TOYAMA PREFECTURE Latest Update: August 2013

www.EUbusinessinJapan.eu TOYAMA PREFECTURE Latest update: August 2013

Prefecture’s Flag

Main City: Toyama City Population: 1,077,000 people, ranking 37/47 prefecture (2013) [1] Area: 4,247 km2 [2]

Geographical / Landscape description Toyama is a topographically impressive prefecture. Mountains wall the prefecture on three sides and the deep bay rests nestled in the crook formed by the rolling plains. With its central position in the Japan Sea region and a history laden with contact with the Asian continent, Toyama is at the centre of activities in the Japan Sea region. As of 1 April 2012, 30% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks. [2]

Climate Snowy winters and the Foehn influence makes the summers warmer than nearby areas. [2]

Time zone: GMT +7 in summer (+8 in winter)

International dialling code: 0081

Recent history, culture In anticipation of the coming importance of the Japan Sea region, Toyama has worked to form relationships and head exchanges with other countries in the region. Friendly relations have been formed with Primorsky, Russia, Liaoning Province, China and others. Toyama is striving to become a base for active exchange in the Japan Sea region. [3]

Economic overview In recent years, chemical and machinery-related corporations have been developing new businesses within Toyama in the area of electronic materials, and a number of outside companies have been moving into the prefecture. Currently, Toyama has the No. 1 industrial concentration along the Sea of Japan. [4]

Economic Indicators Toyama Prefecture All Japan Population (2013) [1] 1,077,000 127,350,000 Unemployment rate(2012) [5] 3.0% 4.3% GPD (2010) [6] 0.8% of Japan’s 495 trillion Yen

Infrastructure

Road/railways By train, Toyama is located at a little more than 3h from major cities: Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. [7]

EU-JAPAN CENTRE FOR INDUSTRIAL COOPERATION - Head office in Japan EU-JAPAN CENTRE FOR INDUSTRIAL COOPERATION - OFFICE in the EU Shirokane-Takanawa Station bldg 4F Rue Marie de Bourgogne, 52/2 1-27-6 Shirokane, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0072, JAPAN B-1000 Brussels, BELGIUM Tel: +81 3 6408 0281 - Fax: +81 3 6408 0283 - [email protected] Tel : +32 2 282 0040 –Fax : +32 2 282 0045 - [email protected] http://www.eu-japan.eu / http://www.EUbusinessinJapan.eu / http://www.een-japan.eu

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Shipping Fushiki-Toyama Port was selected as one of five Comprehensive Hub Ports and has regular container ship services operating to China, South Korea, Russia and Thailand. [7]

Civil Aviation Toyama Airport with regular flights to China, Russia, Korea and Taiwan. [8]

Living Environment The prefecture ranks top in Japan as for home ownership and household size, with good infrastructures and a low level of natural disaster, Toyama offers its residents the finest living environment. [9]

Major types of economic activities

Agriculture, natural resources The prefecture is well known for its production of rice. [10]

Manufacturing In 2011, the manufacturing industry's shipment value was principally composed of chemicals (13.7%), machinery equipment (12%), and electronic components (11.6%). [11]

Toyama’s main industries can be found in the pharmaceutical sector. With 300 years of history in the machinery and metal-related sector, the prefecture become the site of the leading aluminium industry in the nation and a global manufacturer of fasteners, and the IT-related industry, with a concentration of manufacturers of underlying/materials, electronic/functional components and serves as a base for component supply, fabrication, etc., to device makers. [12]

R&D, Innovation, Scientific research A number of industry support facilities are located in Toyama, including Toyama Industrial Technology Center (which carries out materials-related research, lifestyle-related product research, and mechanical electronics-related research), Toyama Monozukuri Research and Development Center (which has 26 high-tech R&D devices), Toyama Institute of Information Systems (which provides support for information- and communications-related industries), and Toyama New Industry Organization (which offers comprehensive technology, management, and information- related consultation facilities). [4]

Opportunities for EU Investors / Exporters / Importers

Promising sectors for cooperation Long-established industries: agriculture, forestry and fisheries, biotechnology, high-tech industries (IT, Robots, deep seawater-related industries), pharmaceutical industries. [10]

Financial/logistic support No English recent and verified data could be identified. Some data in Japanese available.

More information: http://www.pref.toyama.jp/cms_sec/1300/kj00012293.html

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Setting up a business in Toyama Industrial Location & Trade Division, Toyama Prefectural Government 1-7 Shinsogawa, Toyama-city, 930-8501 TEL: +81 (0)76-444-3400 FAX: +81 (0)76-444-8753

Other contacts:

Toyama Prefecture http://www.pref.toyama.jp/english/index.html Toyama Industrial Technology Center http://www.itc.pref.toyama.jp/english/eng_index.html Toyama Institute of Information Systems http://www.toyama-tic.co.jp/ Toyama Monozukuri Research and Development Center http://www.tonio.or.jp/monozukuri/ Toyama New Industry Organization http://www.tonio.or.jp/ Toyama Prefectural Tourism Association http://info-toyama.com/english/index.html

Sources and footnotes

[1] http://www.stat.go.jp/data/jinsui/2.htm [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyama_prefecture [3] http://www.pref.toyama.jp/english/history.html [4] http://www.JETRO.go.jp/en/invest/region/toyama/ [5] http://www.stat.go.jp/data/roudou/pref/index.htm [6] http://www.esri.cao.go.jp/jp/sna/sonota/kenmin/kenmin_top.html [7] http://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/region/toyama/infra.html [8] http://www.toyama-airport.co.jp/english/index.html [9] http://www.pref.toyama.jp/english/living.html [10] http://www.pref.toyama.jp/english/industry.html [11] http://www.stat.go.jp/data/e-census/2012/sokuho/gaiyo.htm [12] http://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/region/toyama/icinfo.html

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Great Buddha in Takaoka

View of Toyama City

Pictures copyright: EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation and Wikipedia under the GNU Free Documentation License

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