Investing in Japan

Regional Information

Fukuoka

FUKUOKA: "Japan's Best Value"

Your Regional Guide: Shuhei Yamada

Fukuoka Pref. Concierge

Fukuoka Foreign Investment Promotion Center
7-7 Higashi-koen, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka-city, Fukuoka Prefecture 812-8577
TEL: +81-92-643-3430 FAX: +81-92-643-3431

Basic Information
Regional Profile
Services for investment in Japan
Available incentives
Living environment for foreigners
Links to Related Websites

Basic Information

Population	5.06 million (Male: 2.40 million, Female: 2.67 million) (May 2008)
Labor force	2.54 million (May 2008)
Area	4,844km² (2006)
GDP	18,840 billion yen (2005)
Major industries	Transport equipment, electronic parts and machine, general machinery, iron and steel, foods
Developing industries	Automobile industries, IT and semiconductor industry, biotechnology industry, robotics industry, hydrogen energy industry, Environment and recycle industry, nanotechnology industry, contents industry
Offices overseas	Hong Kong/Shanghai/Seoul/San Francisco/Frankfurt
Offices in Japan	Tokyo/Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture/Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture
JETRO office	JETRO Fukuoka Elgala, 7F, 1-4-2, Tenjin, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka-city, Fukuoka Prefecture 810-0001 TEL: +81-92-741-8783 FAX: +81-92-714-0709 E-mail: fuk@jetro.go.jp

Regional Profile

Strength of the region's industries and economy

Fukuoka Prefecture, the site of industrial concentrations with the focus on automobiles, semiconductors and other fields, now boasts a GDP of over US$164 billion (a scale putting it on a level equivalent to the GDPs of Hong Kong or Thailand). The GDP of Kyushu as a whole, meanwhile, is in the vicinity of US$458 billion, which would place the island in 17th place if included in a global ranking by country. The auto industry has established an increasingly strong presence, with the northern part of Kyushu having grown into a major manufacturing base of well over 1 million vehicles annually with the focus on Toyota, Nissan and Daihatsu. There is also a brisk clustering of related industries, including advances of new plants, R&D bases and other facilities. In the semiconductor field, major manufacturers and venture business companies are going all out to transform “Silicon Island Kyushu,” which currently accounts for about 5% of global production scale and 25% of Japanese domestic production value, into an even more dynamic R&D stronghold. In Fukuoka Prefecture in particular, a trend is advancing to promote the creation of design and development bases for system LSI – an area in which the needs are rising for mobile phones, electrical appliances and other products.

Strength of the region's education/research institutes

Fukuoka Prefecture contains 36 universities (11 of them offering science and technology departments), with these and other institutions of higher education providing outstanding programs that attract top-level students from within Japan. Over 130,000 students are learning at either the university or junior college level, with the some 25,000 capable graduates entering the workforce every year here making the prefecture a virtual treasure house of talent. In addition, Fukuoka hosts around 5,000 overseas students from 80 countries, with the prefecture also active in matching up foreign students with interested domestic and foreign companies. Fukuoka is also earning high marks as a brain trust base. This includes Kyushu University (applied in the Global COE Program being promoted by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and other academic research institutes, as well as public research institutes advancing R&D in a wide range of fields (including system LSI, car electronics, and other cutting edge sectors).

Industry-government-academia collaboration

Fukuoka is a prefecture in which the industrial infrastructure is considerably advanced, with the region also known as a rich source of innovation. Globally renowned Japanese companies with key business bases in Fukuoka include Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi, NEC, Fujitsu, Matsushita Electric, Mitsubishi Electric, Nissan Motor, Toyota Motor and more. Many companies originating in Fukuoka have succeeded on the global front – among them Yaskawa Electric (the world’s leading producer of industrial robots), Toto Ltd. (an international power in ceramic sanitary equipment) and others. Grounded in this solid industrial foundation, Fukuoka is setting its sights on continuing to move down the road of progress and innovation with even greater momentum from here on.
In Fukuoka Prefecture, promotion of industry-academia-government collaborative research, efforts to attract foreign companies and other activities are being advanced with the focus on the following types of growth industry sectors.

Information communication technology, Semiconductor/LSI desing, Automobile, Biotechnology, Environment technology, Hydrogen energy, Nanotechnology, Robot, Contents

Strength of the region's infrastructure

Kyushu, a major island that lies in the southwest part of Japan, is noted for its great scenic beauty. The area now known as Fukuoka Prefecture, which has flourished as the focus of Kyushu since ancient times, is located exactly midway between Tokyo and Shanghai (a 90-minute flight to either city). Seoul may also be reached from Fukuoka in 1 hour by plane and Taipei in 2 hours, while other major Asian cities are within several hours. Thanks to this geographical advantage, daytrips can be made to Shanghai, Taipei and Seoul, making Fukuoka an ideal location for business ventures targeting the Japanese and Asian markets.
Fukuoka Prefecture has two international airports. The expansive aviation network here operates 330 international flights weekly to 17 cities in Asia and other parts of the world and 332 domestic flights daily to major Japanese cities. The service between Fukuoka and Tokyo is particularly heavy, with 90 flights covering that route daily. For marine transport, the prefecture contains the two major ports of Hakata and Kita-Kyushu. The service in this mode includes not only regular container routes to ports around the world, with high-speed roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ships also linking Fukuoka and Shanghai in less than 27 hours for even more timely cargo transport over the seas.

<Land>

Fukuoka is equipped with an excellent motor expressway system that links the prefecture to Greater Tokyo, Kansai and most all other regions of Japan. Construction is advancing on a new expressway in the Kita-Kyushu region (noted for its heavy concentration of auto industry companies), a move also indicative of the push to build up an even more extensive business base.

<Air>

Fukuoka Airport, touted as one of the most convenient airports in the world, lies a mere 10 minutes from the center of Fukuoka City in offering perhaps the smoothest access of any airport in Japan. Kita-Kyushu Airport, a facility built over the ocean, is located at the hub of an area distinguished by a heavy concentration of auto industry operations. The airport takes advantage of this geographical merit by supplying outstanding services for business customers, cargo flights and other sectors.

<Sea>

Both Hakata Port and the Kita-Kyushu Port operate about 40 regular international container routes each. They offer comfortable access to the world’s top 6 ports in terms of container handling volume, while excelling as key international distribution bases and ocean gateways to Western Japan.

<Railway>

The Shinkansen bullet train line links Fukuoka to Tokyo in 5 hours, to Nagoya in 3.5 hours and to Osaka in 2.5 hours. The Kyushu Shinkansen line is scheduled to open in 2011 – a service expansion that will further improve expedient access to all areas of Kyushu.

Foreign company(s) operating in the industry

About 430 foreign-owned companies have advanced business operations to Fukuoka Prefecture to date. Although the traditional pattern has seen a 50-50 split between companies from North America and Europe, recent years have witnessed an increase in firms coming from China, South Korea, India and other Asian nations. A striking number of companies advancing operations here are in response to the priority industry projects being advanced by the prefectural authorities. In the automotive field, for instance, a major advance of parts suppliers from France followed the alliance between Nissan and Renault, while a major German design company has located here to pursue expectations that the area is destined to flourish as a 1.5-million unit production base. In these and other cases, overseas companies are moving to expand their business activities in Fukuoka, and in doing so are playing major roles in introducing new technology, products and services to the region.

Company name	EDAG JAPAN Co., Ltd.
Industry sector	Automobile design
Date of entry	May 2005
Motivation for selecting region	EDAG offers the following explanation of why it established its business base in Fukuoka (and not Tokyo, Nagoya or other big cities): “To begin, we took notice of the outstanding access from Fukuoka to various other cities. The headquarters of Japanese automakers tend to be geographically scattered, with Honda located in Tochigi, Nissan in Tokyo, Toyota in Nagoya and Mazda in Hiroshima. While EDAG opened an office in Fukuoka City, it is only a 5-minute subway ride to Fukuoka Airport and 3 minutes by foot to Hakata Station on the Shinkansen bullet train line, giving us excellent access to our customers through various means of transportation. We also have bases in four locations around Asia, with Fukuoka ensuring smooth access to those spots as well. In the process leading up to the launch of our branch here, meanwhile, we received a reliable supply of useful information from the Fukuoka Prefecture liaison office in Frankfurt, with this being another major factor in reaching the decision to locate here.”
Support provided by local government or JETRO	Advice concerning corporate establishment. Support in personnel procurement. Introductions to office properties and support in opening offices. Matching of automotive-related companies.

Company name	Sun Microsystems K.K.
Industry sector	Development of computer system
Date of entry	March 2003
Motivation for selecting region	Sun Microsystems K.K. chose Fukuoka as the site for its quest to establish a so-called “Post-Tokyo Business Model.” In preparing to launch a Kyushu branch office, Sun commenced business operations from March 2003 with Fukuoka as the hub. The company states the following reasons for its selection of Fukuoka: “To begin, the marketability. The GDP of Fukuoka Prefecture alone makes it equivalent to a single country. It also lies close to the markets of Asia, which are now attracting the greatest attention from the global economy. Compared to Tokyo, furthermore, because office rents and other fixed costs are cheaper, the surplus funds can be invested in new business efforts or R&D. It is certainly easy to understand why almost all major Japanese companies have established key business bases in Kyushu. We are also involved in a new project with the goal of creating products capable of expanding from Fukuoka to become global standards.”
Support provided by local government or JETRO	Supplying of Fukuoka market methods Supplying of office property information

Company name	Fresenius Medical Care Japan K.K.
Industry sector	Production/import/sales of medical equipment
Date of entry	2001
Motivation for selecting region	Mr. Eric R. van Hest, Representative Director and President at that time and one of the founders of Fresenius Medical Care Japan K.K., said “The reasons we chose Buzen in Fukuoka Prefecture as site for a new plant are transportation convenience for exporting/importing products to other Asia-Pacific countries, the infrastructure of the industrial park, and the possibility of acquiring adjacent land for future expansion. Even more, Fukuoka Prefecture and Buzen City made a strong commitment to quickly provide necessary and sufficient information to assist us in developing our strategy and project moving forward.”
Support provided by local government or JETRO	All phases of support for plant construction.

Services for investment in Japan

Menu of services	Fees charged?	Content of services
Providing market information
Advice on market participation	No	Utilizing networks with in-prefecture companies, universities and local governments, advice is furnished as deemed necessary through the Fukuoka Foreign Investment Promotion Center and the Fukuoka Prefectural Worldwide Offices.
Consulting by external experts and advisers	No	Experts from various different fields (IT, semiconductors, biotechnology, the environment, trade, etc.) are retained at the Fukuoka Foreign Investment Promotion Center, where they are available for consultations on possible corporate advances to Japan.
Arranging appointments with potential customers and partners	Free (In some cases, charged)	Upon request from foreign companies and when deemed necessary, services will be supplied through the aforementioned experts and other personnel.
Support for establishing a base
Monitoring surveys (evaluation of products and services)	Free (In some cases, charged)	Upon request from foreign companies and when deemed necessary, services will be supplied through the aforementioned experts and other personnel.
Listing of potential customers and partners	No	Utilizing networks with in-prefecture companies, universities and local governments, advice is furnished as deemed necessary through the Fukuoka Foreign Investment Promotion Center and the Fukuoka Prefectural Worldwide Offices.
Listing of potential customers and partners	No	Utilizing networks with in-prefecture companies, universities and local governments, advice is furnished as deemed necessary through the Fukuoka Foreign Investment Promotion Center and the Fukuoka Prefectural Worldwide Offices.
Support for establishing a base
Providing incubation facilities or other facilities	Yes	Collaboration is advanced with the JETRO International Business Support Center (IBSC) and other incubation facilities in Fukuoka, in striving to supply facilities specifically matched to the demands of the specific companies.
Providing incubation facilities or other facilities	No	Furnished as necessary at the Fukuoka Foreign Investment Promotion Center and the Fukuoka Prefectural Worldwide Offices, in response to the specific formats through which foreign companies advance to the local market.
Providing information on procedures for investing in Japan	No	Legal advisors are retained at the Fukuoka Foreign Investment Promotion Center, where they provide assistance for the full range of investment formalities and other procedures.
Arranging the meetings needed to establish a base (real estate, manpower services)	No	Mobilizing networks with in-prefecture real estate companies and personnel referral firms, advice is furnished as deemed necessary through the Fukuoka Foreign Investment Promotion Center and the Fukuoka Prefectural Worldwide Offices.
Introduction of available properties and advice on hiring personnel	No	Mobilizing networks with in-prefecture real estate companies and personnel referral firms, advice is furnished as deemed necessary through the Fukuoka Foreign Investment Promotion Center and the Fukuoka Prefectural Worldwide Offices.
Providing information on permits and licensing procedures	No	Services are furnished as deemed necessary through the Fukuoka Foreign Investment Promotion Center and the Fukuoka Prefectural Worldwide Offices.
Providing information on subsidy programs	No	Subsidies are made available on demand through the Fukuoka Foreign Investment Promotion Center and the Fukuoka Prefectural Worldwide Offices, based on subsidy system information offered by Fukuoka Prefecture, local governments within the prefecture and related agencies.

Support service

Invest Fukuoka (the Fukuoka Foreign Investment Promotion Center) was opened in November 2002. It is structured to supply overseas companies planning to initially invest in or expand their business operations in Fukuoka Prefecture with valuable one-stop services (extending from information supply through business startup guidance).

Supplying of information concerning real estate (offices, housing), infrastructure and employment.
Introductions to local companies as prospective partner candidates.
Introductions to incentives offered by the prefecture or individual cities.
Support extending from introductions to candidate sites for plants or offices through the stage of actual corporate advances.
Introductions to consultations with administrative scriveners, judicial scriveners, accountants, interpreters and other experts to support registration, recording, hiring of local staffers and other work involved in the establishment of corporate operations.
Arranging for matching opportunities with local Fukuoka companies.
Long-term business support following the launch of business bases.

Furthermore, in order to supply even higher caliber services to overseas companies seriously considering investment in Fukuoka, the prefecture has opened representative offices in five key overseas cities (San Francisco, Frankfurt, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul).

Database of candidate partners

Fukuoka Company Directory

Industry-specific listings of companies in Fukuoka Prefecture expressing particular interest in doing business with overseas companies.

Industry-specific listings of companies active in Fukuoka Prefecture (manufacturing and non-manufacturing), including information on ordering and supplying and other areas to promote transactions between companies.

Available incentives

Consistent support beginning with the supplying of information on the market, costs, legal systems, offices, plants, manpower and other intelligence, and extending to introductions to prospective partners companies and follow-up services after corporate advances.

Partial subsidizing of the travel costs of foreign companies studying possible advances to Fukuoka, as well as the expenses involved in Japanese corporate registration.

“Subsidies to Promote Corporate Advances to Fukuoka Prefecture” are offered to companies constructing new plants or offices depending on investment and employment scale. The majority of municipalities in the prefecture also provide various types of incentives.

Invest Fukuoka Service and Incentive

Living environment for foreigners

Living environment	Comfortable living environments are a crucial factor for advancing excellent business activities. As reflected in the repeated selection of Fukuoka as one of the best cities in Asia, the high standard of living, supported by the harmony between streamlined urban infrastructure and a lush natural environment, has in fact made Fukuoka City one of the premier cities in Asia. Fukuoka is also a community that consistently captures keen global attention, such as being ranked among the world’s “10 hottest cities” by Newsweek magazine and other distinctions.
International schools	The prefecture offers “Fukuoka International School,” known for its consistently high level of education from kindergarten through the high school level.
Health services catering to foreigners	Including health care facilities operated by non-Japanese, Fukuoka Prefecture offers over 2,000 hospitals and pharmacies with the ability to serve patients in foreign languages. Health Care Information
Other	The Fukuoka International Business Association (FIBA) serves as a networking and information gathering base for foreign businesspersons active in Fukuoka and Kyushu in general. In addition to supplying the latest economic information, the Association also holds regular seminars and other events (normally in English) that are helping to generate high expectations for the role of FIBA as a bridge for attracting overseas companies to the region.