EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation 日欧産業協力センター Brief Guide for European Companies on Importers and Wholesale Distributors in Japan (food and wine; ICT; medical devices) Alice Tomaskova Minerva Fellow April – September 2015 Disclaimer and copyright The information contained in this publication reflects the views of the author and not necessarily the views of the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation, the views of the EU Commission or Japan authorities. While utmost care was taken to check and translate all information used in this study, the author and the EU-Japan Centre may not be held responsible for any errors that might appear. This report does not constitute legal advice in terms of business development cases. The author can be reached at
[email protected] © EU-Japan Centre for industrial Cooperation. 2 Table of Contents Disclaimer ………………………………………………………………..................... p 2 Executive summary ……………………………………………………...................... p 4 List of figures……….... ………………………………………………....................... p 5 Acknowledgements....................................................................................................... p 6 Methodology.................................................................................................................. p 7 Overview on EU-Japan trade and support for SMEs.................................................... p 8 I. Distribution systems in Japan ……….……………………………………………… p10 1. An overview of key factors to succeed in Japan ....................................................