Over half of female VC entrepreneurs have been sexually harassed in Japan: “You’re a girl, just get married instead of trying to start a business”, “I’ll pay you $50k to have sex with me”, “I’ll invest in you if you become my mistress for $10k”

26 comments

1. >TRANSLATION:

   >**52.4% of female entrepreneurs have experienced sexual harassment in the past year**

   >In July, the results of an Internet survey on the current state of the startup industry were released.

   >What exactly is happening in an industry that is expected to be a catalyst for the Japanese economy?

   >**Just wanting to “solve social issues” by starting a business…**

   >A woman who says she was the victim of sexual harassment gave an interview under her real name, saying that she hopes the current situation in the industry will change. This is Miho Matsusaka, who was aiming to start up a counseling and other business. When she learned of the reality that the deteriorating relationship between husband and wife was affecting their work performance, she wanted to help solve the problem.

   >***”In the U.S., when couples have problems, they go to couples counseling, but in Japan, it is neglected and the divorce rate is increasing. We wanted to develop our business with the hope of spreading the practice in Japan.”***
   ***- Miho Matsusaka***

   >However, when Ms. Matsusaka was explaining her business plan to investors, she was met with words that made her doubt his ears.

   >***”A well-known private investor in the industry said to me, “I’ll invest in you and pay you one million yen a month to be my mistress.”***

   >***He did not even look at the business plan I had prepared. I was shocked that he would not invest in me unless I did such a thing.”***
   ***- Miho Matsusaka***

   >She has since been repeatedly harassed in her interactions with other investors, including requests for sexual favors.

   >***”I met up with him to show him my business plan, and we ended up having dinner there, and he suddenly kissed me afterwards. Even if I had said I wanted to talk about my work, he would talk as if he were pushing for a date. If it was just a refusal to invest, I would think, ‘I’ll give it one more try,’ but when it was a demand for sexual favors, it broke my spirit.”***
   ***- Miho Matsusaka***

   >She tried to talk to her acquaintances in the industry, but they told her that she was lying and trying to make them look bad or that she was being paranoid, and she became increasingly isolated.

   >As her distrust of the industry grew, symptoms of depression appeared, and she had no choice but to give up on the idea of starting a business itself.

2. Morons and Japanese nationalists are downvoting inconvenient truths again. Please help upvote this post. Thanks!

3. All Japanese entrepreneurial forces out of Japan!

   They should force the male entrepreneurs to stay in their offices!

4. There’s another article floating around about the government paying women to leave Tokyo and get married. Seems it isn’t confined to the.workplace lol

5. Kinda weird how people acting that fucked up and creepy is apparently just normal in japan

6. That sounds and is really bad and I don’t mean to minimize it but the reality is much worse. Globally, most women will be sexually harassed and a double digit percentage will be sexually assaulted.

   The article doesn’t make it clear if it’s better or worse for Japanese female entrepreneurs compared to the base line. I suspect that it’s in line with any situation where there is a huge power imbalance in a male dominated space.

   But overall this doesn’t surprise me in the least and men like that need to be called out and shamed.

7. That’s a shocking percentage

8. Donald Trump is Japanese?????!!!!!

9. What is VC? My best guess is Virtual Company? If so, does that mean the data doesn’t apply to brick and mortar entrepreneurs?

10. I also heard that the old folks also target young men who have a bright future in certain fields, like they don’t want a younger person taking the spotlight in the said field the old timer is in. They either offer lots of money and stay in their shadow or fuck off. I don’t know how true this is but it seems plausible since I can see an old man getting mad at a younger man and telling them that they know better since they been in a job criteria longer, which sometimes it isn’t always right and they fuck up by giving or helping someone who only cares about themselves and not about the company or employees.

11. Still a third world society pretending to be first world

12. The following is a comment from a male entrepreneur from user X on this article: 

    —————- 
    It’s a harsh way to put it, but if you give up on this, I don’t think it’s suitable for an entrepreneur. It’s company management that makes sexual harassment seem cute. It’s better for him to work in a position where he’s protected. You have to protect yourself, and you have to protect your company by yourself, so it’s not a good entrepreneur.   —————-   

    So terrible.

13. It reminds me of a Japanese drama. I forget the name but the woman has a start up and the VC suddenly wants to meet. The other characters start to realize that it’s strange and go to save her. I didn’t realize how common it is in Japan.

    I know from my own personal experiences about housing discrimination and negative police encounters while other folks only hear about it. It’s one of those dark truths so we should appreciate the good and acknowledge the bad.

14. Showa era boomer dinosaurs holding back the country? Definitely didn’t see that coming.

15. What does “VC” mean in this context?

16. This is some 3rd world country type of shit.

17. I thought VCs are the one investing the money not the ones being invested into?

18. What’s VC?

19. Surprised it’s not higher, with all the old rich scumbags here. I’d be curious to see how many woman accept the offer. Probably a lot more than people would expect, from what I’ve heard.

20. From my experience at middle of the road work in Japan, men and women are treated fairly equal and treat each other equally, the problem is the rich old men who don’t like change and can not be held accountable.

21. Sorry but no idiot is going to invest into a marriage counseling business. That’s the kind of business you open with your own savings (or take a loan). You ask for a sugar daddy so that you can pretend to be a entrepreneur, a sugar daddy you will get.

    Guys don’t get the same experience because if you have a shitty business plan, you don’t get offers in the first place.

22. NHK is a trusted news source. NHK reported that tourism has caused a rice shortage in Japan.

23. After living here for more than 2 years, this doesn’t surprise me at all.

24. Women should start publicly slapping the bitch faces again.

25. And yet, many weebs will claim that the Japanese women are the luckiest and happiest in the world.

26. Nah the Japanese women just need to power through until they have the power then make a fair company that fires sexual harrassers.