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The Wakayama Prefectural CIR Website |
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| Business Incentives |  |
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In many ways Wakayama Prefecture is an ideal location for business. It has natural and cultural attractions, agricultural and marine natural resources, established iron, steel, chemical and other material manufacturing industries, developing textile, lumber and leather industries, a favorable jobs-to-applicants ratio (0.79 for March 2006), a pleasant climate, long daylight hours, and land costs of about a third of Osaka’s. It’s also close to Kansai International Airport and the major markets of Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe. Despite all this, Wakayama has ranked among the lowest Prefectures in the country in terms of attracting new businesses. So, taking advantage of Japan’s recent economic and industrial recovery, Wakayama launched an audacious new business incentive system in an effort to draw attention to the favorable business conditions in the prefecture.
For details on the subsidy, tax incentive and financing systems, visit this page of the official website. Here is a quick summary of the subsidy system: Businesses that build or occupy facilities in Wakayama are eligible for a 10 to 20 percent subsidy on their fixed asset investment. This doesn’t include the price they pay for land, which is already offered at extremely competitive rates. So, for example, if a business invests 45 billion yen building a large factory in Wakayama, it will receive a subsidy of 20 percent, or 9 billion yen. Businesses in Wakayama are also eligible for a 300,000 to 500,000 yen subsidy for every new employee they hire in the first 3 years. So if the abovementioned factory hires 2000 employees in the first 3 years it will receive an employment subsidy of 2000 times 500,000 yen, or 1 billion yen. That brings the total subsidy for said factory to 10 billion yen. This is the largest amount that is available in any prefecture in the country. There are many additional incentives for new businesses including favorable appraisal land values, further subsidies for IT related industries, and comprehensive support from the Prefectural Government’s New Business Promotions Division and Tokyo Office. For more information visit their site or contact them directly.
Click on the numbers below to see a brief summary of each business location. You can also access them from the sidebar on the right. More detailed information about some of the locations below, as well as several others, can be found at the New Business Promotions Division's Industrial Sites Menu.
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Page design by Julian Richards and Francisco Alcantara, 2006