After two decades of stagnation, Japan has developed a plan to reverse its spectacular failure to respond to the Internet age. Its secret weapon? Women.

    Tokyo thinks that Japan's women -- who are, on average, better educated than their male counterparts -- should lead the charge in building new Japanese tech startups. The Japanese government plans to help Japanese women launch new companies as part of the country's economic revitalization measures, known interchangeably as the "Japan is Back" campaign or Abenomics, named after Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

    As part of this program, Japan's government has allocated 20 billlion yen (around $200 million USD) for a fund to support young female entrepreneurs . Startup founders also can apply for special low-interest loans from banks.

    Prime Minister Abe aims to kickstart economic growth through a combination of what he has dubbed "arrows" of action, including quantitative easing, public infrastructure spending, and the devaluation of the yen. Encouraging women's business aspirations is considered Abe's fourth arrow.

    "Women are Japan's great underused asset," says Hitoshi Masuda, former director of the governmental startups and technology agency in Tokyo, who is leader in the "Japan is Back" campaign. "They will be a driving force in building a stronger economy based on entrepreneurship."

    To help women who want to work and raise a family, Abe is suggesting women have three years paternity leave, which is comparable to what many workers receive in Europe. New legislation will be presented to the Japanese parliament this year to allow full-time workers to take parental leave for three years.

    Policymakers also need to showcase the advantages of entrepreneurship and put in place financial incentives that reduce risk for would-be entrepreneurs, says Masuda. They will also need to increase day-care funding.

    Such moves are an absolute must, says Tobias Harris, a blogger and political commentator in Japan. "There should be an enabling of more women to participate in the workforce, which means equalizing pay and status and providing better support for families."

    Japan has its work cut out for itself. The nation ranks 101st out of 135 countries in the latest Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum (WEF). It has a dearth of women entrepreneurs -- only 4% of the nation's total. Indeed, it has a noticeable lack of entrepreneurs altogether. Overall, Japan has the lowest number of entrepreneurs per capita in the industrialized world -- just 1.9% in Japan, compared to 4.9% in the U.S.

    Japan's female employment rate stands at around 60%, compared to about 80% for men. In executive roles, women fare even worse, accounting for only 2.8% of all managers in the country, up from 1% 20 years ago.

    经历了二十年的经济停滞之后，日本现在制定了一项计划，旨在彻底改变自己未能对互联网时代做出反应的惊人败绩。它的秘密武器是什么呢？女人。

    日本政府认为，日本女性（平均受教育程度超过日本男性）应该走在创建新的日本科技初创公司的最前列。日本政府计划帮助日本女性创办新公司，以此作为该国经济振兴措施的一部分，这些措施被称为“日本复兴”（Japan is Back）运动或者“安倍经济学”（取自日本首相安倍晋三的名字）。

    作为这项计划的一部分，日本政府已经向一个基金拨款200亿日元（约合2亿美元），目的在于向年轻的女性创业者提供资助。初创公司的创始人还可以向银行申请特殊的低息贷款。

    日本首相安倍晋三计划通过他称之为“箭”的一系列行动来迅速启动经济增长，这些“箭”包括量化宽松措施、公共基础设施建设开支，以及日元贬值。鼓励女性抱有创业志向被认为是安倍晋三的第四支箭。

    “日本复兴”运动领导人增田仁志（音译）说：“女性是日本未充分挖掘的巨大财富，她们将成为建立以创业为基础的日本更强经济的一个驱动力。” 他此前曾在位于东京的日本政府初创公司和技术机构担任主管。

    为了帮助那些希望工作、同时供养家庭的女性，安倍晋三正在提议给予女性三年产假，这与欧洲许多员工获得的待遇相当。提议允许全职员工享有三年产假的新法案将在今年上报日本国会。

    增田说，决策层还需要展示创业的优势，同时落实旨在降低准创业者风险的经济奖励措施。他们还需要增加日托资金。

    日本博客作者及政治评论人士托比亚斯•哈里斯表示，这些举措绝对是必须的。他说：“应该让更多的女性能够参加工作，这意味着要在薪酬和地位方面实现男女平等，还能为家庭提供更好的支持。”

    日本在这方面面临艰巨的任务。世界经济论坛（WEF）最新发布的《2012年全球性别差距报告》（Global Gender Gap Report）中，日本在135个国家中排名第101。日本缺乏女性企业家，女性仅占日本企业家总人数的4％。事实上，总体而言日本明显缺乏企业家。日本的人均企业家人数在工业化国家当中处于最低水平——日本只有1.9％；相比之下，美国是4.9％。

    日本女性的就业率为60％左右，相比之下，日本男性的就业率约为80％。在企业高管方面，女性比例的情况更糟，在日本经理总人数中仅占2.8％，与20年前的1％相比略有上升。

    Tech startups launched by women, however, are on the rise, despite the so-called "titanium ceiling" obstructing them, says William Saito, a renowned entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and public policy consultant. As a mentor and financier, he has a penchant for backing Japanese women-run startups over their male counterparts.

    Saito is betting on Reina Otsuka, 33, founder of Eco+Waza, a sort of a curated Amazon and magazine for sustainable lifestyle ideas and products from Japan. Otsuka left her previous employer Recruit, a publishing company, knowing that if she did want a child or more flexible hours, it would be better to do so on her own terms. Japanese working practices simply don't cater to women (or men) with families. "The hours are long with too much time wasted commuting, and we are plagued with endless, useless meetings," says Otsuka, who lived in the U.S. until she was 10 years old.

    The new government deal offered to women and would-be startups is helpful, she says, but she thinks the bureaucratic efforts required for each grant make them hardly worth the effort.

    As for the promise of three years of maternity leave, she feels this will be self-defeating. "It's too hard to come back to work after all that time. The policy could backfire," she says.

    Shuku Tanizaki, 35, started out in finance, but she found the industry's strict hierarchy stifling and left her high-flying but demanding job as an analyst at Mizuho Securities to launch her own company four years ago. She now runs two web-based outfits, one offering project management services to the financial services industry, the other a social lending venture company called AQUSH ExchangeCorporation.

    "When I worked for a securities firm, I was pushed way beyond my capacity because as a woman I was assigned back-office tasks -- even making tea! -- and at the same time working in a front-end role equally as hard as men," Tanizaki says, adding that Japan's Mad Men days of a decade ago are fading fast, in Tokyo at least. "It was more for political issues, not sexist reasons, I quit," she says.

    Tanizaki agrees with Otsuka, arguing that additional support for women entrepreneurs is good, but says that the individual business grants, at around $20,000, are inadequate for tech startups. "Developers and web engineers are expensive in Japan. The grants could be useful for very small ventures such as cafes, not so much for tech entrepreneurs."

    Private venture capitalists, she says, are a better bet for funding and open to women entrepreneurs. However, Tanizaki warns, women in Japan could be their own worst enemy. There are equal opportunities in Japan, she explains, "but in my experience, women don't want to take risks, they don't want, on the whole, to take responsibility, they are less ambitious, less willing to sacrifice. Basically, most Japanese women lack courage."

    Pointing out the shame that, even in the startup world, she scarcely meets female executives, Tanizaki wonders how far women in Japan are willing to stick their necks out. "I'm afraid I agree with Facebook (FB) COO Sheryl Sandberg that women don't want to sit at the table. It's as simple as that."    

    知名企业家、风险投资人兼公共政策顾问斋藤浩幸说，尽管所谓的“钛天花板”阻碍着女性，但女性创办的科技创业公司正在持续增多。作为一名导师和金融家，他更喜欢资助日本女性（而不是日本男性）经营的初创公司。

    斋藤浩幸目前正在押注于eco+waza网站现年33岁的创始人大塚玲奈, 它可以说是致力于日本的可持续生活方式理念及相关产品的一个精选版亚马逊和杂志。意识到自己如果想要个小孩或者工作时间更加灵活的话，最好还是能够自己掌握时间，于是大塚玲奈离开了她以前任职的出版公司Recruit。日本的劳动规则根本无法满足有家庭的女性（或男性）的需求和要求。大塚玲奈说：“工作时间很长，太多的时间浪费在上下班的路上，我们还要受到无止境而且无价值的会议的折磨。”10岁以前，她都生活在美国。

    她说，日本政府向女性和准初创公司提供的待遇很有帮助，但她认为，获得每笔补助金在官僚手续上所要付出的努力使得这些补助几乎不值一提。

    至于三年产假的承诺，她认为这将事与愿违。她说：“真的休完三年产假后，是很难重返工作的。这项政策可能会适得其反。”

    现年35岁的谷崎淑最初从事金融行业，但她发现这个行业严格的等级制度令人窒息。于是在四年前辞去了自己在瑞穗证券（Mizuho Securities）前途光明但很吃力的分析师工作，转而创办了自己的公司。她现在运营两家依托于网络的公司，一家向金融服务行业提供项目管理服务，另一家是叫做AQUSH ExchangeCorporation的社会贷款风投公司。

    谷崎淑说：“我在证券公司工作的时候，工作压力远远超过了我的承受能力，因为作为一名女性，我被分配到一些后勤任务——甚至沏茶！而同时还同样要和男同事一样努力做前端的工作。”她补充说，日本十年前的广告狂人式的日子正在迅速消失，至少在东京是如此。她说：“这更像是由于政治问题，而不是性别歧视的原因，于是我辞职了。”

    谷崎淑与大塚玲奈的看法相同——认为向女性企业家提供额外支持是不错，但她表示，对于科技初创公司而言，2万美元左右的个体企业补助还是不够。“在日本，开发人员和网络工程师的劳动成本都很昂贵，这项补助对于诸如咖啡馆等非常小的企业而言可能有用，但对于科技创业者而言就没有那么有帮助了。”

    她表示，私人风险投资人是提供资金和向女性企业家开放的一个更好的选择。然而，谷崎淑告诫说，日本女性可能会成为她们自己最大的敌人。她解释说，日本存在许多均等的机会，“但根据我的经验来看，日本女性并不希望承担风险。整体而言，她们不想承担责任。她们不那么有抱负，不太愿意作出牺牲。基本上，大多数日本女性缺乏勇气。”

    她指出，让人遗憾的是，即便在创业界里，她也很难遇到女性高管，谷崎淑不知道日本女性甘冒风险的意愿究竟有多强烈。“恐怕我得赞同Facebook首席运营官谢丽尔•桑德伯格的看法。她认为女性不想坐在桌旁，就是这么简单 ”（财富中文网）

    译者：iDo98