Nagoya city

The Nagoya area, centered on Nagoya City, is one of Japan's three major economic regions, where manufacturing industries such as automobile, fine ceramics, aerospace, machine tools agglomerate, and other high-tech industries. Its scale is the largest in Japan. Many world's leading companies operate in this region and attract clusters of small and medium-sized companies with superior technical capabilities in a wide range of fields to support those companies. Commerce and service businesses have flourished in Nagoya, the region's central city, building upon its extensive manufacturing industry base. Consequently, the city has a well-balanced industrial structure. Because of its central location in Japan and well-developed land, marine, and air traffic networks, the city benefits from convenient access from overseas and other parts of Japan. Nagoya City welcomes companies seeking new business opportunities with the best environment.
Prominent companies in the Nagoya area include automobile (Toyota Motor Corporation), fine ceramics (Noritake Co., Ltd.), and machine tool (MORI SEIKI CO., LTD.).
There are many research institutes and private companies in Nagoya Science Park. It aims to create a unique hub for research and development to promote advanced science technologies and new industries.
Nagoya University and Nagoya Institute of Technology are among the science and engineering universities clustered in the area. There also are institutions such as Nanzan University that are proactive in welcoming international students.

Eligible Companies: Foreign companies
Requirements: For companies opening their first office in the City of Nagoya, with office floor space of 20sqm or more, and two or more permanent employees.
Subsidized Expenses: 1/2 of the annual rent (excluding deposit, security money, consumption tax, etc.)
Maximum Subsidy Amount: JPY 10 million
Application Deadline: One day before signing the office/building lease agreement.
Other: When moving the location of the head office registration to the City of Nagoya, additional fees will be added for the transfer of the head office registration to the City.

Partial subsidies will be provided to companies that are building new or additional offices, factories, or research facilities.
Eligible companies: Companies mainly engaged in businesses classified as manufacturing or information and communication industries.
Eligibility: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with five or more full-time employees and total fixed asset acquisition costs of 100 million yen or more for new or additional offices, factories, or research facilities in the city, or SMEs with 20 or more full-time employees and total fixed asset acquisition costs for new or additional facilities in the city of 10 million yen or more for new or additional facilities in the city. Large enterprises with a total fixed asset acquisition cost of 1 billion yen or more for new or expanded facilities eligible for subsidies.
Expenses eligible for subsidy: Tax base amount of fixed property tax and city planning tax for facilities eligible for subsidy, and tax base amount of fixed property tax for machinery and equipment (factories and research facilities only) *Excluding machinery and equipment with an acquisition unit price of less than 10 million yen.
Subsidy rate: 10% or less
Subsidy limit: JPY 500 million
Application deadline: 30 days before the start of construction of facilities to be subsidized

The Greater Nagoya Initiative Center (GNIC) supports foreign companies expanding into the Greater Nagoya and launching businesses.
(Implementing Organization: Greater Nagoya Initiative (GNI) Center)
GNIC provides the following subsidies for the following expenses to foreign-owned companies that meet the standards as a corporation or a foreign-owned company in the Greater Nagoya region, registering a corporation or branch, establishing a sales office, and testing research facility.
Expenses professional (attorneys at law, judicial scriveners, certified public accountants, certified tax accountants, administrative scriveners, social insurance and labor consultants) fees for legal advice, social insurance-related matters, and translation of registration-related materials, etc.) required for company registration and visa acquisition, expenses for recruitment advertisements or recruitment agency fees, real estate brokerage fees.
The upper limit for the sum of expenses and fees: 0.5 million yen for a company with planned investment (the amount of share capital) of 10 million yen or more, 0.3 million yen for a company with a planned investment of 5 million yen and less than 10 million yen, 0.2 million yen for a registered branch, business office, or testing research facility.

Startup Visa Available

The main target areas are ICT, robotics, digital content, and creative industries that have a high affinity with the manufacturing industry, including automobiles and machine tools, as well as foreign companies, start-ups, and growth companies that are expected to bring innovation to the region's economy.

Nagoya City provides comfortable living conditions for foreign residents, such as spacious housing compared to Tokyo, well-developed road signs for foreign residents, and international schools conducting English language classes.
The Nagoya International Center (NIC) provides information about daily living and offers a free consultation for foreign residents regarding the city services. The NIC Nihongo-no-Kai has organized Japanese language classrooms staffed by volunteers to provide basic Japanese language lessons and resident and lifestyle information to foreign residents in the Nagoya area.

Nagoya City has well-developed land, sea, and air traffic networks. The Shinkansen trains, JR local trains, Meitetsu trains, Kintetsu trains, and long-haul bus lines directly connect with the giant Nagoya terminal station, which serves nearly 1 million passengers per day. The Chubu International Airport, a gateway to the world, is only 30 minutes away from the city. When the Linear Chuo Shinkansen starts operations, the travel time between Nagoya and Tokyo will be only about 40 minutes, and that between Nagoya and Osaka about 30 minutes. The Port of Nagoya, one of the world's largest trade ports in terms of total cargo throughput and the trade value, is directly linked to land transport's trunk routes, enabling efficient integrated seaborne and land transport. It has developed into an integrated international port equipped with logistic, production, disaster prevention, exchange, and transportation functions. It connects with 160 countries and regions worldwide and has been selected as the International Bulk Strategic Port.

Air: Approximately 30 minutes from Nagoya Station to Chubu Centrair International Airport. About 20 minutes from Nagoya Station to the prefectural Nagoya Airport.
Land route 1: Approximately 100 minutes for Tokyo and 50 minutes for Osaka using the Shinkansen. With the launch of the Linear Chuo Shinkansen, it will be possible to travel in about 40 minutes between Nagoya and Tokyo and about 30 minutes between Nagoya and Osaka.
Land Route 2: Nagoya, which is equipped with roads, is located at the center of the Tomei Expressway connected to the Tokyo District and the Meishin Expressway connected to the Kansai District. It takes approximately 4 hours to Tokyo and approximately 2 hours to Osaka.

GNIC
It has a one-stop contact point for foreign companies interested in business development and expansion in Greater Nagoya. It provides information on the region, invites, arranges interviews, and supports expansion into overseas markets. It also provides information for companies to expand overseas, and dispatches missions.

Support for Exhibiting at Trade Shows and Networking Meetings for Foreign Companies
To support foreign-affiliated companies entering, expanding, and establishing operations in Nagoya City, we jointly exhibit at exhibitions held in the city and organize exchange meetings with local companies.

Nagoya Business Incubator
As the most historical incubation office in Nagoya, this facility provides a place for IT venture companies and R&D venture companies to carve out warm eggs and grow them into outstanding birds. The company provides technical and management support services through industry-academia-government collaboration, centered on specialized incubation managers (IMs), and strives to grow and development startup enterprises and enterprises development new fields.