Indeed. Starting a business in Japan is a hurry-up and wait game. There was a recent panel sponsored by the ACCJ last month which invited several government o

Indeed. Starting a business in Japan is a hurry-up and wait game. There was a recent panel sponsored by the ACCJ last month which invited several government officials to a panel discussion to inquire into why things were so burdensome and to come up with solutions. At the conclusion of the panel we had a long list of ways the 'start-up' process and culture of Japan could be improved-- among them was updating laws, making banking and related matters for small business (bank transfer fees) easier, encouraging the media to cover more entrepreneurs, and engaging college students in the start-up process more. I'm a start-up founder based in Tokyo and the most popular questions I receive is, why are you founding a start-up focused on a market outside of Japan? Market research aside and my being American who will be returning to the US some time in the very near future, Japan is not the easiest company to start and run and successful small operation in. A Rank of #91 for such an advanced country is an indication of the system being broken and burdensome.