Alibaba Cloud — Japan Region (Tokyo)

Alibaba Cloud's Japan region, operating from Tokyo since 2016, serves the company's Japanese enterprise customer base and acts as a gateway for Chinese companies doing AI business in Japan. The Japan region hosts Alibaba's AI Platform PAI (Platform for AI), supporting model training and inference for Japanese customers. With strict data sovereignty laws in Japan and the government's "AI Strategy" initiatives, Alibaba Cloud Japan provides localized infrastructure for Japanese corporations exploring Chinese AI model providers. Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen LLM family is available via API through the Japan region for Japanese enterprise customers. The facility provides low-latency access to Alibaba Cloud's model marketplace, which includes models from Chinese AI startups like Zhipu AI and Moonshot AI. The Japan region also supports cross-border e-commerce AI — particularly important given significant trade flows between Japan and China's Alibaba-affiliated platforms.