It is often said that there is 'no entrepreneurial culture' in East Asia. There is a strong tendency to avoid risk, with many opting for civil service and stability. When Japanese children are asked what they want to be in the future, civil servants still rank high. For a country that has spent the last 30 years on a downward slope, this is in a sense natural. However, the oft-repeated call to "aim for a start-up" is somewhat unreasonable.
Many of today's start-ups, 'How much money did they make' rather than 'how much they changed society' is the axis of their evaluation. I don't deny that. I think it is a necessary activity in terms of economic growth. But it is not a reason to bet one's life on it.
Because-- Because we don't need so much money anymore.
Food, entertainment and daily necessities are cheaply available. Some say that Japan has become a 'cheap country', But on the other hand, it is also a country where the cost of living has fallen. That is why the rationale for acquiring luxury goods in large quantities is fading. I think it is the smart young people who understand this better than anyone else.
Yet we are still told to "succeed in start-ups". But what is success? Is it the amount of funding or the speed of exit? If there is no spiritual fulfilment there, In the end, it becomes a 'new form of career myth', both in the US and in Japan.
If you want to encourage entrepreneurship in the true sense of the word, I think it is necessary to have a "dialogue with society" beyond that. The motivation is not "for myself", but "to help others through myself". Otherwise, the culture of start-ups will be a lie, Otherwise, the start-up culture will end up being another lie.
I don't want to condemn people for getting rich. But a society where "that's all they talk about" is somehow poor. And that poverty, It is probably more widespread in the world than in the US or in Japan.