The following is an excerpt from Tomoko A. Hosaka, Associated Press | February 3, 2012 | usatoday.com |
TOKYO – For an emerging generation of Japanese innovators, the dream isn’t a job for life at a big company. They have new ambitions, and they’re determined to go places. Especially Silicon Valley.
Small but growing numbers of Japanese entrepreneurs are jumping into the startup scene in northern California, particularly since the earthquake and tsunami last March. They include Naoki Shibata, who took the plunge by giving up the sort of life many Japanese in past decades spent their lives trying to attain.
Only 30, Shibata had an executive-level position at online retailing giant Rakuten and an assistant professorship at the prestigious University of Tokyo, where he earned a Ph.D. Last June he launched AppGrooves, an iPhone application discovery tool.
“I wanted a global company from the first moment,” he said. “If you want to reach a global market, then you have to start from Silicon Valley.”
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