Japanese companies visit Bavaria

The delegation from the Japanese KOUKENKAI network included around 70 CEO-level representatives from Japanese companies. Led by Dr. Kenichi Ohmae, the former Managing Director of McKinsey in Japan, the Japanese KOUKENKAI network is taking the opportunity to visit the German cities Stuttgart and Munich during its annual study trip.

Other Japanese companies in Bavaria and members of Mitokai, the Economic Division of the Japan Club Munich, were also part of the reception that took place in front of the historic backdrop of the Ludwig-Erhard Festsaal in the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Dr. Johann Niggl, Head of Invest in Bavaria, the Business Promotion Agency of the Free State of Bavaria, welcomed the participants and informed on the prospects for Japanese companies in Bavaria. Numerous participants from the Japanese economy in Bavaria seized the opportunity to talk to the Japanese Consul General, Mr Akira Mizutani, and the world-renowned economic expert Dr. Kenichi Ohmae. The Bavarian representative Dr. Christian Geltinger and his Senior Adviser Dr. Youku Mochida had travelled from Tokyo especially for the event.

In addition to the USA, China, Russia and India, Japan has established itself in recent years as one of the states with the most business settlement and expansion projects.

Bavaria is now home to about 330 branches of Japanese companies and around 6,500 Japanese citizens currently live here, of whom roughly 3,600 live in Munich and 300 in Nuremberg. This makes the state a real centre for Japanese people in Germany. The first foreign representative office of Bavaria in Japan is celebrating its 25-year anniversary in 2013.

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