If you're reading this and are in Tokyo already you should come out to the Hacker News Tokyo reader meetup. It's a great place to find cofounders, talk shop and discuss these kinds of issues. We hold them once a month.
You can sign up here and you'll get notified about the next one when it gets scheduled:
It's a very friendly, engaging event and well worth your time. Jay and Paul are great hosts, and there's usually a nice mix of new people and regulars.
A few tips:
- You'll probably want to eat dinner before you go. (Drinks and light snacks are served but they're not substantial)
- Wear comfortable shoes since you'll be standing on concrete most of the time
- Most conversation is in English (in case you're worried it will all be Japanese)
- The entry of "Super Deluxe" looks sketchy and you might feel like you're heading downstairs to some kind of creepy strip club. Don't worry! It's not.
You can sign up here and you'll get notified about the next one when it gets scheduled:
https://hntokyo.doorkeeper.jp/
edit If you're not in Tokyo I know there's one in kansai too: http://hnkansai.org