As part of a long-term region-to-region economic development program with the Osaka Prefecture of Japan, MBITA in association with the Osaka Prefectural Government office in San Francisco, CA and the Osaka Prefecture headquarters in Japan have recently announced new subsidies and incentive programs, promotional loans, and tax incentives for foreign qualified businesses that would like to set up operations in the Osaka Prefecture of Japan.
Given the long-standing depression of the Japanese economy, Ms. Fusae Ohta, Japan's first female governor, has recently introduced her Osaka Industry Revitalization Program. According to the governor at a recent presentation to New York business leaders, "Osaka's four main goals are: developing start-up of business; encouraging existing SMEs to venture into new areas by exercising managerial innovation; searching for new fields where new business ventures can start up and creating an attractive metropolis to attract competitive businesses from outside to operate within this region."
Osaka and its surrounding Kansai area play a major role in the Japanese economy. A rich store of knowledge rooted in a long history of commerce and tradition combined with a wealth of unsurpassed technology creates a powerful base for Osaka's vibrant and active economy. The economic potential to entice foreign investors is represented by Osaka's strategic location is Asia, as well as by its manufacturing strength and its growing market size. Osaka's GRP in fiscal year 1998 (ending March 1999) amounted to $367 billion putting it on par with that of Switzerland or the Netherlands. At the same time, the surrounding eight prefectures making up the Kansai region has a population of over 23 million and generated a gross regional product exceeding $685 billion or 18% of Japan's total GDP.
If your international strategy calls for expanding your presence in the Pacific Rim, Osaka can provide an excellent hub for your Asia operations. Osaka offers many advantages such as land prices, rents, housing, labor and general living expenses much less than those of Tokyo. Osaka is a manufacturing center for electrical appliances, machinery, chemicals, textiles and pharmaceuticals. Osaka also has a business-friendly orientation and is home to tens of thousands of companies. "Osaka is the region which has been creating many new things. Leading international companies such as Panasonic, Sharp, Sanyo, Takeda and Itochu etc. all came from Osaka," governor Ohta remarks.
Mr. Shigeo "Shawn" Hara is director of the California office and he believes that there has never been a better time to invest in Osaka given the current economic conditions in Japan along with the governor's aggressive program to revitalize the Osaka economy. Osaka is now offering premier sites that are currently seeking foreign direct investment. Facilities range from temporary office space to industrial sites. Shawn mentions that the price of land for purchase in Osaka has been dropping and now we are even beginning to see some leasing opportunities develop.
The Osaka Prefectural Government is placing particular emphasis on attracting industries in the areas of IT, biotechnology, environment, and health and welfare. At her presentation in New York, Governor Ohta stressed Osaka's work to build infrastructure that will be able to contribute to nurture industries or businesses in those areas.
The governor also stressed the tax reduction plan enforced to implement foreign investment for entrepreneurial businesses. "As far as the tax incentives for start-up companies are concerned, it will be applied to new companies established in the three year period from April 1 this year for up to a three to five year period at the maximum. Those businesses will be able to enjoy the reduction of their Osaka Prefectural Corporate Business Tax by up to 90%" She points out "In essence, it will bring the effective corporate tax rate of 40% down to 35%. Other tax incentives to encourage the new facility establishment of specific industries into specific areas would involve a reduction of up to 50% of the applicable real estate acquisition tax."
Areas of interest for foreign investment in Osaka Prefecture are Rinku Town, Rinku Business Center, Technostage Izumi and Tsuda Science Hills. Located just 5 minutes from the new Kansai International Airport (KIX), Rinku Town is a dynamic new development area devoted to serving the needs of the international business community. Rinku town is zoned for manufacturing, office, commercial and retail operations.
The Rinku Business Center is a new venue for foreign startup businesses. The 16th floor of the Rinku Gate Tower Building has been made available to provide overseas companies with an even easier new start on the Japanese market. The latest incentives have reduced monthly rent by 75% the first year and 50% for the 2nd and 3rd years.
Technostage Izumi is an industrial park established for advanced technology manufacturing operations and is located midway between KIX and downtown Osaka. Tsuda Science Hills is a research and development park within Kansai Science City, a regional collaborative between Kyoto, Osaka and Nara prefectures.
Osaka also offers business exchange and promotion programs. Every October the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosts two key business events, the Global Business Opportunities Convention (G-BOC) and Global Venture Forum (GVF), offering business people in Japan and around the world an unbeatable opportunity to meet and exchange views. G-BOC is an international business forum focusing on trade and investment, while GVF focuses on venture business. Specifically, GVF covers the four leading international sectors of Information and Communications Technologies; Biotechnology, Medical and Health Care; Environment and Energy; and Advanced Materials. Both G-BOC and GVF are unique in that they offer pre-arranged business talks with potential Japanese partners based on your business needs.
The Osaka Prefectural Government, California Office was established in 1997 to promote trade and investment for the Osaka region. Focusing on California, sister-state since 1994, and serving North America, the office functions as an Osaka information and resource center. The Osaka office also assists with the coordination of educational and cultural exchange programs between Osaka and California. The Osaka Office welcomes your inquiries; whether you need information about travel, business opportunities or any other issue concerning Osaka.
"I know Japan as a whole is making headway towards structural reform and Osaka is no exception to this trend. I feel that Osaka should take the lead in guiding this structural reform. For that purpose we need assistance from foreign businesses," governor Ohta concludes.
For details on the Incentives Program for Investing in Osaka please contact the San Francisco Osaka Prefectural Government office,and ask for Shawn Hara for further details or contact the MBITA office at 831-469-0148.
San Francisco Osaka Prefectural Government office
Shigeo "Shawn" Hara, Director
345 California Street, Suite 2575
San Francisco, CA 94104
Tel. 415-288-3920 Fax. 415-288-3924
email: osakapref@sfo.com
web: http://www.osakafu.org/
The Birth of the Central Coast International Trade Association (CCITA)
After a few months of planning and inviting, the Central Coast International Trade Association (CCITA) was launched with its first luncheon meeting on October 18th in San Luis Obispo, CA.
In October, World TradeWinds had the opportunity to attend the annual Online Learning 2001 in Los Angeles. Every established eLearning company in the country was present demonstrating their particular solution to online academic or corporate training. World TradeWinds' interest in attending this eLearning conference was finding out the best solutions to advance MBITA's virtual Global eCommerce courses that are currently online.
World TradeWinds discovered that the eLearning industry was rapidly growing in the wake of September 11th for obvious reasons, i.e., alternatives to travel and solutions for more cost-effective methods in academic and corporate training. In addition to the big players such as Yahoo and IBM, it was impressive to see how the eLearning industry has grown with so many new companies presenting their own brand and technology for eLearning. It was obvious to us that the eLeanring industry, still in its infancy, is going to be a huge growth industry in the next few years.
The high point of the conference was a speech by former President Clinton given to over 2000 attendees. With the September 11th tragedy looming in the message of his speech, he emphasized the importance of eLearning and how America can use their technological advantage to spread knowledge, peace and prosperity throughout the world.
He also spoke about the negative and positive interdependence of our global economy in the midst of the information revolution. "Negative interdependence is terrorism and the very use of the new information technologies in spreading their terrorism. Positive interdependence is using the new information technologies to bring the world closer together to spread the wealth of global knowledge to the oppressed and poor in our world. The more people in other countries realize that we want them to succeed in their lives, the less chance future Bin Laden will emerge as threats to our free society," stated President Clinton.
Friday, August 24, 2001
Farr: District could impact global economy Central Coast's Diversity heralded as major commodity in world trade relations
