First symposium on investment in Japan takes place in Taiwan

December 2015

On December 21, 2015, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and the Interchange Association, Japan (IAJ) jointly organized an Invest Japan symposium in Taipei. This is the first time for the two organizations to hold such an investment symposium in Taiwan.

The event attracted 240 attendees mainly from Taiwanese companies and business-related organizations. A variety of advantages and benefits in doing business in Japan were introduced by executives of leading Taiwanese companies active in the country, as well as by JETRO.

For this seminar, three Taiwanese companies which have invested in Japan were invited as guest speakers. Shirley Yang, Senior Vice President of Japan Retail Banking Department, Tokyo Branch, CTBC Bank Co., Ltd. emphasized that Japan, as the third largest economic giant in the world, had an important market indispensable to the globalization of her company. She then referred to her company’s policy to expand financial services to business flowing among the three countries of Japan, Taiwan and China in the future, in addition to the real property finance and M&A business partnership support they have been engaged in between Japan and Taiwan.

Mitsuhiro Chen, President of Nihon Sansho Food Service Co., Ltd. spoke on his experience establishing a subsidiary in Japan in February 2014, saying that the process for incorporation went smoothly thanks to the experts introduced by JETRO. He recommended the audience to make good use of JETRO in starting their investment in Japan.

Emilie Lu, President of ASUS Japan focused on how her Japanese subsidiary was utilized as a sales and promotions base, as well as on the fact that the image of products made in Taiwan has been significantly improving among Japanese people, which contributed to enhancing her company’s brand image in Japan.

Finally, Director General Ryoichi Ito of JETRO Hong Kong introduced detailed services of JETRO including the Invest Japan Business Support Center. He also requested the audience to contact JETRO Hong Kong or the Taiwan desk of the Invest Japan Department of JETRO Headquarters if they wish to receive consultation about investment in Japan.

At the network reception held after the seminar, the participants actively talked about their business development in Japan. Additionally, some local governments in Japan, including Hokkaido, Chiba, Kyoto, Fukuoka and Kumamoto Prefectures, as well as the Osaka Business and Investment Center and Fukuoka City, set up PR booths at the venue to introduce their attractive investment environments that differ from region to region. JETRO also had its consultation booth for Taiwanese companies attending the seminar to respond to any concrete questions and inquiries.