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Japan wants foreign entrepreneurs, but what's missing?

japantimes.co.jp

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Re: Japan wants foreign entrepreneurs, but what's missing?

#41

Post by jacquesm »

reustle wrote: post #20

I've been dealing with setting up a corporation over the past few months and have some quick (5am) comments on a few of these points from the article. Hopefully this is helpful to anyone considering doing business in Japan. > Tokyo One-Stop Business Establishment Center (TOSBEC) This resource is great and underutilized in Tokyo in the international business scene from my experience. I've been doing my part to recomme…

After 'working' with Canadian immigration for a couple of years to get my status secured I gave up. Any country that doesn't value what its immigrants bring to the table deserves to be ignored.

Given that your route seems to be full of friction why do you persist? Is there some unique element to your business that requires you to be in Japan?

Consider me impressed. Canada was easier than what you describe and yet, I couldn't stomach it after a couple of years of being given the run-around.

Re: Japan wants foreign entrepreneurs, but what's missing?

#43

Post by YinLuck- »

kristianc wrote: post #21

Japan is a pretty good cautionary tale for Britain (and to a lesser extent to the US) on how shutting yourself off from immigration tends to go. Japan was expected to become the next global superpower in the 1980s, and instead has seen closing in on three lost decades. It’s only now trying to catch up, politically, culturally and economically.

There were no 'lost decades' -- that's just a low IQ meme. Japan's per-capita Gross National Income in constant USD equivalent has tracked the USA's almost 1 to 1 since the 1970s. All the while they have maintained their culture, their social and political stability and their sense of shared destiny. Here's a link to the Google Chart showing the data:

https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&...

To put it another way, a flat economy in the face of a declining population (specifically working age population) means people are actually getting richer per-capita. You can still prefer America's experiment in mass immigration, but after looking over the facts, you have to at least admit we're still waiting for an answer on which route proves superior.

Re: Japan wants foreign entrepreneurs, but what's missing?

#44

Post by rootsudo »

blackearl wrote: post #6

Does Japan really want foreign entrepreneurs? It's always been very conservative and while they may be polite to foreigners, that's very different from allowing non-Japanese to expand a business there. I think it's ingrained in the culture, and some of these bridges Tokyo is building might be too little to catch up to SK or Germany.

Yes, they do.

They've opened up the gates.

Funding minimum is 5 million JPY.

The issue is language barrier and price.

You can go to China, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia to get much cheaper labor.

But not the infrastructure or trust and safety.

Re: Japan wants foreign entrepreneurs, but what's missing?

#45

Post by techstrategist »

masklinn wrote: post #10
blackearl wrote: post #6

Does Japan really want foreign entrepreneurs? It's always been very conservative and while they may be polite to foreigners, that's very different from allowing non-Japanese to expand a business there. I think it's ingrained in the culture, and some of these bridges Tokyo is building might be too little to catch up to SK or Germany.

> Does Japan really want foreign entrepreneurs? It's always been very conservative My understanding is they're also very financially conservative, I think it was pinboard who was talking about his experience as an independent entrepreneur?

Patrick (Patio11) wrote (still writes occasionally) extensively about his experience running his business from Japan.

Re: Japan wants foreign entrepreneurs, but what's missing?

#46

Post by Mikeb85 »

kristianc wrote: post #21

Japan is a pretty good cautionary tale for Britain (and to a lesser extent to the US) on how shutting yourself off from immigration tends to go. Japan was expected to become the next global superpower in the 1980s, and instead has seen closing in on three lost decades. It’s only now trying to catch up, politically, culturally and economically.

How is Japan a cautionary tale? They're one of the most (the most?) developed countries on earth, enjoy one of the highest standards of living and economically punch well above their weight (based on population and access to resources).

I don't see where the problem is... The vast majority of countries, even many western countries only wish they had Japan's 'problems'.

Re: Japan wants foreign entrepreneurs, but what's missing?

#47

Post by namirez »

rb808 wrote: post #32
kristianc wrote: post #21

Japan is a pretty good cautionary tale for Britain (and to a lesser extent to the US) on how shutting yourself off from immigration tends to go. Japan was expected to become the next global superpower in the 1980s, and instead has seen closing in on three lost decades. It’s only now trying to catch up, politically, culturally and economically.

Japan has virtually identical GDP/capita to the UK, the numbers are a little out of date as GBP has fallen in last few years. Maybe UK could try to emulate Japan to try to catch up with it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)...

Your claim is correct only between 1985 and 1995. Since 1995, Japan's economy has stagnated but UK's has grown significantly.

source: https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&...

Re: Japan wants foreign entrepreneurs, but what's missing?

#48

Post by foota »

burtonator wrote: post #9
noja wrote: post #2

It's a taboo subject, because the Japanese aren't very open to non-locals.

It's also taboo for white people to call some non-white people racist but then we can't actually have a discussion about racism.

My two cents here: non white people can certainly be racist, but racism is a structural thing, so it doesn't make sense to talk about racism by people that are not white, in the United States, since the structure isn't there. But I think it makes perfect sense to talk about it in other places.

Re: Japan wants foreign entrepreneurs, but what's missing?

#49

Post by echelon »

Well damn, this is exactly what I wanted.

I've been studying Japanese for years (taking the JLPT again in December).

I want to start a computational filmmaking startup, and Japan has some of the best writers and media exports the world has to offer.

I really need to stop worrying and pursue this...

Re: Japan wants foreign entrepreneurs, but what's missing?

#50

Post by dobleboble »

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #33
seiko988 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet China is a global superpower and shut off from immigration

china has a billion people. they don't need immigration. japan's population is declining

It is estimated to be at 1.4 billion now https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=C...
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