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Japan’s aging populations, declining populations, it all sounds like its a very bad news but, in fact, it also means opportunities. What sort of opportunities is it creating? Markets are moving offshore because, obviously, domestic markets are shrinking. So the companies in Japan are trying to go offshore, but they don’t have enough skills who can do the work outside Japan.

So they’re suddenly realising there’s a skill shortage who are globally minded personnel who can do the business outside Japan. So the government of Japan, Japanese government, and even the state levels, the prefectural levels, are setting up a lot of scholarship and foundation money to send their kids overseas so the Queensland Institutions will be able to tap into that sort of opportunity, that’s the educational opportunities.

And given the TIQ, Trade and Investment Queensland, has a very strong relationship with some of the prefectural levels as well as the national government, we try to use those scholarships to get more students to Queensland.

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In terms of tips: Japan is… Japanese are very well prepared people when it comes to business. They’re very careful. They’re very thorough. They’re punctual, they want to know your/ their partner really well before they get to do business together. And I suppose it applies in any market or even Australian business practice, you have got to do some homework, research, before you you know, you go and meet people, you gotta get on the plane to come to Japanese market. So, I think do your homework. But we can help you to do some research about potential partners or importers or investors to talk to. So it’s the making sure that you get the right advice early so that you don’t make mistakes, and invest your time in building relationship which is so critical.

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Well, I think the perception of Japan that after 20- 30 years of recession, is that things are not happening in place, in fact that the government in Japan are re-inflating the economy with some very very low interest rates. And Olympics coming up in four years’ time, Tokyo Olympics, actually a lot of clients who visit Japan find that things are really buzzing.
So, it is a happening place. It’s a market where it takes sometime to build a relationship, to close a deal, but once you close the deal you got a very long, long term relationship, and a market where you get paid, and the rule of law prevails, another democratic country. So it is safe to be visiting Japan and doing business in Japan, very much like Australia.
So that, I think, is a bit of a comfort in a lot of ways.

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I consider a job like a Japanese arranged marriage program. The reason I say that is there not many Australian companies, Queensland companies would be
able to establish their office on their own without any support along the way, and it become a hundred percent subsidiary company you know establishing in Japan and doing business fantastically and this you’re like a BMW you know amazon, or some big companies you really need a local partner. So to find a JV partner, joint-venture partner, with local partner in everything you do is step one so but finding right partner is a bit like finding the right you know your life partner. It requires a fair bit of research and understanding and so on so that’s that’s what we exist in in Tokyo to help the clients coming on you know after off the plane and making sure we give them right advice and right right guidance. And our people, my staff are completely bilingual bicultural, they are educated in Queensland, so they understand your language, your culture, and but also the Japanese culture.

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Japan’s got a serious challenge at the moment which is the population which is aging and declining. So the Japanese companies are adjusting their strategies to go overseas, to capture the market share in the global market. What’s lacking at the moment, in the Japanese corporations is workers who understand the international market and speak English, which is the global language.

Queensland is well positioned to offer at all levels of education in English and from the Japanese companies point of view and in the Japanese students’ point of view is a great place to be able to, not just to meet with Australian students, but also other Asia- Pacific students so that they can have regional context developed over years.

The Japanese government is well aware of the need to globalize human capital, so they’re investing a lot of money in the scholarships,in partnerships with Japan Inc. and so we from the Trade and Investment Queensland point of view, we would like to bridge the gap between the Queensland institutions at the O-Levels including higher ed, ELICOS, high school, and VET and even study tours with the need in Japan.

So I’ll look forward to talking to you to further explore such opportunities.

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Japan really needs Queensland for importing natural resources and materials. The reason being is that Japan’s self sufficiency, in terms of natural resources is less than 5%. In pit coal, Japan has been investing in Queensland over 50 years, in this state. Japan played a major role in building the infrastructure, and the entire mining industry in Queensland for many years.

So it’s throughout that period of long-term association, that Japan and Queensland have formed a very strong partnership, and it explains a lot about the great relationship that’s been built over years. Trade and Investment Queensland is also trying to promote new industries, such as L and G industries, Coal steam gas, CBM, into the Japanese market.

In fact Japan is our biggest importer of L and G in the world. And we are looking to explore further opportunities by partnering with Japanese government agencies such as JOGMEC and JBIC who have the capital and the context into the Japanese market. So Trade and Investment Queensland in partnership with the Japanese government agencies, can bridge the gap between the investment needs, and the needs for Japanese to invest further into the resources project.

So I look forward to talking to you very soon.

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The food self-sufficiency in Japan is only less than 40%, so that means Japan has to import majority of food sources from outside the country. Australia, Queensland is well positioned to offer such variety of food and agribusiness opportunity for Japan. Trade and Investment Queensland has introduced many products such as beef, and wine, and horticulture products, and grains, and so on.

But at the moment, in Japan, the country has very sophisticated consumers, and they’re willing to pay premium for quality food, and functional food, and healthy food. So processed food, anything with the value-added, we’re seeking more products to come into Japan. So we look forward to talking to you.

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Japan is a country of innovation and 25% of the high tech products in the world are actually still produced in Japan. So, we see a huge opportunity between Queensland and Japan to collaborate on the commercialization of research. Advanced Queensland policy which has been launched by the Queensland government really captures such varieties of opportunities.

For example robotics, biomass research, electric vehicle, renewable energy, those are the new industries that Japan and Queensland can work together on, to bring more ideas and innovations into the commercial world and I think Japan and Queensland can be a really good partnership to work together and Trade and Investment Queensland have contact in both ends of the world.

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In Japan, because of the recently signed FTA between Australia and Japan, we have been inundated with a number of inquiries coming from, particularly food and agribusiness companies. One successful example of the food and agri-business deals entry into Japan is the fresh broccoli story.

This dates back to a few years ago when the University in Queensland has approached us to do market research of the opportunities and then we went through all the process of market research and talking to the importers and teaming up with obviously horticulture peak bodies, growers, and other agencies in Queensland Government and then we basically packaged everything together and the good news is that 27 containers carrying broccoli have entered into Japan in the last couple of months and including this exciting story, the king of the Iron Chef that you all know has utilized our first shipment of broccoli into Japan and showcase what the Queensland broccoli can do for the Japanese and French dishes, and the Premier has invited key importers and peak bodies and growers to the lunch and we actually showcased what the Iron Chef and the Queensland broccoli can do to out pace the American competition.

The Australian dollar story has also helped us toposition the Queensland quality broccoli into the market place, but the Japanese the market is such that it’s so sophisticated that they’re wiling to pay a premium for the quality, healthy function of food such as broccoli. We’d like to explore many more opportunities in particular in horticulture, thanks to the FTA agreement.

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Hi, my name is Tak Adachi. I’m the Trade and Investment Commissioner from Japan.

What are the top three tips for getting into the Japanese Market?

First, the most important advice I can give you is: invest your time and resources in getting your market strategy right, and market research right, and build the relationship. And you know there’s no point of jumping on the place and appearing in the market unprepared.

Secondly, spend some time on business planning. Strategy is so important. How to enter the market… with such a complex distribution network in Japan, (it’s pretty unique a bout the Japanese market). You have to have your str ategy right before you start to talk to people. Do you want to talk to the large retailers or do you want to talk to the agents, do you want to talk to brokers? That’s very important to know in the beginning.

Thirdly, seek professional advice. I think anywhere you’re going… anywhere in any market in the world if you go into the market unprepared, that’s going to be a big challenge.

TIQ – Trade and Investment Queensland exists in the (Japan) market, and we are happy to help, for guiding you through the right avenue.