A New Entrepreneur Mag ... in Japan?

Back to Contents of Issue: July 2000

by Chieko Tashiro

One way to get your finger on the pulse of a nation is to simply check out the magazine stands, assuming you can read the language. One new Japanese publication that caught our attention is MyBiz, published by Locus. Its target? Entrepreneur wannabes.

The magazine's existence is in itself a big deal in Japan. Basic information on being an entrepreneur is very limited here, so a lifestyle magazine on the subject is doubly rare.

The first issue features various VIPs giving advice on starting up a company, including a member of the House of Representatives, an economist, a business consultant, and the CEO of a peripheral device firm. It also charts 17 different startups, profiling the entrepreneur behind each and comparing the different ways they go about raising money, establishing networks, setting targets, et cetera.

One section tells readers how to write business plans. Another shows them how to analyze their company's current market position and calculate its break-even point.

The magazine even goes into the IPO process, explaining the Mothers market and things like liquidity and transparency. That's craziness here.

The Western media keeps blabbering on about how Japan is deregulating itself and becoming more venture friendly, but nothing drives the point home better than simply going to a magazine stand here and seeing what the nation's publishers are betting on.

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