Regional Information Hokkaido

The ideal data center, in Hokkaido

Your Regional Guide : Yoshinao Okabe

Inquires about investment in Japan.

Industrial Promotion Division, Department of Economic Affairs, Hokkaido Government

Kita3, Nishi6, Chuo-ku, Sapporo-city, Hokkaido, 060-8588,
Tel: +81-11-204-5339 Fax: +81-11-232-2139
okabe.yoshinao@pref.hokkaido.lg.jp

Hokkaido

If you can't find the information you need, please contact JETRO.
Please note that inquires not regarding investment in Japan may not be answered.

The information below is as of November 2017. (Basic Information: September 2018)

Basic Information
Regional Profile
Available incentives

Basic Information

Population *1	5.38 million
Labor force *1	2.47 million
Area (square kilometer) *2	83,423.84
GDP *3	18,961,154 million yen
Major industries	Food products; pulp, paper, and paper products; petro chemicals and coal chemicals; iron and steel; transport equipment instruments
Wage *4	Initial wage for university graduates(Average) 194,100yen Initial wage for upper secondery school graduates (Average) 154,100yen Scheduled cash eanings (Average) 266,400yen
Land price(for 1square meter) *5	Land price for industrial use (Average) 11,600yen Land Price for Commercial Use (Average) 68,800yen
Number of Establishments *6	252,036
Number of Employees *6	2,445,372
Offices overseas	Shanghai, China /Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russian Federation / Seoul, South Korea
JETRO office	JETRO Hokkaido

*1 Population Census 2015, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications *2 Area data 2017, Geospatial Information Authority of Japan *3 Prefectural Citizens'Economic Accounts 2014, Cabinet Office *4 "2017 Basic Survey on Wage Structure", Statstics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications *5 "Statistics of Japan 2018", Statstics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications *6 "2014 Economic Sensus", Statstics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
Ask the local government for the latest data.

Regional Profile

Strength of the region's industries and economy

Hokkaido is a region advancing the cluster for the manufacturing industry, in particular, spurring a dramatic expansion in the local concentration of automotive and electronic parts companies. In the food-related industry, there are more resource-centered locations where the food resources produced in Hokkaido are manufactured there. Moreover, there is a trend in encouraging Hokkaido to be a cluster region for super low-power consumption-type data centers that take advantage of the island’s snowy and cold climate in advancing the concentration of measures to reduce energy consumption for cooling purposes at data centers. Hokkaido is also the site of one of Japan's leading biotechnology clusters.

SHIKISAINOOKA (Biei Town)

Foreign company(s) operating in the industry

Against the backdrop to the rich human resource ground in the field of information, the Japanese arm of the global management consulting firm Accenture established its system development center in Sapporo in 2006. With the low risk of natural disasters and ease of recruiting, the Japanese arm of a French insurance/asset management group, AXA established its Sapporo Headquarters in 2014, and US-based American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (commonly called “Aflac”) embarked on business in Sapporo in 2016, both of which aimed to diversify risks in its headquarters' functions.

Available incentives

The Government of Hokkaido has established the Hokkaido Code on Industrial Promotion, which aims to encourage businesses to locate branches in the prefecture. Subsidies are available for automotive-related industries, electrical and electronics manufacturing industries, food industries, plant factories, new-energy industries and data center industries of a value up to 1.5 billion yen (for automotive-related industries). Moreover, subsidies of up to 10 million yen were also available in 2014 for transferring headquarters’ functions.