Investing in Japan

Support and Services

JETRO Events: Symposiums

Below are excerpts of comments made by speakers at the Japan Business Strategy Forum 2007 held on June 15th, 2007 in Seoul.

<Opening Remarks> Mr. Shunichi Yamamoto, Executive Vice President, Japan External Trade Organization
	"JETRO provides support and service to foreign firms seeking to set-up business in Japan. In the past four years, more than 400 firms have made use of JETRO to set-up their business in Japan." "Recent trends show that more Asian firms are entering the Japan market. In response, we are holding this forum to share useful information concerning business in Japan, in particular in online-related fields, where many Korean and Chinese firms are already operating successfully."
Mr. Toru Ishida, Director-General, Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan
	"Japan and Korea enjoy the world's fastest and most cost-effective broadband environment." "The size and scale of Japan's broadband market is roughly double that of Korea, making Japan a very attractive investment destination for foreign firms in this industry." "We hope that more and more Korean and Chinese firms enter the Japan market and build closer ties with Japanese businesses."

<Keynote Speeches & Panel Discussion> Mr. Tetsuji Hayakawa, Director, OCN Services Department, Net Business Division, NTT Communications Corporation
	"Japan's high-speed communications infrastructure continues to be enhanced, as consumers shift from ADSL to fiber optic internet access." "Concern over internet security is growing in Japan. Therefore, online service providers need to establish appropriate security systems and have clear pricing schemes, in order to attract and keep customers." "It is particularly important for foreign online service providers to build local support systems into their business schemes, before starting operations in Japan."
Mr. Hirotaka Imamura, Executive Director/CFO, GameOn Co., Ltd.
	"Basically, Japanese consumers readily accept new services, regardless of country of origin, so long as their tastes and preferences are met. Still, just introducing an original service/product in the Japan market does not guarantee its success." "Among Japanese online gamers, there are de facto standards used to judge whether or not a game is funny. Online game firms must tailor their products to meet such standards, while at the same time keeping the uniqueness of their products." "In the case of my company, we established a localization business model for Japan that was later employed in another country, where it proved to be a success."
Mr. Jae Hyuk Choi, Vice President, NCONY Enterprise KK
	"The scale of Japan's ICT market is enormous, and the country's broadband infrastructure has advanced significantly. From now, we expect that the content business will become more important. In this regard, Japan is an important market and boasts a globally popular animation industry." "In cooperation with major Japanese publishing companies, NCONY Enterprise is developing games that use characters from Japanese animation. From our experience working with our Japanese partners, we think it important to demonstrate the reliability of our business and respond in good faith to build and maintain good relations."
Mr. Sang Yong Lee, CEO, Colorzip Media, Inc.
	"Because of the size and stability of the Japan market, it is in our best interest to create a marketing strategy that will generate stable success in the long run." "Long term interest in our new product in Japan allowed us to take our time to improve it." "Although it took a year and a half of trial and error to commercialize our new service in Japan, we believe that our experience in Japan will be vital in targeting of other markets. In fact, we were able to shorten product launch time to six months in the US and Singapore markets because of our experience in Japan."

<Special Speech> Mr. Moriyuki Iwanaga, Head, Foreign Listing Promotion, Capital Markets Promotion Division, Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), Inc.
	TSE is promoting the listing of foreign companies, targeting mainly fast-growing Asian enterprises that already have a connection with the Japanese market." "A number of western institutional investors are actively making transactions on the TSE. It shows that the market has no impediments to transactions from the point of view of market transparency and corporate governance. It can also be said that fair evaluation can be obtained for listed companies." "Listing schemes that utilize JDR (Japanese Depositary Receipts), which will be available from this fall, will offer new financing options for foreign firms, which have previously had difficulties listing shares in countries other than their own."