Venture Capital Developments
Business Week has an article on the state of Japan's venture capital industry. It's mostly "a few signs of change in the still-hidebound Japanese business culture" sort of article, interesting but somewhat anecdotal and with few surprises. It does provide a few revealing statistics, however. Unfortunately, the numbers are a little stale, but still likely indicative of the venture capital environment:

Japan's startups attracted just $1.7 billion in venture capital in the fiscal year through March, 2005, according to the Venture Enterprise Center, a state-funded research firm that surveyed 105 venture funds.That puts Japan's market at roughly half the size of China's and less than a tenth that of the U.S. (U.S. venture capitalists spent a mere $100 million in Japan last year.) And startups that can't get funding early on can kiss goodbye any hope of listing on Japan's small-cap markets, such as the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Jasdaq and Mothers bourse.