Tourism and Investment in Japan

IBIDEN builds a new factory to increase production capacity for high-end IC substrates Economic activity of semiconductor-related industries in the Chubu region is booming thanks to the growing global demand for semiconductor chips. One of those company is IBIDEN, a major semiconductor packaging provider located in Gifu Prefecture which posted a significant increase in sales and profits in the interim results for the first half of FY 2021.  Ibiden forecasts its sales for FY 2021 will increase about 24% year-on-year. Its electronic sector earned 60% of the company’s profit. To take advantage of the tailwind for semiconductor market, IBIDEN will invest 180 billion yen to build a new factory and increase production capacity for high-end IC substrates for applications such as servers and image processing units.  IBIDEN schedules to start full production at the new plant in the fiscal year ending March 2024. A package board is a product that connects an IC chip and a printed wir...

Consumer confidence got worse due to COVID- 19 resurgence According to the consumer confidence survey released by the Cabinet Office, the consumer confidence index in January, which indicates consumer sentiment, fell 2.2 points from the previous month to 29.6, falling for the second straight month.  This survey is carried out every month to gain a quick understanding of shifts in consumer perception as a tool in evaluating economic trends and is composed of four categories such as " Overall livelihood" based on a five-level evaluation of the outlook for the next six months. If all survey respondents answer that "get better", the indices will be 100, and if all of them say "get worse", it will be zero.  Consumer sentiment has cooled again following the resurgence of the new coronavirus infection and the issuance of another state of emergency in the month targeting 11 prefectures including Tokyo. All four survey categories decreased from the previous year....

The Japanese government is promoting to export agriculture, forestry and fishery products including pork meat such as black pigs and other brand pigs. However spread of swine fever, fatal infectious disease of livestock, is looming pig farmer’s business and mind for a year. An outbreak has been continuing in the Chubu region since September 2018 when the first case was reported in Gifu and it crossed over the region in last September into the Kanto region where Tokyo is located. On October 25, vaccination to pigs at pig farms in the Chubu region has started to prevent the spread of swine fever. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) has decided to start vaccination to pigs to prevent the further spread of swine fever. One year after the first outbreak in September last year, the government has determined that there was no choice but vaccinate pigs because the spread of infection has been out of control. Until then, the Japanese government has ...

The Chubu region is one of the most concentrated areas of manufacturing industries in Japan including the aircraft and automobile industry. The Tokai Ring Expressway runs through three prefectures of Aichi, Gifu and Mie which consist of the Chubu region in a ring shape. The road dedicated only to automobiles with a total length of about 160 km is being constructed connecting major cities within a radius of 30-40 km from Nagoya, the largest city in the region. It is connected to national highways such as the Tomei Expressway, the Meishin Expressway, the Chuo Expressway and the Tokai Hokuriku Expressway forming a wide-area network running through main cities in the area. The road is divided into east and west section and the east section was developed first. At present, about east half of the total extension is open. In the eastern section opened in 2005, business locations and industrial parks along the road have increased dramatically, contributing to the revita...

Aichi Sky Expo which has one of the largest land area as an exhibition hall in Japan opened in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture. It has six exhibition halls, multipurpose areas adjacent to an international airport. Such location is the first case in Japan and an exceptional advantage of this hall. The site area including parking lots is 287,000 square meters, which is on par with other major exhibition halls in Japan such as Tokyo Big Sight and Makuhari Messe. There are six exhibition halls of 10,000 square meters each. “Exhibition Hall A” aiming for concerts and live events has 20 meters height and can accommodate approximately 6,500 people in a theater style where chairs are lined up like cinema seats. Since there are no pillars inside, it can be arranged for various purposes. The other five halls can be used up to 50,000 square meters by removing the partitions. There are 18 meeting rooms with a size of 30 to 800 square meters, which can accommodate meetings of 10 to 400 peop...

Linear Chuo Shinkansen fastens redevelopment around Nagoya Station In preparation for the opening of the new high speed rail way, Linear Chuo Shinkansen, in 2027, redevelopment around Nagoya Station is in progress. Nagoya City, the largest city in the Chubu region, is planning large scale investment to promote redevelopment projects before the opening of the Linear Chuo Shinkansen. In December last year, Nagoya City announced the amount of investment for the projects will be 200 billion yen. In addition, it plans to call on Japanese government and Aichi prefecture for financial support because it should be a national project with its economic effect spreading around the country, not limited to Nagoya alone. The draft of the redevelopment plan which the city showed to the city council forecasted the total project cost would be over 200 billion yen. This draft included an underground road on the west side of Nagoya Station to improve access to the expressway...

  Aerospace industry and ongoing projects in the Chubu region The global demand for jet aircrafts is expected to more than double over the next 20 years and the aerospace industry is also expected to keep growing.  Many companies in aerospace industry are located in the Chubu region producing 50% of Japan's aircraft parts and products. Major Japanese aerospace companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which represent Japan’s aerospace industry have large factories with state of art facilities in this area.  In addition, Gifu base of Japan Air Self Defense Force, which is known as Japan's oldest airfield, is also located here. Taking advantage of this background, development and production of Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), often recognized as a symbol of the revival of domestic produced jet airliners, are ongoing in this region. Boeing 787 aircraft, the next generation passenger plane, and domestic produ...