During the heady days of the information technology boom of the late 1990s through early 2000, many foreign venture-capital firms were lured to Japan in search of Internet-related business startups.

The seemingly bright prospects of IT companies, however, were not the only attraction.

Venture capitalists were attracted by the expanding opportunities brought about by Japan's attempts at corporate restructuring and the improvement in domestic capital markets. Some venture capitalists even referred to Japan as "the world's last frontier."