PyCon JP 2026

Keynote Speakers

Meet the keynote speakers for PyCon JP 2026.

PyCon JP 2026 is pleased to welcome Carol Willing and Takashi Kitao as keynote speakers. Carol Willing is a leading figure in the Python community, with longstanding contributions to Python core development, Project Jupyter, open-source governance, open science, and community building.

Here, we introduce the backgrounds and profiles of each keynote speaker.

Keynotes

Takashi Kitao is the creator of Pyxel, an open-source game engine for Python. Through his broad experience in game development, programming education, XR, and AI research, he has helped create opportunities for people around the world to experience programming in an approachable and enjoyable way. Carol and Kitao bring unique yet complementary perspectives. With Carol’s leadership in the Python and open science communities and Kitao’s creative, playful approach to expanding Python, their keynotes provide a rich opportunity to reflect on the past and future of the Python community.

Carol Naslund Willing

Carol Naslund Willing has been active in the Python and Jupyter communities for many years, contributing broadly across technical development, open science, and support for local communities.

She serves on the Project Jupyter Steering Council and is a core developer of JupyterHub and mybinder.org. She is also a co-editor of The Journal of Open Source Education (JOSE) and a co-author of the open-source book Teaching and Learning with Jupyter.

Within the Python community, Carol has served three terms on Python’s Steering Council and is also a CPython core developer. She is a Fellow and former board member of the Python Software Foundation. Deeply committed to local community outreach, she co-organizes PyLadies San Diego and the San Diego Python User Group.

Her major awards and academic background include:

  • Received the 2019 Frank Willison Award in recognition of her technical and community contributions to Python
  • Holds an MBA from MIT and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Duke University
  • GitHub: @willingc

Takashi Kitao

Takashi Kitao is the creator of Pyxel, a retro game engine for Python.

A former game developer, he worked at Konami, where he served as the lead programmer and contributed to game design for the ZONE OF THE ENDERS series. He currently conducts XR and AI research and development at Sony Group Corporation’s Technology Development Laboratories. He also supervised and co-authored Learn Python Through Games! Retro Game Programming with Pyxel (Gijutsu-Hyoron Co., Ltd.).

Pyxel is an open-source game engine built around the concept of making programming approachable and enjoyable. It is used in a wide range of settings, from programming education—including Nuit du Code, a programming event with more than 10,000 participants across 49 countries—to game development, such as the indie game series Dungeon Antiqua, distributed on Steam.

Through Pyxel, he continues to bring creators around the world the joy of making something from scratch.