OKAYAMA PREFECTURE Latest Update: August 2013

Home , Kurashiki, Okayama Airport, Okayama Prefecture

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

Prefecture’s flag

Main City: Okayama Population: 1,931,000 people, ranking 21/47 (2013) [1] Area: 7,112 km² [2]

Geographical / Landscape description Okayama Prefecture borders Hyogo, Tottori and Hiroshima Prefectures. Most of the population is concentrated around the historic towns of Kurashiki and Okayama. The small villages in the northern mountain region are aging and declining in population - more than half of the prefecture’s municipalities are officially designated as depopulated. [2]

Climate Okayama has a mild climate compared to most of Japan. Thanks to an extremely low level of rain and one of the highest numbers of sunny days per year, the prefecture is nicknamed the “Sunny Country”. [2]

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

International dialling code: 0081

Recent history, culture Okayama is where the well known legend of Momotaro was born and as a result it has become a symbol of the prefecture. It relates the story of how an old, childless couple saw a giant peach floating down a river. They opened it with the intention of eating it but found a boy inside and decided to adopt him as their son. Years later, the boy known as Momotaro left his parents and went to fight a band of marauding oni (demons or ogres) on a distant island. En route, Momotaro met and befriended a talking dog, monkey, and pheasant, who agreed to help him in his quest. Once the demons were defeated, the group of heroes returned home with the demons’ treasure. [3]

Economic overview Okayama Prefecture boasts the Mizushima Industrial District in Kurashiki City, where many large-scale Japanese companies with cutting-edge technologies in the petroleum, chemical, steel, and automobile industries have their production facilities. It has also developed nationally known local industries with advanced technologies and original products such as textile, refractory, and machinery/metal industries. [4]

Economic Indicators Okayama Prefecture All Japan Population (2013) [1] 1,931,000 127,350,000 Unemployment rate(2012) [5] 3.7% 4.3% GPD (2010) [6] 1.4% of Japan’s 495 trillion Yen

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

www.EUbusinessinJapan.eu

Infrastructure

Road/railways The area has one of the best transportation infrastructures in Japan; an expressway network covers the whole prefecture, a railway network extends from JR Okayama Station including Shinkansen (bullet train). [7]

Shipping Mizushima Port records one of Japan’s largest cargo transportation volumes (6th position in 2010) with connections to China, Korea and Vietnam. [8]

Civil Aviation Okayama Airport has regular international flights to China, Taiwan, Korea and Guam (USA) [9]

Living Environment With its status of “Sunny Country” the prefecture provides a good environment for everyday life.

Major types of economic activities

Manufacturing Okayama Prefecture has been a centre of automobile manufacturing, agricultural machinery and shipbuilding for a long time. Utilizing the ultra-precise production technologies accumulated in the course of the development of these industries, the prefecture is currently focused on the cultivation of next-generation industries such as aircraft, automobiles and new energies. [10]

In 2011, the manufacturing industry's shipment value was principally composed of petroleum & coal (20.5%), iron & steel (13.9%) and transport machinery (13.7%). [11]

The prefecture ranks first in the manufacturing of school uniforms, holding 67% of the market share in 2009. [12]

R&D, Innovation, Scientific research Various clusters promoting R&D are located in the prefecture: The Okayama Green Bio Project supports the development of natural energy resources (biomass, wood chips…) and recycling technologies with the aim of reducing the ecological impact of industries. The Medical Techno Okayama aims to promote innovation in the medical sector. The Micro Manufacturing Okayama aims to develop micro manufacturing technologies. [13]

Opportunities for EU Investors / Exporters / Importers

Promising sectors for cooperation Long-established industries: agriculture, textile products, iron and steel, petro-chemistry, lumber, shipbuilding, automotive industries, agricultural machinery. Growing industries: precision machinery, biotechnology, advanced medical equipment, IT. [4][13]

Financial/logistic support No recent incentive-related information found in the English web pages, data available in Japanese only.

More information: http://www.optic.or.jp/?page_id=22

www.EUbusinessinJapan.eu

Setting up a business in Okayama Industrial Location Promotion Division 2-4-6 Uchisange, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8570 TEL: +81-86-226-7374 FAX: +81-86-225-3449

Other contacts:

Okayama Prefecture http://www.pref.okayama.jp/page/298932.html Medical Techno Okayama http://www.optic.or.jp/medical/ Micro Manufacturing Okayama http://micro-gr.jp/ Okayama Green Bio Project http://www.pref.okayama.jp/sangyo/sangyo/greenbio/index.html Okayama Prefecture Industrial Promotion Foundation http://www.optic.or.jp Tourism site Discover Okayama http://www.okayama-japan.jp/en/

Sources and footnotes

[1] http://www.stat.go.jp/data/jinsui/2.htm [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okayama_prefecture [3] http://okayama-japan.jp/en/history.html [4] http://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/region/okayama/ [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/okayama/infra.html [8] http://www.mizushima-faz.co.jp/cont.html [9] http://www.okayama-airport.org/ [10] http://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/region/okayama/icinfo.html [11] http://www.stat.go.jp/data/e-census/2012/sokuho/gaiyo.htm [12] http://www.pref.okayama.jp/page/detail-2430.html [13] http://www.jetro.go.jp/invest/region/okayama/icinfo.html

www.EUbusinessinJapan.eu

Okayama Korakuen Garden

Kurashiki City

Pictures copyright: Wikipedia under the GNU Free Documentation License

Disclaimer

Neither the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation, nor any person acting on its behalf is responsible for any consequences which may arise from the use by third parties, whether individuals or organizations, of the information contained in this report, or any possible errors which, despite careful checking of the text, could remain. The authors retain the copyright of the information published in this report. Reproduction is authorized except for commercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged. All logos and figures published in this report are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without the full consent of their respective author.