Investing in Japan
Hokkaido
Your Regional Guide
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Industrial Location Development Division,Bureau of Industrial Location Promotion,Departmnt of Economic Affairs,Hokkaido Government
Kita 3-jo Nishi 6-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo-city, Hokkaido Prefecture 060-8588 |
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*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 July 2015.
Basic Information
| Population*1 | 5.51 million |
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| Labor force*1 | 2.70 million |
| Area*2 | 83,457.0 km² |
| GDP*3 | 18,263,055 million yen |
| Major industries | Food products; pulp, paper, and paper products; petro chemicals and coal chemicals; iron and steel; transport equipment instruments |
| Wage*4 |
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| Land price(for 1m²)*5 |
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| Number of Establishments*6 | 242,432 |
| Number of Employees*6 | 2,159,641 |
| Offices overseas |
Shanghai, China /Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russian Federation / Seoul, South Korea |
| JETRO office |
JETRO Hokkaido |
Regional Profile
Strength of the region's industries and economy
Hokkaido continues to attract attention as a cluster region for the manufacturing industry. In particular, the recent large-scale capital investment by leading automotive-related companies has motivated related companies to expand into the Hokkaido region, spurring a dramatic expansion in the local concentration of automotive and electronic parts companies.
Also, there has been a steady increase in the number of information and communications-related companies with their sights set on the global market, as represented by the growth of "Sapporo Valley." Furthermore, measures to reduce energy consumption for cooling purposes at data centers, a sector expected to experience significant market expansion in the future are resulting in moves for promotion of Hokkaido as a cluster region for super low-power-consumption type of data centers that take advantage of the island's snowy and cold climate. Such developments are garnering domestic and international attention. Hokkaido is also becoming the site of one of Japan's leading biotechnology clusters, due to such factors as the numerous biotech venture companies springing from the region's universities. In the food-related industry, there are more resource-centered locations where the food resource produced in Hokkaido is manufactured in Hokkaido.
Foreign company(s) operating in the industry
Hokkaido is pursuing the sophisticated technological capability demanded by companies expanding worldwide and is actively establishing itself as a technological center for software development, etc. In 2006 the Japanese arm of the global management consulting firm Accenture established its system development center in Sapporo.
With the background of low risk in natural disasters and ease of recruiting, the Japanese arm of a French insurance/asset management group, AXA established Sapporo Headquarters in November 2014, to diversify risks in its headquarters' functions.
Available incentives
The Government of Hokkaido has enacted the Hokkaido Code on Industrial Promotion, which aims to encourage businesses to locate branches in the prefecture. Subsidies of up to 1.5 billion yen (for automotive-related industries) are available for automotive-related industries, electrical and electronics manufacturing industries, food industries, plant factories and new-energy industries. Subsidies of up to 10 million yen are also available in 2014 for transferring headquarters' functions.
- Industrial location guide: Business Location Guidebook Hokkaido
