While I think this trend is growing (and moving at a snail's pace, like most things that aren't engrained in japanese culture), I want to point out that students from the University of Tokyo (colloquially "toudai") are the most likely to attract funding/find the connections to be funded as startups.
Toudai has a reputation as a school full of eccentric people (quite often literally called the equivalent of "weirdos"), likely because of the high percentage of "smart"/obssessive types who go there (this is probably some equal percentage stereotype, truth, and self-fulfilling prophecy). This is also probably a big contributing factor to the fact that the percentage of people doing startups instead of other options.
I think Japan could be a really huge place for startups to be honest -- the ~4 years of undergrad in college here are actually really really lax, and could have so much potential as a time to try ideas. The right school, with the right hacker-space and the right supporting generalist classes could produce an amazing set of entrepreneurs, but no one's doing it yet.
Toudai has a reputation as a school full of eccentric people (quite often literally called the equivalent of "weirdos"), likely because of the high percentage of "smart"/obssessive types who go there (this is probably some equal percentage stereotype, truth, and self-fulfilling prophecy). This is also probably a big contributing factor to the fact that the percentage of people doing startups instead of other options.
I think Japan could be a really huge place for startups to be honest -- the ~4 years of undergrad in college here are actually really really lax, and could have so much potential as a time to try ideas. The right school, with the right hacker-space and the right supporting generalist classes could produce an amazing set of entrepreneurs, but no one's doing it yet.