Disrupting Japan

This podcast about the history of zaibatsu, hardware, and software comes to mind. https://www.disruptingjapan.com/the-forgotten-mistake-that-killed-japans-software-industry

> Software was not viewed so much as a product, but more like a service, similar to integration, training, and ongoing support and maintenance. It was usually sold on a time-and-materials basis, and sometimes it was just thrown in for free to sweeten the deal. The real money was in the hardware.

> Software development was considered rather low-skill work. It didn’t pay well and was viewed as a kind of clerical work. The job was simply to write software that was close enough to whatever sales had promised the client while they were out drinking last week.

What do you mean so few? If you expect the same hype you get from SV startups yeah it doesn't compare and also the language factor plays a big role there.

But there is a community and Japanese startups, at least the ones targeting Japanese market face unique challenges like Big companies not wanting to work with small/unproved startups.

Here's some resources that might introduce you some startups:

- http://www.disruptingjapan.com/

- http://www.startjapan.org/

- http://japanventureshow.com/

- https://hntokyo.doorkeeper.jp/

- http://www.tokyostartupevents.com/

(shameless plug) I work at a startup here: http://www.mytenten.com

I personally block adds, not because of annoyance, but because of tracking. I find private collection of information a bigger threat than I do government tracking. I like neither, but given the option, I would rather be tracked by the government.

I am not accusing the OP of any bias or failing in ideals, just pointing out an interesting perspective on things that I got from reading [0]. 'Mistrust of government is pretty much universal, and that’s a good thing. Outside of the United States, however, people trust corporations even less.'

[0]http://www.disruptingjapan.com/how-ubers-failure-in-japan-can-help-startups-everywhere/

I'm a foreigner who has started a number of companies in Japan over the past 25 years. Right now is a great time to be starting a company here.

BTW, shameless plug for my podcast:
https://www.disruptingjapan.com/

However, the idea of trying to get someone to move to Japan to start a startup is kind of odd. Ideally, you should be near your customers.

Japan is a wonderful place to live, but there is much more they can do to make things attractive to Japanese entrepreneurs, which will, in turn, make it attractive to everyone, including foreign entrepreneurs.