In a test of Japanese startups' global competitiveness, a dozen firms took part Friday in a contest to pitch their ideas — in English — to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.
Although events like SF New Tech Japan Night are relatively new in Japan, a small but growing number of local entrepreneurs are capitalizing on the opportunities to test their products and meet prospective financiers.
At the event, which is related to similar contests held each month in San Francisco, 15 entrepreneurs pitched products ranging from Web browsers to music-sharing and social-networking services in the hope of creating world-changing technologies like Google and Facebook did.