Yokohama city

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan, with its population of about 3.7 million. In addition to having one of the nation's busiest international trade ports, Yokohama has a very convenient transport network of railways and roadways and excellent access to Haneda Airport. The verdant living environment, skilled personnel, and the expansive Greater Tokyo market provide perfect urban conditions for businesses.
The automobile and other manufacturing, IT, and life science industries agglomerate, and the R&D bases of global companies gather too. Yokohama is also a popular tourist destination and convention site where many people from Japan and overseas visit and interact.
Yokohama City has declared as the "Innovation City Yokohama" operating the "Yokohama Life Innovation Platform (LIP Yokohama)," an industry-government-academia collaboration platform, and the " IoT Open Innovation Partners (ITOP Yokohama)," and establishing the venture business support base "YOXO BOX."
The City supports business expansion with abundant menus, including one of the country's best incentive measures to establish businesses. It endeavors to attract business functions and advanced technology industries suited to the metropolitan area through various activities.

Subsidies
* as of Fiscal 2022

Reduction of corporate municipal tax (corporate rate rate)
*As of fiscal 2022

Yokohama City provides a subsidy with establishing a base in the City for the first time for businesses in the growing fields designated by the City.
*As of fiscal 2022

Startup Visa Available

Many world-leading electronics manufacturers and R&D sites have moved into Yokohama and its surroundings, and small and medium-sized technology companies supporting them have agglomerated in a multi-layered fashion. There are clusters of semiconductor developers in the Shin-Yokohama area, software developers around Yokohama station, and digital content businesses in the Kannai and Yamashita districts, conducting creative business activities. There is a wealth of human resources with specialized and technical know-how made up of citizens working at these businesses.
In the city, the Yokohama IT Cluster Exchange Conference is also active as a community for engineers. As for industry-academia-government collaboration, there are nine science and engineering universities in the city, TLOs (technology transfer institutes), and institutions boasting outstanding research results, such as the RIKEN. Experts in each technology domain support the linkage between SMEs and universities in the city, creating opportunities for industry-academia exchange and organizing joint research projects.
Yokohama City also operates a platform (ITOP Yokohama) that uses IoT and AI to create new businesses, solve social issues, and support the challenges of SMEs.

Yokohama City is working on revitalizing biotechnology-related industries by accumulating biotechnology-related industries, providing support for sales channel development, and promoting technological partnerships between companies and industry, academia, and government. The City has also launched the Yokohama Life Innovation Platform (LIP. Yokohama) to enhance collaboration among companies, universities, and research institutes to create projects; it also supports R&D and commercialization by SMEs.
Yokohama City has designated the Kihara Memorial Yokohama Life Sciences Promotion Foundation, which has a history and know-how in industry-academia-government collaboration in the biotechnology field, as its core promotion organization for the integration of the biotechnology industry. The City promotes expanding its human network and enhances its biotechnology company support program. It is also undertaking comprehensive industry promotion measures by encouraging joint research between companies, universities, and research institutes and helping with the formulation of business plans for R&D by SMEs at LIP. Yokohama.

Since its opening in 1859, Yokohama has had a history of welcoming many foreigners. It has an advanced and open spirit, various cultural and artistic facilities, entertainment facilities, a comfortable and pleasant living environment, and rich nature. It offers excellent living conditions for foreign residents.
Yokohama Association for International Communications and Exchanges (YOKE), a citizen foundation, supports international students and citizens' international exchange activities, dispatches volunteer interpreters, publishes information papers in foreign languages, and supports the lives of foreign residents in Yokohama in all aspects.

It takes about 22 minutes to Haneda and 84minutes to Narita Airport from Yokoyama. In 2010 Haneda Airport began operating international flights, making access from Yokohama to Asia and European countries much more convenient.
Railway travel on the Shinkansen enables speedy access to destinations around the country, including Nagoya and Osaka. All trains on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line currently stop at Shin-Yokohama Station, enhancing convenience.
Although Yokohama has such a highly-developed infrastructure, land prices and office rents are about 60% to 70% of Tokyo. Many office buildings are equipped with the latest in information infrastructure, enabling companies to operate in a comfortable business environment at a low cost.

Air: Approx. 22 minutes from Yokohama to Haneda Airport, Approx. 84 minutes to Narita Airport
Land (train): 24 minutes from Yokohama Station to Tokyo Station, 8 minutes to Shin-Yokohama Station where all Tokaido Shinkansen trains stop.

Yokohama City focuses on attracting companies that revitalize existing industries, lead the future's economic development, and fostering startups and venture businesses as its priority strategies. In 2004, it established the Ordinance to Promote Enterprise Location, which includes one of the most extensive corporate support policy packages among domestic municipalities. Under this ordinance, the City provides a wealth of support, including tax incentives and subsidies for establishing large-scale businesses and occupancy of leasing office buildings.
It particularly supports foreign companies by providing information, consultations, and assistance for expansion into Yokohama and developing business relationships with local companies.
In the City, a startup office, Invest Japan Business Support Center (IBSC) within JETRO Yokohama, provides rental office space for up to 50 days. The Kanagawa Industrial Promotion Center (KIP) runs rental offices and incubation facilities for foreign-affiliated companies.
The City of Yokohama also has overseas offices in Shanghai (China), Frankfurt (Germany), New York (U.S.), and Bangkok (Thailand), providing support for the expansion of foreign companies into Yokohama.