From the fifth-floor office of his internet startup, Kazz Watabe can see the sea bass jump in the bay as he works on his fishing website to the sound of jazz and the waves washing on the beach below.
It's a scene that could be from any of the seaside startup hubs developing around the world — Seattle, Tel Aviv, Barcelona, Sydney — but Watabe's Umeebe Inc. is in aging Japan, far from Tokyo, in the western port of Fukuoka.
"It's not a bad idea to build your business after thinking first about what kind of environment you want to be in," said Watabe, 30, who moved to the city in late 2013 from Tokyo to develop smartphone apps and software that help anglers find fish and share pictures of their catch.