Japanese Ventures in Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is home to numerous corporations - quite a few Japanese. In 2000 and thereabouts after the IT bubble collapsed Japan receded somewhat but came right back again. Last year, 2014, Japanese companies numbered the record high 719.
Lately, not only IT corporations and ventures but middle-sized manufacturers are coming into the valley - those that had backboned Japan's manufacturing industry.
In an event in Silicon Valley last September, over 25 business ventures flocked to present what they have in store.
According to NHK, Kenichiro Iwasaki was one of them. He brought in his "Tactile-type Controller" to transmit the feel in virtual reality to real fingertips via a device wrapped around the wrist. His brief presentation attracted a number of game developers and investors.
"Contact me whenever you want to talk to investors. Chances are plentiful", offered one of them.
Iwasaki thought the people in Silicon Valley were anxious for new technology and ready to welcome futuristic ideas.
Yoshihide Honkura owns an electronic parts company of 10 employees in Aichi, a typical middle-sized industry with super skills. He advanced to Silicon Valley to sell his skills. He brought a magnetic sensor capable of measuring the strength and direction of magnetism. Last January, Honkura succeeded in beefing up its capacity a hundred-fold in collaboration with Nagoya University.
Epoch-making as it was, the device failed to attract Japanese business. Honkura turned to Silicon Valley for a chance to commercialize it. A medical equipment manufacturer found it worthwhile investing and a deal was concluded. Honkura's idea will help miniaturize MRI and similar large medical equipment.
"Silicon Valley is where idea meets money and a fresh flow of technology is starting", says Nobuyuki Matsuda of Mitsubishi Res. Inst. He elaborates:
"We are in the age of 'I o T' or Internet of Things. Smartphone links man to the Internet; I o T links things to the Internet. Silicon Valley is the ground where Japan can turn ideas to things. That should help to activate Japan's economy".