Japanese CEO Calls Bengaluru ‘Best City In The World’ But With A Swipe At Its Infamous Traffic

Tsuyoshi Ito, Japanese CEO and Founding Partner of Beyond Next Ventures, praised Bengaluru as the city “without a doubt, the best in the world”, while calling out its chaotic traffic in a now-viral LinkedIn post. Ito, who has been living in Bengaluru, praised the city’s famously pleasant weather, calling it “simply unbeatable”. He even uses an analogy while introducing the city to fellow Japanese professionals who hesitate to visit India.

“I tell them, ‘Imagine Hawaii… but without the ocean,’” Ito wrote, acknowledging that the comparison is wildly inaccurate, but the “branding works.”

He believes that only those who actually live in Bengaluru understand its charm. From its dry, crisp air to its “eternal spring-summer climate”, the entrepreneur says he has grown fond of the city with one exception the “absolutely ridiculous” traffic. Ito decided to adapt rather than complain. He bought himself a Maruti Suzuki and took on the city’s notoriously unpredictable roads head-on.

From barely touching the horn in Japan to “mastering” it in India, sliding boldly into intersections, and staying calm amid vehicles — and cows — emerging from the wrong direction, Ito says Bengaluru has unlocked “superhuman reflexes” he never knew he had.

“These are things I never experienced in Japan,” he joked, adding that he is now proud of his new “skills”.

His biggest learning? “In India, the horn is far more useful than the accelerator — especially in Bangalore.”

Despite the daily adventures on the road, Ito ends his post on a cheerful note, embracing the city’s quirks and signing off with a classic Indian phrase: “Horn OK Please.”