This was my first thought - I can't imagine how someone could feasibly start a company here without being at least somewhat bilingual. I've seen people found a

This was my first thought - I can't imagine how someone could feasibly start a company here without being at least somewhat bilingual. I've seen people found and run successful companies with only moderate Japanese ability, but only when they'd already lived here a long time and had lots of contacts. (And folks in that position will have their own opinions about the startup climate...)