Japan welcomed 3.1 million visitors in June, setting a record for monthly tourist visits, and that boom looks set to continue. Most of those visitors are drawn by the usual reasons to visit—the food, the rich culture that fuses the traditional and the modern, and the natural beauty—but Japan is also looking to attract high-paying knowledge workers through its new Digital Nomad Visa, introduced in March this year. This six-month visa, twice the length of a standard tourist visa, allows remote workers to immerse themselves in an underexplored facet of Japan, its growing startup ecosystem
Although Japan’s Digital Nomad Visa restricts holders from working for Japanese companies or earning income from Japanese sources, that six-month period provides ample time to look beyond the sushi and scenery. It allows remote workers to build connections, network, and identify opportunities in the country’s growing startup ecosystem that is looking for insights, capital, and global perspectives—areas where international talent can make a huge impact.
Though still hitting under its weight for a city that is a global business and cultural hub, the Tokyo ecosystem is ranked as the 10th largest in the world in the most recent global ranking from Startup Genome, up five spots from 2023. That growth represents large shifts in both the private and public sectors.
Government support at the national and city levels sees entrepreneurship as a way to grow an economy that has slipped to the fourth-largest globally. This is done through government initiatives like 1 trillion yen (about USD6.4 billion) in entrepreneurship funding over five years, startup visas for foreign entrepreneurs, and changing the tax code to allow more stock options to be paid.
Government support is complemented by a shift in mindset among younger generations. Many new graduates from top universities, such as the University of Tokyo, are now more interested in joining startups than in pursuing traditional corporate careers, contributing to an already deep talent pool.
Emre Yuasa of Globis Capital Partners (disclosure: I teach at Globis University, a sister company of Globis Capital Partners) suggests Tokyo-based startup Sakana AI: “The founders, two of them, are very famous Google DeepMind researchers. They relocated to Japan because they think that they can attract strong talent in Japan, being one of very few AI startups here.”
Digital nomads looking to engage with Japan’s startup community can explore these four avenues.
Attend startup events
Tokyo’s startup scene is increasingly foreign-friendly, with many events conducted in English. A great example is the weekly Thursday Gatherings run by Venture Café Tokyo. Larger events include the annual Takeoff Tokyo or SushiTech Tokyo, both aimed at the global market and mostly or fully run in English. Engaging with the community and building your network is vital, particularly if there is no connection to Japan. As Erdinç Ekinci of the Founder Institute Japan & Korea emphasizes, “If you’re going to start a business here, you must have some connection . . . Digital nomads or new people should always easily find a community.”
Offer your expertise
Startups that aim to go global often recognize the need to do things differently from the traditional Japanese way. Digital nomads can help shift mindsets and bring a global perspective by engaging with these companies. Casey Wahl, founder of Attuned.ai, highlights the demand for global talent: “In some functions, Product Management, Product Marketing, Growth, Japan’s talent pools lag well behind the best in the world, particularly in SaaS. If you’ve got world-class skills, there are plenty of Japanese startups that are trying to go global, especially to reach Western markets, and it’s been a graveyard of failure up until now. If you have skills, and cross-cultural collaboration ability, you can help the right startup make a huge impact.”
Those with work experience working for big tech are in particular demand. Globis Capital Partners’ Yuasa notes, “In Japan, we don’t have, unfortunately, a lot of big tech, especially at the scale of the USA big tech. So, seeing that from within and experiencing it, and how it works, and knowing what’s working and what’s not . . . There is a great insight that they can uniquely bring to Japanese startups.”
Consult with large corporations
Many traditional Japanese companies struggle to innovate and adapt to the fast-paced world of startups due to traditional ways of doing business. This creates opportunities for overseas talent or startups to offer consulting services and help these corporations innovate and bridge the gap between large corporations and agile startups. Narimasa Makino, CEO at Kyoto-based Monozukuri Ventures, has observed many traditional companies looking for ways to work with startups but there are challenges “because of the mindset is different, and the speed is different, and they in a startup company, have asked us how to work with the large company . . . But the large company. They have no idea how to do this appropriately.”
Consider the startup visa
For entrepreneurs looking to establish a more permanent presence, Japan’s startup visa provides a pathway to launch a business or a branch office in Japan to tap into Japan’s talent and the wider Asian market. Many entrepreneurs come here for a mix of opportunities and the quality of life. Many successful Japanese startups, such as those founded by Casey Wahl and Jason Cheng, have been established by international entrepreneurs drawn by Japan’s quality of life, combined with its growing startup ecosystem, which makes it an attractive destination for founders.
Japan’s Digital Nomad Visa offers more than just an extended stay in a fascinating country—it provides an opportunity to engage deeply with a startup ecosystem that is on the rise with enormous untapped potential. The visa offers digital nomads a way to contribute to Japan’s global expansion efforts while enjoying the rich cultural and business environment.
As Casey Wahl puts it, “If you love the life of Japan, and the lifestyle is one of the best, you can have an opportunity to be one of the few, with real startup skills, that can bridge that gap to make the future startups that want to penetrate the fourth biggest economy in the world successful.”
Antti Sonninen, organizer of the annual Take Off Tokyo conference to help Japan-based startups go global, echoes this sentiment, “I think there’s never been a better time to visit Japan and do business in Japan. I think this is one of the most interesting places to be right now.”
