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The EU-Japan EPA grants access to professionals beyond what is secured by GATS. There are no quotas for business visitors for establishment purposes, intra-corporate transferees or investors from the European Union entering Japan. Professionals of the EU covered by 8-B Annex III are generally tied to EU-based employers.

The authors of this report developed a series of tools and techniques for perfecting ways of navigating virtual communication and interaction with Japanese partners. At any stage in a business relationship and whatever the precise business format both European and Japanese companies will benefit from those insights into Japanese strategic and tactical thinking.

The aim of this report is to present an overview of trends and opportunities on the Japanese jewellery market, drawn from the experiences of European companies, and to deliver strategic insight, tactical guidance and real-life examples of how to succeed in the Japanese jewellery market.

Japan spends consistently over 3% of its GDP on R&D, of which some 70% come from industry. Concerning biotech-related R&D, more than half is directed towards pharmaceutical and medical goals, but agricultural, industrial and environmental biotech are recently getting more attention in view of a future “bioeconomy” based on “smart cells” and a better integration of biological and digital innovations.

Japan society has been late in digitisation, but the government tries to speed this up, among other things, to reduce the cost of health care. This is an excellent opportunity for EU companies with exciting solutions.

Three French companies – hydrogen taxi company Hype, industrial gas supplier Air Liquide, and energy supplier Idex – joined forces with Japanese car manufacturer Toyota Motor in 2019 to form HysetCo, a joint-venture determined to bring a change to the mobility landscape. Together, they deploy in Paris the world’s largest fleet of hydrogen taxis.

The report focuses primarily on the balance of trade between Japan, the EU and its constituent Member States in 2020. The report begins by analyzing Japanese trade with the EU as a whole (both for goods and services) and then provides a country-by-country analysis for each individual EU Member States.

In 2013, two years after the nuclear accident of Fukushima, the recently founded Japanese renewable energy developer and supplier Shizen Energy established a joint-venture with juwi, a German leader that started building wind and solar farms in 1996. Together, the companies developed nearly 70 renewable energy plans in Japan, and are working on increasingly ambitious projects, adapting their model to the geographic conditions of Japan and the evolution of the local market.