This report is prepared for expatriates and human resource staff to secure a smooth transition to Japan. It is explaining matters such as taxes and social security systems as well as the cost of living in Japan.

This report offers practical guidance to EU-based organisations that are considering investing in expatriate assignments as a means towards exploring and exploiting business opportunities in Japan.

In 2021, French agency ADEME and its Japanese counterpart NEDO celebrate 30 years of cooperation in the domain of R&D policies for energy and environment. They regularly organize joint seminars gathering representatives of companies and research institutes from both countries, covering topics such as clean hydrogen, renewable energy, circular economy and smart cities.

Odakyu Electric Railway, a major public transport company in Japan, established in 2019 a partnership with Spanish mobility start-up Shotl. Together, they are testing new on-demand transport services in the suburb of Tokyo, in order to reduce the need for individual cars and thus the emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants.

BayWa r.e., a leading global renewable energy company from Germany, successfully completed this year the construction of a solar park in Kagoshima Prefecture (Southwestern Japan). This renewable energy asset has been purchased by D&D Solar GK, a new joint venture created by Osaka Gas and the Development Bank of Japan. Over the last ten years, an increasing number of European companies have been sharing their expertise in renewable energy development, to the benefit of energy transition in Japan.

METRON, a French startup founded to reduce energy costs and carbon footprint in industrial facilities, partnered in 2019 and 2020 with NTT DOCOMO Ventures and NTT Facilities, two companies of NTT Group, main telecommunication group in Japan. Together, they aim at using artificial intelligence and big data to improve energy efficiency in Japanese industries.

Vestas Wind Systems, a Danish leader in wind turbines manufacturing, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, one of the world’s largest industrial firms, joined forces in 2014 to establish MHI Vestas, a joint venture aiming at becoming a leading player in the offshore wind industry. MHI Vestas now hires more than 3000 people, has offshore turbines in operation in several European countries, and registered its first orders in Asia. Late 2020, the partnership evolved with new perspectives in wind energy and green hydrogen.

Japan’s annual domestic production of olive oil is limited at about 45 tonnes (2020). Japan cannot meet the internal demand and imports more than 99% of the domestic consumption. In 2020, Japan imported about 70,000 tonnes. The EU supplies the majority of the imports; 96% of total imports in 2020. The main EU exporters are Spain and Italy that together have a market share of about 94%.