ICT to Japan
(Last updated: 05 Aug 2013)
Trends and opportunities
ICT business opportunities
- Sustainable ICT (ITS, green IT, smart grid/city)
- e-security
- Broadband/mobile content/digital content/games
- e-health/e-medical
- Cloud computing and big data
- Image/speech recognition/embedded technology
- Agri ICT / Food security and network systems
- Sensing technology
- e-learning
Why is this market attractive for Australian companies?
- The economy of Japan is the third largest in the world’s by nominal GDP and fourth largest by purchasing power parity
- Backed by 127 million wealthy consumers and US$7-8 trillion of savings
- Japan’s software industry is expected to grow 2.9 per cent per annum over the next four years
- Japan’s mobile contents industry has a market size of US$5.3 billion
- Continued growth in the application of ICT in cross disciplinary industry sectors
Marketing your products and services
Market entry
Doing business in Japan differs from Australia and Australian companies should consider:
- Japan’s strongest ICT import partner is the USA, and Japan is influenced by American ICT vendors
- The decision making process in Japan can be lengthy
- The need for a local presence is paramount because Japanese customers seek strong on-the-ground support
- Finding a suitable partner is not easy, so as a first step understand your market players and the end-user market
- Localisation is an issue, but the bigger issue is customisation (Australian firms often underestimate the cost undertaken by Japanese partners in localising products)
Key ICT events in Japan
Links and industry contacts
ICT-related resources
Communications and information Network Association of Japan – www.ciaj.or.jp/en/
Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association – www.jeita.or.jp/english/index.html
Japan Information Services Industry Association – www.jisa.or.jp/e/
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications – www.soumu.go.jp/english/index.html
Contact details
The Australian Trade Commission – Austrade – is the Australian Government’s trade, investment and education promotion agency.
Through a global network of offices, Austrade assists Australian companies to grow their international business, attracts productive foreign direct investment into Australia and promotes Australia’s education sector internationally.
For more information on how Austrade can assist you, contact us on:
Australia ph: 13 28 78 | Email: info@austrade.gov.au
A list of Austrade offices (in alphabetical order of country) is also available.