JETRO Topics
First large-scale Invest Japan Symposium in Korea
November 2016
On November 22, JETRO held its first large-scale symposium in Seoul with the aim of promoting FDI into Japan, which was joined by 142 people. Speeches were delivered by representatives from Korean companies already active in Japan in the fields of tourism and information technology, a legal consultant from one of Korea’s biggest law firms and JETRO Executive Vice President Satoshi Shimomura, all of whom spoke from their individual perspectives on such topics as the attractiveness of Japan as an investment destination and the merits in doing business in the country.
Encouraging Korean companies to maximize potential to invest in Japan
In his keynote speech, Executive Vice President Shimomura emphasized the strong familiarity with which Japan regards its neighbor Korea, as well as how close the two countries are in terms of economy and culture. He also made a passionate call for investment in Japan toward the Korean companies participating in the symposium, saying “The amount of investment by Korea into Japan is only about one tenth of that by Japan into Korea. Given that the proportion of GDPs between Korea and Japan is one to three, there is much room for further investment from Korea.” Mr. Shimomura introduced advantages of the Japanese market from such perspectives as Japan’s economic recovery under “Abenomics,” the enormous scale of its consumer market and its high level of technology.
Keynote speech by JETRO Executive Vice President Shimomura
Merits of Japan presented by Korean companies in Japan
Representatives from Korean companies operating in tourism and IT, both fields in which growth can be expected in Japan, presented on the merits of entry into the Japanese market based on their own experiences. Hyung-Yi Kim, Executive Director at T’way Holdings Inc., stressed that Japan offers enormous business opportunities for the aviation industry with the drastic increase of visitors to Japan, and praised the proactive support provided by public agencies like local governments and ease of entry into the market.
Jung Myung-sung, Head of the Global Business Team at the IT company Simplex Internet, described the investment environment in Japan as follows: “Japan is the world’s third largest market in e-commerce, and it is estimated that this market size will grow to over 2.2 trillion yen in 2020. In addition, factors such as the popularity of Korean pop culture, improved diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan and preparation of the environment for cross-border e-commerce by the Japanese government have all helped make Japan an ideal environment for e-commerce to grow."
The final speaker, Park Indong, a legal consultant at Kim and Chang, elaborated on procedures for establishing a business site in Japan.
Presentation by Executive Director Kim of T’way
Presentation by Mr. Jung, Head of the Global Business Team at Simplex Internet
Setting up special booths for promotion and consultation
In the networking reception following the symposium, booths were set up to introduce Korean companies to investment incentives, support systems and the unique opportunities available in local regions of Japan by the Osaka Business and Investment Center (comprised of Osaka Prefecture, Osaka City and the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Fukuoka City, Hokkaido Prefecture, Shizuoka Prefecture and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). A consultation corner was also set up by JETRO and some of the local governments to offer individual responses to specific questions from participant companies, and was handled with great care by each representative.
Consultation corner
Outline of Invest Japan Symposium in Korea
| Date | Tuesday, November 22, 2016, 2:00pm - 5:10pm |
|---|---|
| Venue | Lotte Hotel Safiya Bowl, 3rd Floor |
| Organizers | Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) |
| Co-organizers | Ministry of Economy, Technology and Industry of Japan (METI), Embassy of Japan in the Republic of Korea, Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Korea Japan Economic Association (KJE) |
| Supporters | Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), Korea-Japan Industrial Technology Co-Operation Foundation (KJCF) |
| Attendees | 147 persons (including 5 persons from 5 media outlets) |
| Program outline |
* Consultation booths: Osaka Business and Investment Center, Fukuoka City, JETRO |
