New Japan

There is a new spirit in Japan with opportunities for well-prepared entrants
There is a new spirit in Japan with opportunities for well-prepared entrants. In 2023 alone:
  • New regulations on sustainability disclosures published by the Financial Services Agency.
  • New guidelines for fair M&A published by METI.
  • New benchmarks for profitability and ROI published by the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
  • New policies to grow FDI to JPY 80 trillion by 2030 from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Ongoing changes include:
  • Improving awareness of and implementation best practices in corporate governance.
  • Continuing efforts to digitalize business and government processes (such as inkan, seals).
  • Increasing foreign investment is going into Japanese office real estate.

What’s New?

New regulations on sustainability disclosure will touch almost every company doing business in any form with Japanese companies, both listed and unlisted.
New pressures on listed companies to improve their performance is leading companies to reconsider selling assets and repositioning their business units.
New competition from domestic and international firms is opening opportunities to partner with Japanese companies seeking an edge.
New money is flowing into the Japanese public markets, and international PE firms are expanding in Japan. Corporate governance reforms implemented a decade ago are slowly pushing companies to improve returns.
New attitudes to become more favorable for selling real estate or businesses to international buyers and adopting new technologies, especially in healthcare and finance.
New language of revitalization is replacing talk of decline and a country whose time has passed: From think tanks to hedge funds and private equity funds, around the world Japan is on everyone’s lips. Tokyo is at the heart of Washington’s strategy to “de-risk” from China.

What’s the Same?

Entering the Japanese market works bet with proper introductions to potential partners, customers, or investors. Relationships, networks, context. and connections still matter to drive successful business transactions.
Japanese business culture also places strong emphasis on the philosophy, expertise, proven track record, and the specific people involved. There is less emphasis on the values in some other business cultures, which have priority metrics such as price, speed, relative outperformance.
For the right clients we can speed up the process of evaluating and selecting partners, determining product fit and the adjustments that may be necessary to assure local market success.
We offer advice, local introductions, and transaction execution services to effectively navigate the rewards and risks of New Japan.