How Startups Can Contribute to Realizing Harmonia Japonica (Harmony Through Japan)

Summary by NotebookLM

Without solving the world's problems, you cannot build a global startup.

Until now, examples of such big problems have been climate change and healthcare. And lately, in addition to those global problems, I think a new problem is emerging: how to bring about harmony in the world.

If so, I think that startups taking on the world's problems need to think anew about how they can contribute to such problems.

History and Where We Stand Now

After the "peace under Britain" (Pax Britannica) ended in 1914, protectionism and tariffs spread in the 1930s following the Great Depression, which is also said to have triggered the Second World War.

After that, the "peace under America" (Pax Americana) arrived, but in the early 2010s there were moves to step down from that seat, and a decade later, today, debates about tariffs have begun again, just as they did 100 years ago.

With no particular hegemonic state now, doing business is becoming harder than before amid an increasingly unstable world situation. In addition, if someone is to take on the order going forward, a peace under Japan (Pax Japonica) would be difficult, and the next one will probably be the "peace under China" (Pax Sinica or Pax China). So moves to counter it will grow among the liberal democracies, and that will in turn cause great turmoil.

I suspect that no one will take hegemony and that multipolarization will simply continue, but compared with the 30 years from 1990 to 2020, when sticking close to America was enough, we will always have to live with instability. Many Japanese, who dislike such uncertainty, seem to not welcome multipolarization.

However, there is also a view that, in a multipolar world, Japan is in a relatively good position. Indeed, Japan is still a major economy with a large market, and although its geography and geopolitics are difficult, I think it is in a position where it can play a role in balancing the countries of the world while also gaining benefits.

If Japan plays its cards well, I believe it could realize, with a certain degree of influence, Harmonia Japonica (harmony through Japan), contributing to peace while mediating between countries.

What Startups Can Do for World Peace

But this is not something that can be achieved through the efforts of the state alone.

Rather, it requires the real activities of private companies. Without the strengths and activities of private companies, countries would have no benefit in joining hands or cooperating.

It might be providing technologies critical to sustaining each country's society. It might be offering solutions to social problems such as energy and transportation. It might be soft power through entertainment.

Moving policy requires such live ammunition, and the activities of private companies are needed as that live ammunition. Countries that have it are strong, and countries that lack it are placed in a weak position.

Looking at such an environment, I think that startups adopting the perspective of "what business is needed to create harmony through Japan" could be one way of giving their own business a new meaning. On top of that, it would also become easier to redefine the direction of their strategy and messaging.

This also marks a difference from the era when Japanese startups could do fine by imitating American startups.

Unlike America, which has robust domestic demand and is still maintaining its population, Japan will become smaller and older than it is now. As a result, just as the country needs its own strategy, I think Japanese startups increasingly need to think up strategies different from those of American startups.

Startups create businesses while finding opportunities at their feet and looking ahead to the future 10 to 15 years out. In doing so, they can also hold up lofty ideals.

In that sense, I think it is meaningful to consider "what kind of business would be needed if we were to create world harmony in 2040," and I also think it would lead to redefining a company's significance and value.

Summary

Put this way it may sound grandiose, but each of our activities is connected to the world, and we can certainly have no small influence on it.

And I thought that by viewing the world situation from such a big-picture view, I might be able to prompt new perspectives and strategies among startup founders, so I am leaving this as an article, as a fragment of my thinking. If there are people interested in this kind of topic, I would like to discuss it at events and the like.

(Incidentally, in order to turn our eyes to world peace and overseas, we must secure the stability of the domestic society that serves as the foundation by various means. Domestic economic activity is important, and non-profit activities will become even more important. I also think that more activities are needed to consider businesses that create harmony within Japan in 2040.)