Paper short abstract:

This presentation examines the practices of migrant entrepreneurs in Japan's emerging startup ecosystem and compares them to those of foreign (incl. Japanese) entrepreneurs in Singapore. It assesses the diversification of Japan's startup sector and of ways of work in contemporary Japan in general.

Paper long abstract:

“Diversity” is one of the buzz words in government rhetoric about innovation and global competitiveness, and Japan is no exception. Japanese society has diversified over the past decade across a range of dimensions, including ethnic, socio-cultural, and religious diversification. This presentation looks at a distinct realm in which diversification of Japan’s business practices and society are unfolding at an unprecedented speed, but largely unrecognized by Japan scholars: the emergence of a knowledge-intensive startup sector, driven in Japan by both Japanese and migrant entrepreneurs, but also pursued by Japanese entrepreneurs abroad, with the case of Singapore as a compelling case of migrant - including Japanese - entrepreneurship in one of the most ethnically diverse Asian countries.

The Japanese government, with Japan in dire need of innovation but troubled by the low value of entrepreneurship in society and a shrinking labour force, has implemented preferential immigration policies for foreign entrepreneurs. Transnational entrepreneurship research suggests that foreign entrepreneurs’ multiple perspectives, help identify business opportunities that are not recognized by local entrepreneurs. However, entrepreneurship research on Japan has focused on Japanese entrepreneurs to date, mostly from an economics or business perspective.

This presentation examines the human dimension of innovation in Tokyo’s startup ecosystem and focuses on the link between migrants’ involvement in international and local entrepreneurial networks and their social embedding in the host society. Japan is still new to welcoming foreign entrepreneurs. At the same time, Japanese entrepreneurs have established a presence in Singapore, the business center of Southeast Asia, where foreign entrepreneurship has been promoted for years. The qualitative study relies on extensive interview data accumulated during field trips to Tokyo and Singapore since 2022, and enriched by insights from policy analysis, expert interviews and ethnographic observations of the foreign entrepreneurial communities in order to assess how Japanese entrepreneurs - among other foreign entrepreneurs - were able to establish themselves in Singapore and how foreign entrepreneurs fare in Japan. The presentation sheds light on these foreign founders’ multiethnic entrepreneurial networks, which arise from their business activities and have spillover effects on migrants’ social inclusion in ethnically diverse communities of Tokyo and Singapore.