Startup Scene Japan

Thought it might be nice to have a general thread about startup related jobs/work in Japan.

To get the ball rolling I'd be interested to learn (as an outsider) what the hubs are for this kind of activity in Tokyo? And on a very practical note, how do Japanese startups manage liability/financial concerns as I understand most of them start out as sort of sole operators/personal liability based orgs? I've heard that the costs associated with company incorporation delay this step for a lot of Japanese startups compared to i.e. Singapore/London/SF but I find it hard to believe if that were the hurdle there wouldn't be more special purpose vehicles to facilitate startups getting off the ground.

Although I work for a Japanese "startup" based in Tokyo it's not a normal start up so I really don't know anything about the start up scene in Japan. I did find a couple links.

Tokyo Metro Govt : 東京都創業NET
And Tokyo-sponsored contest: Application Guidelines | TOKYO STARTUP GATEWAY 2020
A private organization supporting startups. TOKYO創業ステーション

There is also a startup hub in Fukuoka. I recieved an inquiry from a recruiter for a unicorn Unicorn (finance) - Wikipedia in Tokyo whom he would not identify just recently so I am seeing interview and recruit activities going on.

I do not work the business side they just want me to help set up things on the technical front so other than occasinally recieving inquiries and visiting them and such and knowing tech people who work at them I am not very knowledgable.


You may like to check out this podcast. Disrupting Japan: Startups and Innovation in Japan - What you need to know about startups and innovation in Japan

If you have sufficient capital to start a business (is that what you are doing?) there is a special visa category for you as well that you can get.

My wife keeps sending contradictory signals. Basically she both wants to go back and is afraid to as I am low 50s and she is afraid I will be dumped and hired back as a contractor at 60 for low pay and benefits.

Assuming, as we usually do, that by "startup" we're specifically referring to tech-related startups, I suggest giving a look at TokyoDev. Its main feature is a job board for foreigner-friendly companies in Japan, but there's also a blog (the "Articles" section) and under-trafficked forum with more info on finding a tech job in Japan. The yearly surveys are good for seeing what kind of visas people are getting, where they're living, how much money they're making (not much compared to other parts of the world, sadly) and more.

Thanks for the replies guys. I was thinking more about the general ecosystem: I'd come across the Fukuoka and Tokyo govt initiatives but there seems to be a strange absence here. Where are the biotech hubs? Where are the cheap rental lab and workshop spaces for wetwork or elecrical engineering? Where are the specialist technical accelerators? I'm wondering if there are some key pieces of vocab I'm missing that's inhibiting my ability to dig this stuff up.

salyavin said:

You may like to check out this podcast. Disrupting Japan: Startups and Innovation in Japan - What you need to know about startups and innovation in Japan

Click to expand...

Now that is a link I'll be trawling through for a good few weeks!

salyavin said:

If you have sufficient capital to start a business (is that what you are doing?) there is a special visa category for you as well that you can get.

Click to expand...

Actually In the UK I work in tech accelerators/VC and was wondering if I could find a way to keep my toes in the water when I relocate to Japan for a couple of years. Seems like Cambridge has put out some feelers but chatting to a couple of VCs it sounds like Japan is a bit quiet. Curious to work out how Japan's impressive midsize biopharma companies source talent/get going.

precautionaryL said:

Thought it might be nice to have a general thread about startup related jobs/work in Japan.

To get the ball rolling I'd be interested to learn (as an outsider) what the hubs are for this kind of activity in Tokyo? And on a very practical note, how do Japanese startups manage liability/financial concerns as I understand most of them start out as sort of sole operators/personal liability based orgs? I've heard that the costs associated with company incorporation delay this step for a lot of Japanese startups compared to i.e. Singapore/London/SF but I find it hard to believe if that were the hurdle there wouldn't be more special purpose vehicles to facilitate startups getting off the ground.

Click to expand...

Japan's startup visa program lets you do the groundwork before actually investing money to incorporate your company in Japan. You can get this visa for 6 months, and this period can be further extended for another 6 months.

Currently, there are 14 city governments approved for this visa, and apart from the visa, they also support foreigners for various other tasks to launch their startups in japan. You can find a link to the details about this program, along with some interesting statistics about the startup scene in Japan, at the above-mentioned link.