Start-up magnet Fukuoka bucks trend in ageing Japan, drawing young risk takers with its quality of life, location and low costs

From the fifth-floor office of his internet start-up, 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 start-up hubs developing around the world – Hong Kong, Seattle, Tel Aviv, Sydney – but Watabe’s Umeebe is in ageing 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,” says Watabe, 30, who moved to the city in late 2013 from Tokyo to develop smartphone apps and software that helps anglers find fish and share pictures of their catch.

Fukuoka is the fastest-growing major city in Japan outside of the capital, which has been steadily draining talent and workers from the rest of the country for decades. The ancient port, hemmed in by mountains and as close to Shanghai as it is to Tokyo, is bucking that trend, drawing entrepreneurs like Watabe from Japan and abroad.

Soichiro Takashima, elected the youngest mayor in the city’s history in 2010, is leveraging its status as a national strategic special zone, cutting red tape and introducing incentives like Japan’s first “start-up visa”, which gives entrepreneurs a six-month exemption from the investment and hiring requirements of a business visa.

“We want to give it a try before anyone else,” says Takashima, 42. “Others will come and see how we do it. That’s the fastest way to change Japan.”