Choosing a Japanese Startup: 3 Signals That Actually Matter

Misaki Funada
4 days ago
4 min read

Updated: 9 hours ago

Aryan Khurana is a business student at Western University's Ivey Business School in Toronto, Canada. Despite speaking zero Japanese and having no Tokyo connections, he landed a role leading international expansion at a fast-growing startup through systematic cold outreach. He's now supporting a matcha export business connecting Japanese farmers with North American consumers.

What you'll learn in this article:

The specific signals that reveal true startup culture when you lack traditional evaluation tools
How to assess culture fit in 2-3 conversations through strategic questions
A decision framework for determining which opportunities are worth your time

The Evaluation Problem

Bad interviews feel like interrogations. You're being evaluated, poked, tested on whether you're good enough. Great interviews feel like mutual fit conversations. Both sides are genuinely trying to determine if there's alignment.

The difference isn't just tone—it's whether the company views hiring as screening or as two-way decision-making. When you can't rely on external signals, you need to extract maximum information from direct interactions. The questions you ask and the signals you observe matter more than ever.

Signal 1: They Invest in YOU (Not Just Your Output)

Great companies view hiring as a mutual investment, not just a transaction. They want to know you, not just your skills.

When Aryan interviewed, his manager used a custom deck showing how the role benefited Aryan's specific learning goals—a presentation nobody had ever prepared for him before. Furthermore, when he joined as the first non-Japanese employee, the company adapted the environment to ensure his success (e.g., coworkers spontaneously taking English lessons).

What this signals:

Hiring is mutual evaluation, not just screening
They consider your long-term development, not just immediate output
They are willing to adapt the environment to leverage diverse talent
They are invested before you start

How to test this:

Ask: "Based on my background and goals, how do you think this role develops the skills I seek?" (Listen for specific connections, not generic promises like "growth.")

Ask: "Have you hired someone with my background before? If not, how are you setting this person up for success? What are the specific accommodations or support structures in place?" ("We'll figure it out" is a red flag; look for a plan.)

Signal 2: The Core Mission is Personal (Not Just Market-Driven)

Sustainable, high-integrity companies are driven by a deep personal connection to solving a problem, which in turn fosters a resilient learning culture. Tabechoku's founder built the platform because she saw her own farming parents struggle.

This personal pain translates into a core mission that attracts motivated talent and creates a safe environment for learning.

Why this matters:

Mission: People work hard out of intrinsic care, not pressure. It provides a clear north star for difficult decisions.
Learning: Mistakes are treated as learning opportunities, crucial for fast growth.
Culture: It attracts talent aligned with the purpose (positive selection).

How to test this:

Ask: "What's the founding story? What problem were you trying to solve, and why did it matter to you personally?" (Listen for emotion, personal experiences, and stories about early beneficiaries—not "We saw a gap in the market.")

Ask: "Tell me about a time someone on the team made a significant mistake. What happened?" (Listen for how failure was handled: support vs. punishment, and focus on the person's development vs. just the business outcome.)

Signal 3: Your Gut Agrees With Observable Culture

Culture isn't about perks; it's the alignment between stated values and actual behavior—and your gut is pattern-matching these subtle behaviors constantly.

Aryan found the "overall vibes were amazing" through observation: his team maintained reasonable hours despite the startup pace, and people were social and willing to help.

The "spidey sense" is your intuition processing data points like how leaders speak about team members, how they handle disagreement, and whether they listen or wait to talk. Trust this feeling.

Observable culture markers:

Interviews: Do they listen or wait to talk? Are they selling or genuinely evaluating?
Work/Life: What time do people actually arrive and leave? (Ask directly.)
Vibes: How do they talk about their work (excited vs. exhausted)?

How to test this:

Ask: "Walk me through what a typical day looks like for your team?" (Look for specificity: "standup at 9:30, focused blocks until noon," not "meetings and work.")

Internal Check: "Would I be excited to grab coffee with this person outside work?" (If the answer is

no, the chemistry won't magically appear later.)

Calibrate: Talk to 5-7 companies. Take notes immediately on how you felt.

The Decision Framework

Aryan distilled his decision-making to three essential questions, now aligned with these signals:

Can I learn a ton here? (Tested in Signal 1 & 2)
Am I excited to work with these people? (Tested in Signal 3)
Does this give me a better story? (The narrative that shapes your future)

Decision Rule:

Yes to all three → Strong Yes
Yes to two → Maybe (Prioritize)
Yes to one or fewer → Pass

Companies with genuinely great culture show you through specific examples, concrete support, and authentic interview engagement. Trust your ability to extract information.

Key Takeaways

Culture evaluation requires different signals when traditional tools don't exist: Focus on how they sell the role, founder motivation, willingness to adapt, optimization for learning, observable behaviors, and gut calibration across multiple conversations.
Specific questions reveal more than generic ones: Ask for concrete examples (e.g., "Tell me about a time someone made a mistake?"), not descriptions ("What's the culture like?").
Your gut is pattern-matching on thousands of subtle signals: Calibrate intuition across 5-7 conversations; investigate why multiple companies give bad feelings or pay attention to one that stands out positively.
The three-question framework simplifies complex decisions: Consider serious consideration if you answer "Yes" to at least two of the following: Can I learn a ton? Am I excited to work with these people? Does this give me a better story?

What's next

You now understand how to find opportunities and evaluate companies. But there's a challenge most students overlook: how do you maintain the relationships that matter when you're living halfway across the world having transformative experiences?

Next article: Managing relationships while living abroad—why standard long-distance advice fails, the async communication strategy that eliminates guilt, and the meta-skill of intentionality that compounds forever.

This is Article 2 in a 3-part series on building a startup career in Japan as a foreigner.