Toilet Business Ideas Episode One: Web Annotation

Like most people I regularly have flashes of inspiration that seem great at the time - at least until I come out of the toilet - but I don't have time to really look into any of them (I'm too busy getting my first venture of the ground, and I seem to have mislaid my clone army.) So I have gallantly decided to squirt them out here for anyone who might be interested.

I haven't researched these ideas, and the really good stuff I've kept for myself, so don't expect these to be any more than unworkable / done to death brain dross. But there just might be a nugget of goodness amidst the dross.

I'll be posting these individually on an irregular basis, starting with toilet idea episode one:

Web-wide message board browser plugin

A browser plugin that lists community comments and contextually similar websites in a side bar. Self explanatory, really. It would be great if everyone who looks at a web page could leave comments and advice for everyone else who visits, through a single interface. Revenue would probably come through contextual ads, Google adsense stylee.

I'm pretty enthusiastic that this would add tremendous value to the web, and after a bit of digging it turns out that I'm not alone. There are a slew of new tools coming out that allow community commenting of any web site, a practice known as web annotation (wikipedia), and it's tied into the "semantic web," an evolution of the Web that is going to dramatically change how we view the web once it kicks off. All are still in very early stages of development, and the idea looks ripe for commercialization. Although I haven't found any mention of it, I wouldn't be surprised if Google was working on a killer app as I type. I'll grab some of the tools floating about out there and come back with my findings. Watch this space (unless you've got something better to do - it could be weeks before I get around to it.)

A list of resources for entrepreneurs in Japan

I came to Tokyo a year ago with a new business idea, little business experience and barely enough Japanese to order a beer. I found that there was very limited assistance readily available, and had a hard time locating relevant resources, particularly in English. So here I've started a list of resources I have built up over the past year for anyone else who finds themselves in a similar situation. If anyone has more to add to this list please let me know!



NON-PROFIT / GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS

Several governmental organizations exist to assist companies in entering the Japanese market and starting up within the market. Their services are for the most part free of charge.

JETRO - The Japan External Trade Organization has many resources for assisting foreign companies in entering the Japanese market. It's worth noting that in my case, as I was starting up a new company within Japan, they would not offer direct assistance.
http://www.jetro.go.jp/en/

Tokyo Business Entry Point - Provides information and counceling on Japan market entry and day-to-day living. The guys that run this were very helpful and friendly when I visited them.
http://www.tokyo-business.jp/en/exp_en.html

SMRJ - Japanese government organization providing funding programs, incubation, and consultation. They were pretty useless when I went to see them though.
http://www.smrj.go.jp/utility/english/index.html

Tokyo Trade Center - Import/export information and business/goods search.
http://www.tokyo-trade-center.or.jp/top_en.html

List of groups and associations - Big list of professional and special interest groups in Japan, courtesy of Customers, Vendors, People.
http://www.cvp.jp/associations.php



FINANCES

Japan's financing options are severely limited, particularly if you're after startup capital, but there are a couple of organizations that might be helpful.

Nippon Angels
Aims to connect ambitious entrepreneurs and venture companies with investors and other supporters.
http://www.angels.ne.jp/en/

National Life Finance Corporation - Claim to offer loans for business or personal use, even without a guarantor or collateral. I met a guy who swears blind he got a loan out of them for small business start-up capital!
http://www.kokukin.go.jp/pfce/indexe.html

Japan Finance Corporation for Small and Medium Enterprise - Provide business loans and securitization support. I have not talked to them yet so I have no idea how helpful they are.
http://www.jasme.go.jp/indexe.html



NETWORKING

Building up a network of other entrepreneurs, potential business partners and customers is obviously immensely valuable. There are various groups who have regular and irregular sessions, often with presentations by experienced guest speakers which can also be very informative:

JapanEvents.net - An interactive calendar of community and networking events in Japan, with RSS.
http://www.japanevents.net

Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo - Highly active and with a large membership.
http://www.ea-tokyo.com/

JCI Investor and Executive Networking - Monthly networking metings produced by JCI, a management consulting and market entry firm.
http://www.jci-inc.com - email seminar@jci-inc.com for details and reservation.

Tokyo American Club - "The Mecca for the rich expat community in Tokyo."
http://www.tokyoamericanclub.org/

TPA Tokyo Professionals Association - "The budget version of the above..."
http://www.tpahome.com

Ecadamy Japan - Business networking, articles, lots of other stuff.
http://japan.ecademy.com/index.php

LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/

openBC
http://www.openbc.com/

American Chamber of Commerce in Japan - "At an ACCJ networking party you can come away with a hundred business cards, honestly, but it is a little bit of a smelly, corporate affair." ... apparently!
http://www.accj.or.jp/content/events

BusinessKnowHow - Some general tips on effective networking.
http://www.businessknowhow.com/tips/networking.htm



INCUBATORS

J-Seed Ventures - A private incubator that also provides IT services.
http://www.j-seed.com/index.html

Softopia Japan - Private incubation, business support etc.
http://www.softopia.or.jp/en/

Strategic Alliance - Market accelerator and business relationship developer in high technology fields.
http://www.st-alliance.com/

Okamoto - Accounting and incubation.
http://www.okamoto-co.co.jp/

JapanEntrepreneurs Forum article - Provides some more detail on incubators in Japan, however I was unable to get in contact with a number of the incubators listed.
http://it-for-all.com/japanentrepren...opic.php?t=610



LOGISTICAL ASSISTANCE

Information on Japan's new Company Law
http://www.sidley.com/db30/cgi-bin/pubs/JapanUpdate021405.pdf

Information on Incorporating a Business in Japan
http://www8.ocn.ne.jp/~risk21/incorporation.html

Japan Concierge - Private company providing business matching, office arrangements, IT services etc.
http://www.japanconcierge.com/

Lionbridge - Localization & translation, infrastructure, and business processes.
http://www.lionbridge.com/

Action Japan - Training and advice in effective communication between Japanese and non-Japanese business people, translation, interpretation and business support.
http://www.action-japan.com/

Business Grow - Bilingual editorial and advertising services.
http://www.businessgrow.net/Services.htm

Fidel Technologies - Software and business process outsourcing.
http://www.fideltech.com/

Japan Registry - Japanese domain registration, incorporation services.
http://www.japanregistry.com/



MARKET RESEARCH

Trends in Japan - Good, free, current trend analysis.
http://web-japan.org/trends/index.html

What Japan Thinks - Surveys and opinion polls.
http://whatjapanthinks.com/

Yano Research - Private company offering market research and market entry assistance.
http://www.yanoresearch.com/

Teikoku Databank - Private company offering market research and a substantial database of Japanese corporations.
http://www.tdb.co.jp/english/

RIETI - Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry posts some articles and statistics.
http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/index.html

Links to English Language Web Sites of Listed Japanese Companies - Lots of them!
http://www.mizuho-sc.com/english/ebo...nies/list.html

General Japan news websites
http://www.japaninc.net/
http://www.japantoday.com/



FORUMS

SmallBizJapan - Discussions for non-Japanese people running small businesses in Japan.
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/smallbizjapan/

GaijinPot Small Business Forum - Post questions and read information from other entrepreneurs in Japan.
http://www.gaijinpot.com/bb/forumdisplay.php?f=28

Japan Entrepreneurs - Doesn't appear to get much activity, but has many useful posts.
http://www.japanentrepreneurs.com/



TRANSLATION TOOLS

The web's a great source of information, but if your Japanese is as rubbish as mine then you'll find translation tools very handy. Google's automatic translation does a passable job, but for something extra try:

Excite Translate
Does a beautiful job translating chunks of text; far better than Google.
http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/

Rikai - Enter the URL of a Japanese web page and hover your mouse over any word to see a comprehensive translation.
http://www.rikai.com

WWWJDIC - Japanese-English Dictionary Server
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html



GENERAL ENTREPRENEUR RESOURCES

Entrepreneur.com - Lots of articles and resources.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/

US Chamber of Commerce - Business assistance resources from the U.S. Government.
http://www.uschamber.com/default

SmallBusiness.com - Lots of useful tools for SOHOs and entrepreneurs.
http://www.smallbusiness.com/wiki/Main_Page



ARTICLES

GaijinPot article - Brief article on SOHO in Japan and a few links that I have reproduced here.
http://www.gaijinpot.com/c_soho.php

GaijinPot thread - A lengthy post and ongoing discussion on setting up a business in Japan.
http://www.gaijinpot.com/bb/showthread.php?t=4586

Venture Japan - Lots of advice for companies entering the Japanese market, by a Japanese market entry advisor company.
http://www.venturejapan.com/index.htm

BusinessKnowHow - Article on doing business in Japan - focusing on the differences between the American and Japanese business cultures.
http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/japan.htm

Terrie's Take - A regular blog and newsletter offer an insider's comments on Japan's high-tech business world, with a focus on strategies and financing.
http://japaninc.typepad.com/



MISCELLANEOUS RESOURCES

American Chamber of Commerce Japan - A short list of links to Japan market entry resources.
http://www.accj.or.jp/pages/bizlinks

Customers, Vendors, People - A private business matching company.
http://www.cvp.jp/

Japan Trade Directory - Directory of Japanese importers and exporters.
http://jtd.weis.or.jp/ii_1.html

iTV Japan - Online videos, including several interviews with entrepreneurs in Japan.
http://www.itvjapan.com/

Newsletter - Japan! - One newsletter featuring news and information about business, investment opportunities and life in Japan, and another newsletter providing information on legal issues on business and financial investments in Japan.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newsletter_japan_readers/

A brief article and lots of links - Seems a little outdated
http://www.internationalentrepreneur...id=12&contid=2



ORDERING A BEER

"Nama biiru hitotsu onegai shimasu."

Good luck!