Nurturing Ideas and Creative Minds

Sep 21

We take a look at the entrepreneurial spirit in our business community

By C Bryan Jones

Ever since third grade, when my stepfather took me to a store where we bought a rubber stamp emblazoned with Jones Inc., the entrepreneurial spirit has been part of me. I used that little stamp for a company that wasn’t a company to mark the papers on which I captured my ideas for video game concepts. I had a couple of “employees” who contributed their own ideas, which we also stamped. In those days of Atari 2600 cartridges and visually enthralling 8-bit adventures, the idea of creating my own games was exciting. While Jones Inc. never came to be, a few other companies did as I grew up and found my footing in the world of media, design, and publishing. And I can trace those endeavors back to that support from my stepfather, who himself owned a small business.

This spirit is also the reason I enjoy working with so many talented and inspiring businesspeople through the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) in my role as publisher of The ACCJ Journal. Our community is filled with stories of ideas brought to life and the determination to succeed as an expat in an environment filled with challenges that sometimes differ from those in our home countries.

This issue of The ACCJ Journal is all about taking an idea and turning it into a business, finding funding, navigating the red tape, and making the community better for everyone.

In two feature stories, we gather the experiences, insights, and advice of nearly two dozen ACCJ members, from companies large and small, to help you chart a course through the obstacles that may stand in your way. With the country’s digital evolution and push for more foreign direct investment and business, this is a wonderful time to be an entrepreneur in Japan.

This issue … is all about taking an idea and turning it into a business, finding funding, [and] navigating the red tape.

MPowering Ideas

I couldn’t resist this playful title for our cover, inspired by the story of Japan’s first venture capital (VC) fund focused on environmental, social, and corporate governance. MPower Partners and its mission to “revolutionize Japanʼs venture ecosystem via greater globalization, diversity, and innovation” was launched in June by Kathy Matsui, former Goldman Sachs vice-chair; Yumiko Murakami, who previously led the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Tokyo Centre; and Miwa Seki, who was head of asset management company Clay Finlay’s Japan office.

I had the pleasure of attending an ACCJ event in July at which the three general partners were joined by MPower Managing Director Eriko Suzuki, who we previously profiled here in The ACCJ Journal back in June 2019, when she was a general partner at VC firm Fresco Capital. I believe that what they are setting out to do is much needed in Japan’s effort to become more competitive on the world stage, and I’ve written an extended recap of the event starting on page 10.

Necessity Is …

Another bit of inspiration I got from chamber events over the past month comes from our Kansai chapter, where Oak Lawn Marketing, Inc. co-founder Robert Roche shared how the company and its Shop Japan brand came to be. What I love about the story is the way in which many of us can relate. Settling into a new life in Nagoya and needing to find a way to make money, Roche took bold steps that paid off. Turn to page 16 to find out just what he did.

Speaking of necessity, new ideas are very much needed if Japan is going to maintain the level of healthcare that so many of us appreciate as the aging society and demographic shifts put increasingly more pressure on the National Health Insurance system. The ACCJ is once again working to bring these ideas to the surface and make them a reality through the Healthcare x Digital (HxD) competition, now in its second year. We have an overview of HxD 2021 beginning on page 22. And just before that, on page 20, ACCJ Healthcare Committee Co-chair John Carlson outlines a new approach to the chamber’s biennial health policy white paper that will make the committee’s advocacy nimbler, allowing it to keep up with the ever-quickening pace of change in healthcare needs.

I hope you find inspiration in this issue ofThe ACCJ Journal. As always, if you have a story to share, I’d love to hear from you at cjones@accj.or.jp.