost his seat in the February Lower House election. With him went the main parliamentary push on the issue. At his first news conference as the centrist bloc's leader, Junya Ogawa was asked about the Epstein files. "I'm sorry, I'm not well-informed," he said.
Ito also sits on the Digital Agency's Digital Society Planning Council. Digital Transformation Minister Hisashi Matsumoto was asked about Ito's ties to Epstein at a February 27 news conference. "I won't comment on unverified information," he said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi addressed the Epstein files at a February 20 press conference. "I doubt there is any indication of involvement by Japanese politicians or government officials," he said. "At this point, the foreign ministry is not aware of any involvement."
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(Read the article in Japanese.)
Author: Hiroshi Watanabe, The Sankei Shimbun
