In the previous GNV article, we looked at part of what is contained in the millions of documents related to US financier Jeffrey Epstein that were released to the public by the US Department of Justice, the so‑called “Epstein files.” This article focuses on how the Epstein documents relate to Japan and how Japanese media have reported on these connections.
This article will focus in particular on Joichi “Joi” Ito. Among the people who appear in the Epstein documents, he is the one with the strongest ties to Japan. Ito is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist known for his work in technology and internet companies, and for serving as director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab from 2011 to 2019. He has also served as a director of the New York Times Company and Sony Corporation. He is currently President of Chiba Institute of Technology and Director of its Center for Radical Transformation.
Information about funding that Epstein provided to the MIT Media Lab in the 2010s was made public in 2019, including details about Epstein’s ties to Ito. It then became clear that Epstein had funded some of Ito’s private business ventures. While denying any involvement in or knowledge of the “horrible acts” for which Epstein had been accused, Ito acknowledged in August of that year that there was a problem with accepting funds from Epstein and apologized. In September, he resigned from MIT.
The Epstein documents released in 2026 revealed new information, including matters that warrant further scrutiny, regarding Epstein’s relationship with MIT and his relationship with Ito. Yet Japan’s media appear to have decided not to delve into this information.
Ito giving a presentation with Reid Hoffman at MIT, 2017 (Photo: MIT Media Lab / Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0])
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Previously known information on Epstein’s direct funding
For many years, Epstein provided extensive and large funding to researchers and research institutions at US universities. Epstein’s interest in the MIT Media Lab likely stemmed from the Lab’s practical research in technological fields such as the development of digital currencies. Ito met Epstein through a friend in 2013, when he was already serving as director of the Media Lab.
The trigger for Ito’s resignation was an exposé published in the New Yorker on 6 September 2019. Based on emails and other documents it had obtained, the magazine argued that the Media Lab “had a deeper fundraising relationship with Epstein than it had previously acknowledged.” Details of this will be discussed later.
In January 2020, the MIT Corporation published an internal report on Epstein’s dealings with the Institute. According to the report, Epstein donated US$525,000 to the Media Lab between 2013 and 2017 (*1). It also emerged that Epstein had funded two of Ito’s private business ventures. In connection with those two ventures, Epstein invested US$250,000 in a company involved in the commercialization of technology developed at MIT, and he made an additional US$1 million investment in a private investment fund managed by Ito.
At the time, Japanese media reported very little on this issue. The major newspapers each ran just one article in 2019, reporting that Ito had decided to resign and sketching the general background. The Yomiuri Shimbun (*2) included the amount of well‑known funds that Ito was said to have handled. The Asahi Shimbun (*3), Mainichi Shimbun (*4), and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) did not report any details about the funds Ito had received or managed. All of them only briefly mentioned the New Yorker’s allegation that Ito had tried to conceal the source of the funds. These reports appear to be based solely on information already in the public domain, and their content offers no indication of independent reporting or investigative effort. None of the newspapers reported on MIT’s internal report released in 2020.
Ito, Reid Hoffman, and Epstein on Epstein’s island (Photo: DOJ)
New information on Epstein’s direct funding
The 3.5 million pages of emails and other documents released in 2026 by the US Department of Justice—the so‑called Epstein documents—shed more detailed light on the relationship between Epstein and Ito, revealing funding arrangements that had not been reported before. According to the documents, Ito and Epstein exchanged several thousand emails between 2013 and 2019, with the last email sent in May 2019, just two months before Epstein’s arrest. The two men had numerous meetings and meals together, and Ito flew on Epstein’s private jet several times. The documents also provide details showing that Ito spent considerable time at several of Epstein’s residences, including his private island in the Caribbean and his ranch in New Mexico, and that Ito invited Epstein to Japan.
Many of the funding arrangements can be traced through email. We can see discussions beginning in December 2013 between Ito and Epstein, in which Ito tells Epstein that he is “checking with MIT about how to set up” a “slush fund” he would receive from Epstein. The emails also mention direct, on‑the‑record donations from Epstein to the Lab, including funding for certain personnel costs and small‑scale research funding. Overall, as has already been reported in US media, the documents support the conclusion that the Media Lab did in fact receive US$525,000 from Epstein.
As noted, in addition to these donations, MIT’s internal report stated that Epstein had invested a total of US$1.25 million in Ito’s private business ventures. However, the Epstein documents show even more. Between July 2014 and April 2015, total bank transfers from Epstein’s company Southern Financial LLC to Ito’s ventures reached US$2,000,001. Half of that, US$1,000,001, was sent in three installments to an account in the name of “Joichi Ito,” which appears to have been funding for Caraline Investments, a joint venture between Epstein and Ito. The remaining US$1 million was sent to Neoteny, a company run by Ito. Another email indicates that Epstein had previously invested an additional US$100,000 in Caraline Investments.
Transfer records from Epstein’s company (DOJ: EFTA00080250)
According to the Epstein documents, the two were also connected through other investment deals. In December 2013, they discussed co‑investing in SmartThings, a company in which venture capitalist Reid Hoffman—an associate of Epstein—had already invested. Later emails suggest that the investment was in fact made, though the amount cannot be confirmed. Epstein also appears to have helped Ito find investors for Digital Garage, a Japanese company Ito headed.
In 2018, they discussed several other projects by email. One was a fund that Ito was working to establish, in which Hoffman was also involved. In an email dated 2 April, Ito asked Epstein, “Is it ok to go to 15m for the registration?” MIT’s internal report notes that Epstein did not invest in this fund. However, the email shows that Epstein at least helped Ito secure other investors.
A series of emails between Epstein and Ito in July 2018 discuss the possibility that a foundation run by one of Epstein’s friends would make a US$25 million donation. Ito asked Epstein, “Is this for my fund or for the Media Lab? Is he giving it to me or paying it?” Epstein replied that part of it would be for “the Media Lab” and part for “slush funds.” In the end, however, this donation does not appear to have materialized.
New information on donations via intermediaries
One of the most shocking claims in the New Yorker’s 2019 article was that, under Ito, the Media Lab had tried to conceal the total amount of Epstein’s donations, and that “it appears that Epstein served as an intermediary between the lab and other wealthy donors.” The article asserted that Epstein was a “primary liaison” with people who were believed to be Media Lab donors. Those donors included Microsoft co‑founder Bill Gates (US$2 million in donations) and Apollo Global Management co‑founder Leon Black (US$5.5 million in donations).
This suggests that, because of ethical concerns related to his criminal record, Epstein had been banned from donating to the Media Lab, and that he therefore used the names of other wealthy donors to make proxy donations using his own money. MIT’s internal report stated that it “found no evidence that Gates’s or Black’s gifts were in fact Epstein’s money—that Gates or Black were serving as a conduit for Epstein’s funds to the Institute.” However, the contents of emails uncovered in the Epstein documents back up the New Yorker’s claims and point to even more funding.
Email stating that funds from Gates had been received, 2014 (DOJ: EFTA01000266)
In September 2013, Epstein told Ito that “Bill Gates asked about becoming involved together with me” regarding donations to the Media Lab. Interestingly, part of that donation was to be allocated to research on “deception.” Epstein and Ito arranged to meet Gates at a TED Talk event in March 2014 to discuss the matter. Both Gates and Ito gave talks at the event, and afterward Epstein visited Gates in Seattle. In November 2014, Ito informed Epstein that “we just got money from Bill Gates today. Thanks!!” and reported that US$2 million had been raised.
The emails also show that Epstein acted as an intermediary for Leon Black. In an email from May 2014, for example, Ito wrote to Epstein, “I just got notice that $500k is in my discretionary account. Thanks!” Epstein told Ito that the funds were from Black. In December of the same year, Epstein proposed to Ito a pledge from Black to donate US$5 million. On 24 December, US$4 million was transferred, and the remaining US$1 million appears to have been processed in November of the following year. At that point, total transfers from Black amounted to US$5.5 million.
All communications about these donations appear to have gone through Epstein. An email dated 14 October 2014 suggests that the funds were in fact Epstein’s money, sent under Black’s name. In that email, Ito sought approval for his ideas about how to use the donated funds, not from Black, but from Epstein.
Emails regarding funds from Black, 2019 (DOJ: EFTA01032149)
Nor did the donations end there. In an email dated 9 February 2019, Epstein informed Ito that “the Black funds should arrive this week.” In an email on 19 February, Ito told Epstein he had received US$467,000. In a subsequent email, Epstein replied, “I am trying to get you more Black funds.”
In the last email exchanged between Epstein and Ito, in May 2019, Ito asked Epstein to help arrange a “gift” of “100–200” (presumably US$100,000–200,000) to him through businessman Andrew Farkas for MIT.
This information suggests that Epstein’s financial support for, and involvement in fundraising for, the Media Lab and Ito was far greater than had previously been known.
The significance of reporting on this issue
This article is not intended to reveal or suggest that Ito engaged in criminal conduct. Suspicions of criminality are not the only reason to report on a public figure. Journalism begins with “raising questions.” The media typically do not wait for convictions or even formal allegations of criminal wrongdoing before reporting on issues. Regardless of whether a crime is involved, when doubts arise about the conduct of public figures, it is an important function of the media to put such questions to the individuals concerned, even if doing so is uncomfortable.
It is clear that Ito was aware of Epstein’s history of sex crimes, and the media are justified in asking whether Ito knew of the sexual allegations against Epstein during the period of their friendship. Ito also had some form of connection with several other associates of Epstein who were later accused of sexual assault or other crimes. For example, Leon Black may not have had a close personal relationship with Ito, but at least on the surface he was a major source of funding for the MIT Media Lab led by Ito. It should be noted that Black has since faced a civil lawsuit concerning allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in connection with the Epstein case. No criminal charges have been brought against him.
Ito also had ties to Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, then CEO of DP World, who has attracted media attention since the release of the Epstein documents. Part of the reason is that his conversations with Epstein contained sexual content and that he may have shared torture videos with Epstein. Epstein introduced Ito to Sulayem, and Ito later introduced Sulayem to the CEO of Sony Corporation.
It is also known that Sulayem hosted Ito during a visit to Dubai in 2013. In an email sent prior to the visit, Epstein told Ito about Sulayem’s “Viagra‑like cocktails.” Ito, for his part, asked Epstein whether he should “go alone without my punk girl sidekick.” In another message, Epstein told Sulayem that Ito was “one of us.” Sulayem replied, “I will be happy to meet anyone from the Epstein club!” Later, Ito wrote to both men in an email, “Happy to be part of your gang.”
“One of us.” Email exchange from 2013 (DOJ: EFTA00675167)
These emails alone do not allow us to judge whether such exchanges had deeper meaning beyond ordinary friendships. However, it is reasonable to assume that Ito was aware of the presence of the young women who constantly accompanied Epstein. For example, according to the emails, when Ito arranged and facilitated a trip by Epstein to Japan in 2015, he was accompanied by two Russian women and one Belarusian woman. The emails show Ito and Epstein’s staff struggling to present these three women—described for visa purposes as a fashion model, an interior designer, and a student—as “executive assistants” of Epstein’s company in order to obtain visas for entry into Japan (*5).
In another email, in October 2013 Ito told Epstein that he was trying to help by finding someone familiar with the processes behind Google’s algorithms, or a hacker. The purpose was to reduce the visibility, in search engine results, of negative articles about Epstein’s criminal record.
Even if there were no suspicions of criminality at all, the Epstein documents clearly contain new material—financial and social—that justifies media inquiry and reporting. It is particularly noteworthy that Japanese media have had no qualms about reporting on Epstein’s relationships with foreign figures who are not suspected of crimes, such as US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Goldman Sachs Chief Legal Officer Kathryn Ruemmler.
The Epstein documents offer a rare view into the inner workings of the intersection between wealth and political power, including how those who possess wealth and power can break rules and act with impunity. Ito’s closeness to Epstein is a piece of that puzzle that merits further exploration.
The MIT Media Lab (Photo: Kyle Brrows / Flickr [CC BY-NC-SA 2.0])
The silence of Japan’s media
The Epstein documents offer a variety of lenses through which the media can approach their revelations. One such lens is how the documents are relevant to Japan. This is one of the most important factors that Japanese news outlets use in deciding what is and is not newsworthy when reporting on events in the wider world. Japanese media usually view the world through this lens.
In cases of large‑scale information releases such as the Epstein documents, one would expect Japanese media to begin by looking for content in the files related to Japan. Epstein’s connection with Ito has been known since 2019, making this an obvious starting point. A search for “Joi Ito” in the Department of Justice’s Epstein documents returns 8,198 records. He is the figure most closely connected to the Epstein case among those related to Japan.
Almost a month has passed since the bulk of these files were made publicly available. In that time, what have Japanese media discovered and brought to light?
The Asahi Shimbun and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun have each carried just one article mentioning Ito. They reported on a February 2026 decision by the DEFCON international hacking conference to bar three participants because of their past ties to Epstein; Ito was one of the three. The Asahi article simply noted that Ito had resigned from MIT in 2019 over the issue of funding from Epstein. Neither paper made any reference to the new information about Ito revealed in the Epstein documents. The Yomiuri Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun have not mentioned Ito’s name even once since the release of the Epstein documents. On 24 February, TV Asahi’s “Morning Show” aired an extended feature on the Epstein documents, but, regarding the connection to Japan, it only noted that one of the three people banned from DEFCON was Japanese, without saying who it was (*6).
Did the media simply fail to investigate the contents of the Epstein documents? Or did they examine the documents, find new information, and then decide it was not worth reporting? As GNV has pointed out in the past, Japanese media tend to downplay or ignore information that reflects poorly on Japanese companies. Is the same mechanism at work here? Is it a form of nationalism that encourages showing “one’s own people” abroad only in a positive light? Or is some other form of risk aversion—such as fear of legal action against media organizations—at play?
Ito dining with Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and others. Apparently photographed by Epstein (Photo: DOJ: EFTA01205692)
Beyond “Joichi Ito”
The purpose of this article is not to attack Ito or call for his resignation. He already resigned in 2019 from MIT and from his board positions at the New York Times Company and Sony Corporation. Rather, this article is directed at Japanese news organizations, which appear to be actively avoiding engagement with this issue.
There are other matters that warrant investigation. For example, it is known that a woman identified as an Epstein victim stayed in Japan at one point. It has also been revealed that Toshiba Corporation conducted sales activities in 2013 related to a solar power facility on Epstein’s private island.
This is not just about direct ties with Japanese companies. For instance, Japanese media show strong interest in the Nobel Prize. Is it not worth investigating the fact that Thorbjørn Jagland, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 2009 to 2015, has been charged with corruption in connection with his ties to Epstein? Does this not warrant examining the possibility that, during that period, Epstein may have tried to exert influence over decisions on Nobel laureates?
More broadly, the Epstein documents connect to figures such as Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Sergey Brin, all of whom Ito also had dealings with. These people are closely tied to products and services widely used in Japanese society. Is it not important to raise questions about their conduct as well?
An important part of the media’s role in a democratic society is to hold those with power and wealth accountable. Just as there are many “Epsteins” in the world, there are many “Itos.” Watchdog journalism helps ensure accountability among the powerful when other checks and balances in society fail to function. The Epstein documents expose just how dysfunctional those checks and balances have become. Media coverage can help stir public and policymaker interest in repairing—and creating—such mechanisms and structures.
The Epstein documents have raised many questions, but Japan’s media have yet to ask them. Now may be the time to start.
(GNV emailed Ito at the Center for Radical Transformation at Chiba Institute of Technology to request comment on the contents of the Epstein documents, but had not received a response at the time of writing.)
*1 The donations recorded during this period consist of six payments: US$100,000, US$150,000, US$50,000, US$100,000, US$100,000, and US$25,000.
*2 Yomiuri Shimbun, “MIT Ito Director Submits Resignation – Aware of Supporter’s Sex Crime Record?” 9 September 2019
*3 Asahi Shimbun, “MIT Lab Director Ito to Resign – Funding from US Financier Accused of Sexual Abuse” 10 September 2019
*4 Mainichi Shimbun, “Media Lab: MIT Director Ito Submits Resignation – Funding from Former Defendant Accused of Sexual Abuse” 9 September 2019
*5 The Belarusian student has been identified as Karina Shulyak, described as Epstein’s final girlfriend.
*6 There was limited coverage in tabloids and online media.
(This article was updated on 28 February 2026 to add the fact that Epstein had previously invested US$100,000 in Caraline Investments. On 20 April, corrections were also made to the description of, and the table on, the amounts of Black’s donations to the Media Lab, which had contained errors.)
Writer: Virgil Hawkins
Graphics: MIKI Yuna
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