Softbank's success is a bit of a red herring. They have basically never been profitable, but have made enormous gains in their investments in things like Yahoo!

Softbank's success is a bit of a red herring. They have basically never been profitable, but have made enormous gains in their investments in things like Yahoo! Japan and Chinese internet businesses. By the time the real estate bubble was truly underway, people were by in large comfortable with the huge companies throwing money at their feet to join their firm (stories of college recruiting are downright ridiculous -- they go way beyond the wining and dining of new grads by consulting and finance firms in the states). The truly ridiculous wave of entrepreneurship was in the post-war era, where the country had very little in its possession and everything to gain by trying very new things.