ICT sector in Japan

Female working on her laptop

This industry is rapidly developing in Japan as companies recognise the importance of smart technologies as well as cyber space and the opportunities around it to grow business.

Market overview

The Big Data market is growing rapidly, reaching GBP1.2 billion in 2011 and is forecast to expand to GBP4.2 billion in 2017, a report by Yano Research showed. Japan’s vendors are looking at specialisation as a way to gain competitive advantage, for Big Data management and analysis. This market consists of Servers, Storage, Networks, Software and Services.

The M2M (Machine to Machine) market will see 15 million wireless connections in 2014 and 28 million wireless connections by 2017, as reported by Techno Systems Research. The core fields include remote control, infrastructure, security, field management, location management for automotive, credit transaction management and healthcare solutions.

In the Cyber Security industry, the internet, which has become a social infrastructure, has not only made clear the necessity of international regulation of cyberspace, but has exposed a variety of challenges. The severity of damage from cyber-attacks has worsened and the need for protection measures of personal information is an area of concern for Japanese companies.

The Home Energy Management System (HEMS) and Building Energy Management System (BEMS) markets were valued at GBP 600 million in 2011. They are expected to grow to GBP 1 billion in 2020. The key areas are mainly in energy saving monitoring and security management.

Key opportunities

The key opportunities for UK companies in Japan are around the following industries:

Big Data

Advanced wireless communication technologies
Cloud services and social services
M2M communication

Smart Technologies

Energy efficient medical/healthcare relating devices
Low power devices and software/IP for surveillance, security and monitoring
Distribution management software
Software and hardware of small cell network

Cyber Security

Internet security appliances
Cyber security and embedded control systems

Energy Management

Security: information security for consumer device
Surveillance: camera, monitoring, image processing
Control software: transaction management
High speed wireless: video transfer
Battery management: low consumption
Energy management: generation-distribution-storage

Open Source software

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Latest export opportunities in the ICT sector

Latest export opportunities in Japan

Getting into the market

It is hard to remotely manage Japanese business and finding a right partner to eliminate barriers of culture, language, customer support and physical distance is the key to success. It tends to take time to gain business compared to other markets and a long term relationship and vision is crucial.

There are several ways to do business:

Product selling
IP licence
OEM
Joint development
Joint marketing and selling worldwide from Japan

More about doing business in Japan

Contacts

Market intelligence is critical when doing business overseas, and UKTI can provide bespoke market research and support during overseas visits though our chargeable Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS).

To commission research or for general advice about the market, get in touch with our specialists in country – or contact your local international trade team.

Hirokuni Miyamatsu, British Consulate General Osaka; Tel: + 81 (0) 66120 5600; Email: hirokuni.miyamatsu@fco.gov.uk
Etsuo Watanabe, British Consulate General Osaka; Tel: +81 (0) 3 5122 1151Email: etsuo.watanabe@fco.gov.uk

UKTI Events

UKTI runs a range of events for exporters, including seminars in the UK, trade missions to overseas markets and support for attendance at overseas trade shows.

Latest events in ICT sector

Major Events

Ad-Tech Digital Marketing

18-19 September 2013

http://adtech-tokyo.com/en/

Smart Network Expo

25-27 September 2013

http://sma-net.jp/english/index.html

CEATEC – largest exhibition for IT & Electronics

1-5 October 2013

www.ceatec.com/2013/en/application/index.html

ITpro Expo including Smart Phone, Big data and Security