日本培育创业奇兵

    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。

    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.