JETRO Invest Japan Report 2023
Chapter3. Recent Government Measures Section2. Action Plan for Attracting Human and Financial Resources from Overseas

In April 2023, the "Action Plan for Attracting Human and Financial Resources from Overseas" (the "Action Plan") was decided at the Council for Promotion of Foreign Direct Investment in Japan. The Action Plan established five pillars in order to expand overall investment in Japan and enhance innovation capabilities by actively attracting human and financial resources from overseas, leading to further economic growth and revitalization of regional economies (Chart 3-2)

In 2021, the government set a target to double the FDI stock in Japan to 80 trillion yen by 2030 and has begun efforts to achieve this goal. The economic and social environment in Japan and abroad is changing, and by viewing this situation as an opportunity for growth, the government aims to achieve the FDI stock in Japan to 100 trillion yen at an early stage by accelerating efforts through the Action Plan. The government measures, referred to in the first pillar of the Action Plan, "Stimulating investment in strategic sectors and restructuring global supply chains in light of the changes in the international environment" are outlined as follows.

Chart 3-2: Outline of Action Plan for Attracting Human and Financial Resources from Overseas
No.	Five Pillars of Action Plan	Specific Undertakings
1	Stimulating investment in strategic sectors and restructuring global supply chains in light of changes in the international environment	Given the drastically changing international environment, provide an optimal environment for business in global competition, and revive Japan as attractive global center for production and research. Reconstruct resilient supply chains against various global economic risks through strategic international collaboration. →Strategic development of industrial location projects utilizing a range of funds, nation-wide establishment of investment consortiums combined with human resource development projects through industry–academia–government collaboration
2	Strategies for the formation of Asia's largest startup hub	Make Japan the largest startup hub in Asia, develop a global startup ecosystem that could gather entrepreneurs, VCs, and accelerators from abroad. Based on the Startup Development Five-year Plan, boldly accelerate the improvement of the startup environment in Japan, including improving the convenience of startup visas. →Concentrated support for 8 Startup Ecosystem Base Cities, and efforts to make visas for foreign entrepreneurs more convenient
3	Attracting highly-skilled foreign professionals, and improving the system for establishing a center for global knowledge exchange	As competition in attracting human resources with advanced knowledge and skills supporting innovation intensifies around the world, strengthen efforts to make Japan a global center of knowledge that attracts highly skilled human resources and generates innovations. →Establishment of world-class new residency qualification systems (Japan System for Special Highly-Skilled Professionals (J-Skip), Japan System for Future Creation Individual Visa (J-Find)), examination of Technical Intern Training System and Specified Skills System, promotion of the Global Startup Campus concept, and consideration for a system accepting "digital nomads"
4	Improving the business and living environment to attract human resources and investment from overseas	Set KPIs(Key Performance Indicator) with timeframes and accelerate efforts to develop a business-friendly environment that attracts human resources and investment from overseas, including support for foreign business startups, and to improve living environments such as education and medical care. Establish a core international financial center in Asia and develop an environment to promote GX investments and lending. In addition, strengthen efforts to expand inbound tourism in the new era. →Enhancement of functions as an international financial center, systemic promotion of GX investments and loans, enhancement of multi-lingual one-stop consultation service, improvement of educational environment (e.g., facilitating international school students to enter Japanese high schools), medical environment (e.g., building a nationwide platform to provide information on hospitals with multilingual services), and expansion of inbound tourism (e.g., attracting MICE (meetings, incentive travel, convention and exhibitions)).
5	Fundamentally strengthening all-Japan's efforts for the mechanism to attract investment and to follow up this Action Plan, and globally disseminating these undertakings on the occasion of the G7 and other international events	Attract strategic investments that contribute to job creation and value-added creation, fundamentally strengthen all-Japan‘s efforts for the mechanism to attract investment and to follow up this Action Plan through collaboration among the relevant ministries, industry–academia–public sector, and national and local governments, ranging from the stage of attracting investment at overseas bases to the stage of foreign companies actually rooting in the regions in a manner that benefit the regions (Set KPIs and execute PDCA(Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle.). →Establishing a "FDI Task Force" through collaboration at the level of heads of diplomatic missions and JETRO overseas offices, Establishing a "Follow-up Council for Regional Investment Promotion" to examine region-specific measures to attract foreign companies to the regions and promoting their establishment and follow-on investment in the region, Establishing a "Task force for Attracting Human and Financial Resources from Overseas" at the level of vice-ministers of respective relevant ministries to follow up on the outcomes of initiatives, issues, etc., and execute a PDCA cycle and holding business summits with the participation of top executives from foreign companies