Johor Bahru has the third largest cinema box office ratings in the country after Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

The Malaysia's biggest Swiss-Garden Hotel will be located in Permas Jaya, a suburb east of Johor Bahru city. The 500-room hotel, to be ready in 1998, will be a three or four star hotel.

The State Government of Johor is the first and only state in the country that designate every Saturday as the day for heads of government departments to meet the general public to get feedback and complains.

Pasir Gudang Local Authority (PGLA) is the first local council in the country to be awarded the ISO 9002 certification.  PGLA is currently operated by Johor Corporation and within it's jurisdiction area contains the state's industrial township, Pasir Gudang and the country's third largest port, the Johor Port.

The RM3 billion Leisure Farm in Bandar Baru Nusajaya (Nusajaya New Town), west of Johor Bahru city has Malaysia's largest and most attractive show bungalows.

West of Johor Bahru lies Pulau Kukup (Kukup Island), which is identified as the world's largest mangrove island that covers an area of 1,240 hectares.  It has been proposed to be developed into the country's largest natural tourist attraction after a study conducted by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's (University of Technology, Malaysia) Institute of Environmental Studies.

A serious attempt is being made to bring back the giant clams, the world largest shellfish which were once a common sight in the shallow coral reef waters off Johor.  Universiti Sains Malaysia (University of Science, Malaysia) has been entrusted RM400,000 grant from the State Government of Johor to carry out the exercise within three years.

In the vicinity of Johor Bahru city at Pengerang lies Malaysia's second largest naval base: Tanjung Pengelih Naval Base.  It is a 100 hectares facility equipped with a radar station and an observation tower.

In October 1996, the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (University of Technology, Malaysia) north of Johor Bahru city in Kulai researched and developed Malaysia's first solar-powered car, Suria Kar 2020.

Johor Bahru became the first city in Malaysia to launch double-storey linked bungalows when Bandar Putra (Putra Township), a satellite town north-west of Johor Bahru city introduced it during September 1997.  Double-storey linked bungalows is a marriage between traditional bungalow and semi-detached house.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (University of Technology, Malaysia) invented in the country's first automated water forecasting model which is capable of predicting the amount of water supply in catchment areas for 12 months.  The mathematical model is now being tested at the Sungai Johor (Johor River) and Sungai Layang (Layang River) Water Treatment Plant.  The cost of each water forecasting system cost up to RM600,000.  Reported by a local newspaper in April 1998.

A group of lecturers and administrators from Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia (University of Technology, Malaysia) in Kulai, Johor Bahru did the nation proud by bringing home the Cober Peddy Opal Cup (Class A) which they won in the World Solar Cycle Challenge.  Malaysia participated for the first time in the 10-day race held in Australia.
The seven-member team emerged champion in the Class A category for standard bicycle and achieved fifth placing overall.

Ryoshindoh Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd. has invested RM33mil in its copper and copper alloy plant in Johor, the first in the Asia-Pacific region outside Japan.  The plant is among just eight in the world — four in Japan and three in Europe — producing copper and copper alloy dual-gauge strip.  The high-precision dual-gauge strip was used mainly as transistor and connector in electrical parts, building and tube materials as well as computers and mobile phones.

The Sungai Johor (Johor River) Water Treatment Plant became the first water treatment plant in the country to be awarded the ISO 9002 certificate for it's excellent management system in April 1998.  This plant is operated by Johor Bahru's water supply privatisation concessionaire and operator, Equiventures Sdn. Bhd.

Johor Port in Pasir Gudang, east of Johor Bahru city installed South East Asia's first rubber tube conveyor system for the efficient and environmentally friendly handling of cement, gypsum and clinkers.