Tadashi Asano, kneeling at left, talks with his staff at his office in Shibuya.

`When I saw a small company's sign on the street, I used to think what a petty business they were doing. But now I know how hard it is to keep a business running.' KAZUKI MURATA Struggling entrepreneur

If Tadashi Asano had a destiny, it was to be a company president.

No, he doesn't have a private jet, nor a headquarters building towering above the masses, but he's certainly on the way up.

For now, he rents an office in an old building in the shadow of a newly redeveloped business complex near Shibuya Station. Located next to the Tokyu Toyoko Line, the window shakes every time a train passes. Still, he would rather put up with the humble surroundings than be just another minion in a plush chair at a bigger firm owned by somebody else.

``I wanted to be my own boss,'' Asano said. He established his company in February. Being the boss of a start-up meant doing everything-from sales promotion to customer consultation-for his Web business firm. Every night, a seemingly bottomless in-basket keeps him at the office until he has just enough time to dash off to Shibuya Station to catch the last train.

Asano rarely gets more than five hours of sleep a night. But he's young and can handle it. So young, in fact, that he refused to divulge his age because ``it would only embarrass the customers.''

Despite sleep deprivation, less than opulent surroundings and a whole lot of work, the entrepreneur said he can't imagine living any other way.

Corporate bankruptcies and the collapse of life-time employment have forced young workers to take a second look at traditional jobs sheltered under the paternal umbrella of corporate giants. Instead, many, like Asano, are going it alone and starting their own firms.

The recent upheaval in professional baseball brought attention to a new generation of Internet entrepreneurs like Takafumi Horie of Livedoor Co. and Hiroshi Mikitani of Rakuten Inc., who epitomize for many today's Japanese dream.

Masato Tamura, 24, originally planned to be a diplomat. After entering the University of Tokyo as a law major, the apex of the Japanese educational hierarchy, he found time to do a little business on the side.

When he was a junior, Tamura wrote a manual for studying English for university entrance exams. Sales of the book on the Web took off, and he was eventually pulling in several hundred thousand yen a month.

Tamura initially envisioned devoting only a limited amount of time to the project, but when the cash started rolling in, it was clear the venture was worth investing more time and money.

Still only a senior-though this is his sixth year on campus-he's the boss of a company located in a tiny eight-square-meter office near his school in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo.

Tamura considered taking the bar exam, a popular career path for his classmates, but has instead opted for an entrepreneurial career. ``If you become a lawyer, you just end up being a specialist. But if you are a company president you get to do everything,'' he said.

Tamura is not alone. It seems the young have firmly embraced the old adage ``nothing ventured, nothing gained.''

In September, Rikunabi, a popular job-placement Web site owned by Recruit Co., hosted a series of career seminars for college juniors about to begin job hunting in Tokyo and Osaka. Starting your own business was one of the options introduced. More traditional career paths, including investment banking and advertising, were also covered. The booth that hosted the lectures on business start-ups was jammed, attracting about 300 people, according to Shotaro Yamabe, vice editor at Rikunabi.

``In the past, the general public's perception was that a venture business was something only a weirdo would do,'' said Haruo Miyagi, a representative of Entrepreneurial Training for Innovative Communities (ETIC), an NPO which has provided university students information on starting their own businesses since 1993.

``But bankruptcies of major companies in the late 1990s changed people's mindset. Followed by the spread of Internet and IT ventures, the young generation has begun to realize that they don't necessarily have to spend their lifetime at one company,'' he said.

So far, 1,500 students have participated in ETIC internships at start-up companies. More than 50 of them have gone on to start their own businesses. Experts point out these recent trends may contribute to a change in the Japanese economy.

``More than ever, venture businesses will take a greater share of the local and domestic economy, because many Japanese corporations lack the agility to make speedy decisions,'' said Yoshio Ichiryu, a former Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry official who now provides business advice to start-up companies.

Behind the rising interest in entrepreneurship is the disappointment and loss of faith in the ``salaryman'' lifestyle. In fiscal 2001, there were 20,052 bankruptcies, the second worst figure since the end of World War II.

In May 2001, then-trade minister Takeo Hiranuma proposed a plan to double the number of new ventures. In February 2003, a new law lowered the minimum capital required to start a company to 1 yen.

The so-called 1-yen start-up system has made things far easier for budding tycoons. Previously, 3 million yen was required to establish a limited company and 10 million yen was needed to get a joint-stock company off the ground. There is one catch-the original capital requirements are not really waved, just delayed. New business owners must meet them within five years after launch.

According to a survey by local bureaus of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, 2,199 companies had been, as of Oct. 27, founded under the system after the law was changed. Of these, 1,004 were capitalized at 1 yen.

New business leaders like Livedoor's Horie never miss an opportunity to preach about the glamour of the entreprenuerial lifestyle and the chance it affords to make it big from scratch.

``The money you earn as an individual (employee) is just mediocre and your time is limited. You'd better hurry and create your own company,'' the 32-year-old president wrote in the book ``Kasegu-ga-kachi'' (Make big money and you're the winner).

Sometimes, having a good mentor can serve as needed motivation.

Yoichiro Miyaoka's life changed after the 22-year-old college junior took part in an intern program hosted by Dream Gate, a 1.15 billion-yen project supported by METI to promote entrepreneurship.

The internship, ``shacho no kabanmochi'' (working as a private secretary to a company president), allows university students to spend five days literally side by side with one of 100 venture business presidents. More than 1,000 students have applied for the program this year.

``I wasn't really dying to start a business,'' said Miyaoka, who was raised by a college professor father and an architect mother.

However, after spending time with the suave and energetic Naoto Tomita, president of Innovation Co., a firm that provides Internet and telephone marketing services, Miyaoka decided he wants to be his own boss like Tomita.

``He's my ideal. I've never met anyone so smart,'' he said. ``Besides, I found people working there really late and they were clearly motivated.'' Before his experience, Miyaoka had only worked part-time at a cafe and done a bit of tutoring.

Without concrete work experience of their own, young people find it easy to see entrepreneurs like Rakuten's Mikitani and Livedoor's Horie, who are both in their 30s, as role models.

``More young people want a sense of achievement, which they believe they can find by starting a venture business,'' said Takashi Hagiuda, manager in charge of venture business at the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He added young people are concerned with attaining a meaningful life by starting their own firm, while older individuals seek a situation where they can make use of their knowledge or experience.

However, this search for meaning by being your own boss may not always lead to a beehive of economic activity. For some, starting a company can be more of a way to actualize their dreams than to earn a load of money.

But isn't business all about earning a profit?

``Not many young people understand how hard it is to earn money,'' said Asano, the start-up president. He projects his firm's initial annual sales, earned through its Web design and other Internet services, will be about 15 million yen.

Asano has taught what he's learned to about 50 university students hoping to start their own firms. All but two gave up. Many ended up finding jobs at big companies.

``The venture business is not as glamorous as people think,'' he said.

Yoshio Ichiryu, the business consultant for venture firms, is wary of the recent trend among young people to jump into start-up companies without a concrete business plan.

``There seems to be a fad where young people are attracted only by the glamorous side of successful venture leaders,'' he said. ``Those who start a business while in school often have a wonderful plan but lack actual management ability.''

Sometimes, this lesson can only be learned through failure.

Kazuki Murata thought he'd found a great business opportunity. He wanted to import beverage vending machines from China and distribute them to pachinko parlors in Japan. He'd worked part-time at a pachinko parlor and knew there was a demand for the machines.

The 22-year-old from Nagoya graduated from university in March. He signed a contact with a manufacturer in Ningpo, a city near Shanghai. When he started his firm in April he could almost hear the sound of cash flowing into his bank account.

He generated orders for his vending machines and calculated his profit. But there was one small glitch. The machines never arrived from China.

``I didn't speak Chinese and I just got lost in the negotiation process,'' he said. He is now facing bankruptcy.

``Sometimes I have the urge to give up everything and be a farmer,'' Murata said, with a weak laugh.

He may have lost his first company, but in the process he's learned a great deal.

``When I saw a small company's sign on the street, I used to think what a petty business they were doing. But now I know how hard it is to keep a business running,'' he said. ``Starting a company is not a challenge. What matters is keeping it alive.''(IHT/Asahi: November 20,2004)