Earthquake Shakes Up Japan's Entrepreneurial Spirit

The earthquake and tsunami that last year decimated much of Japan has set in motion several startups looking to cause some waves of their own. And for those impatient to see Japan's entrepreneurial spirit take off, Silicon Valley is helping jump-start the process.

“Japan was all about harmony and longevity,” managing partner Hironori Maeda of Open Network Lab, a Tokyo startup incubator, told the Associated Press. “Then the earthquake hit them, and everyone is all of a sudden put into uncertainty. That kind of woke everyone up. It probably made a lot of people consider what they should do with their lives.”

But considering what to do with your life is a long way away from actually doing anything, and Maeda is very aware of the obstacles that still remain.

In Septemeber, he told TechCrunch that Japan’s emphasis on stability makes it hard for startups to excel in such a climate of uncertainty. Instead of opening the doors of innovation by sharing ideas in an open-source way, he said many Japanese originally reacted by closing off and trying to hold on to a “competitive advantage.”

But the Japanese incubator is doing what it can to change that mentality. TechCrunch compared the incubator with Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator in that in exchange for mentorship, office space, and cash infusions, the lab acquires a small piece of the startup’s equity. Although the lab is gaining recognition for its contributions, some entrepreneurs are making the move to Silicon Valley.

"The biggest difference between Silicon Valley and Japan is when I hack something in Japan, I'll be punished first," said Naoki Shibata, 30, CEO of AppGrooves. "But in Silicon Valley, when I hack something, I will be encouraged to do more."

AppGrooves has joined with fellow Japanese startups Wondershake and Mieple to throw in their hats with Silicon Valley law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Yoichiro Taku, a partner at the firm, told the Associated Press he has never seen so much Japanese interest in creating startups.

The Associated Press explains how Satoshin Suzuki, the 22-year-old CEO of Wondershake, plans to leverage Silicon Valley to encourage entrepreneurs in his native Japan:

As soon as visas are approved for him and his four partners, Suzuki plans to move to the San Francisco Bay Area.

"No one expects me to succeed, and 99 percent of people don't succeed, so a lot of people could just give up," he said. "But the main reason I'm doing this is because the product is really something I want to create for the world."

Suzuki said the broader issue isn't that Japanese people are afraid of risk, but that they lack mentors and examples of success to encourage them.

" That can be overcome if there are actually people who've done it and can say, 'You can do it too,'" he said.

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Michael del Castillo is a freelance reporter for Portfolio.com.