Japan belongs to the Buddhist Civilization / Sinic Civilization
The Japanese economy is the third largest market economy in the World.
The Japanese brands like Fujifilm, Honda, Yamaha, Toyota, Sony, or Panasonic are world-famous.
Japanese Economy.
The manufacturing sector is one of the Japanese economy strengths
Japan has few natural resources
One of the most promising fields is robotics, in which the Japanese technology leads the world
One common pattern for the Japanese companies is to import raw materials and then process them to make finished products, which are distributed in the Japanese market or exported abroad
Furthermore, to possessing a high purchasing power, the Japanese consumers are early adopters and move quickly to stay on the cutting edge of the latest technologies
Many global products have originated in Japan or have gained a competitive advantage by being developed in Japan
Japan is often seen as a splendid test market for new global
products and services introduction
Japanese nominal GDP: 4.5 billion USD
Agriculture: 1.6% of the Japanese GDP
Industry: 25.3%
Services: 73.1%
Japanese main products are vehicles, electronic products, transport equipment, chemicals, steel, machine tools, food products, and pharmaceuticals
Japan is a member of the Economic Cooperation Forum Asia-Pacific (APEC)
Japanese Retail Market.
Japan boasts the second largest retail market in the World (USD 1,124 billion)
Furthermore, to its size, the enormous influence of Japanese retail industry attracts global attention as being the origin of many Asian trends
Tokyo is the centre of one of the largest metropolitan regions in the World and a hub of dynamic economic and consumer activity.
50% of the publicly listed companies in Japan are located in Tokyo, along with a high number of venture capital firms and Small and Medium Enterprises
360,000 foreign people are living in Tokyo
The Port of Tokyo handles fifteen container berths, including the piers at Oi and Aomi, which can handle 50,000-ton, large container vessels
Osaka, being situated practically in the centre of Japan, is the largest city in western part of Japan and one of the largest urban conurbations as well.
The Osaka Port is one of the Japanese leading ports
The Kinki
region, with Osaka at its centre, boasts an economy larger than those of Australia and the Netherlands and haves immense potential for such reasons as its strength in international trade with Asia and other areas
Economic profile of the Japanese regions:
Hokkaido. Fishing and forestry are important parts of Hokkaido's agriculture and underlie much of the island's industrial activity,
including the food processing, woodworking, pulp, and paper industries. The capital is Sapporo
Tohoku. The Tohoku area is primarily agricultural
Kanto. This region, which includes key cities as Tokyo, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Saitama, and Chiba, is the most populous region of Japan.
The hub of the region, the Tokyo-Yokohama district, is the core of the Japanese international trade and industry
Chubu. It has three industrial areas: The Chukyo Industrial Zone, which is home to the main facility of Toyota Motors; the Tokai Industrial Region, where Yamaha is based; and the Hokuriku Industrial Region
Kinki Kansai. Situated in west-central Honshu, the Kinki region is the second largest area regarding the industry in Japan. The ancient capital of Kyoto is in Kinki
Chugoku (Hiroshima and Nagasaki)
Shikoku is the smallest of Japan's four main islands
Kyushu (Okinawa). The Kita Kyushu Industrial Zone contains a concentration of heavy and chemical
industry
Japanese Foreign Trade.
The main exported products by Japan are cars, electronics, and computers
The largest Japanese trading partner is the United States, representing more than 25% of all the Japanese exports
The largest Japanese export markets
include Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, China, and Singapore
The largest Japanese imports are raw materials such as petroleum, food, and wood products
The main Japanese suppliers are the United States, China, Indonesia, South Korea, and Australia
Foreign direct investment in Japan.
Japanese attractiveness as a destination for the foreign direct investment is increasing significantly; the Japanese Government has made significant changes to get a more transparent investment environment
JETRO (the Japan External Trade Organization) conducted a series of surveys of foreign companies based in Japan and the results show that investment problems in Japan (high costs in the form of doing business, exclusivity, and tradition in the form to conduct international business transactions, complexity of administrative procedures)
were reduced significantly compared to ten years ago