Our territory covers southwestern Japan including the Kyushu region (Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Oita and Saga prefectures) and Okinawa, the Chugoku Region (Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori and Yamaguchi prefectures), and the Shikoku region (Ehime, Kagawa, Kochi and Tokushima prefectures),

These regions hold significant economic importance in Japan. The Kyushu region, which includes the cities of Fukuoka and Kitakyushu, has a population of over 15 million people and a GDP larger than South Korea or Taiwan, and nearly the same as Australia. The Chugoku region, with Hiroshima at its core, has a population of around 8 million people with a GDP larger than Sweden or Belgium.

The Canadian Government Trade Office, West Japan is small (3 people) and we concentrate our efforts on trade promotion in the following sectors:

• agri-food, seafood and beverages;
• value-added building materials and construction;
• consumer goods; and
• alternative energy and fuel cells.

Over the years, we have found that in the Kyushu region these were sectors in which local companies (mostly SMEs) were most likely to be interested in direct imports, whereas in the Chugoku region, companies are often more interested in buying from importers and distributors of Canadian products already in Japan.

There are also opportunities in other sectors (i.e. ICT, biotechnology, environmental technology) and we will be happy to assist you with the support of our colleagues in the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo.

Priority Sectors

• Advanced Materials
• Aerospace & Defence
• Agriculture, Food & Beverages
• Environmental Industries
• Information & Communications Technologies