For an emerging generation of Japanese innovators, the dream isn’t a job for life at a big company. They have new ambitions, and they’re determined to go places. Especially Silicon Valley. Small but growing numbers of Japanese entrepreneurs are jumping into the startup scene in northern California, particularly since the earthquake and tsunami last March.

One is a local crafter who specializes in hand made baby clothes. Another is a state department employee by day and talent agent on the side. A third is the director of a local non-profit All are part of an emerging collective of entrepreneurs that meets monthly for a session known as Side Hustle Saturdays. It's a chance for entrepreneurs to network and share ideas with other who are hustling to make it.

The financial system may not be in great shape, but why dwell on it? Stocks are rising and I.P.O. euphoria is in the air. “It’s like we’re finally emerging from nuclear winter for I.P.O.’s but we’ve forgotten our history,” said Harold Bradley, chief investment officer for the Kauffman Foundation and a former executive with the American Century mutual funds.

California entrepreneur Mark Comiso has started nine businesses in Silicon Valley, but he's coming to St. Louis to get his tenth off the ground. Two of his co-founders live here and, just as importantly, Comiso has found a supportive environment here. In fact, he says, his venture -- Click With Me Now -- might be just an idea if not for Capital Innovators, an accelerator fund in downtown St. Louis.

Gov. Sam Brownback roared up to the Statehouse last week on his Big Dog motorcycle. It was a grand entrance for the Republican governor attempting to make a grand impact on Kansas. With just a year under his belt, Brownback has proposed a 2012 legislative agenda that’s already been labeled the nation’s most ambitious for any state.

We met an entrepreneur named Svea Meyer at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Svea was a coffee-shop owner who is passionate about making coffee. On the back of her business card, she wrote: "Good coffee is not a coincidence. It has to be brewed with passion and mindfulness. No one involved in the coffee business should ever do less than that. Would you do less if you love something?"