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Young Japanese show increasing interest in setting up businesses in Hong Kong, country’s consul general says

Statistics reveal that more Japanese are coming to Hong Kong, with particular interest in setting up shop in the food business, health care and research

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Kuninori Matsuda points to greater Japanese interest in Hong Kong. Photo: Jonathan Wong

A growing number of Japanese – especially younger people – are rediscovering Hong Kong as a place for starting businesses, according to the country’s latest residency figures.

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Japan’s top diplomat in Hong Kong, Kuninori Matsuda, told the South China Morning Post that more young Japanese were becoming interested in the city, with more small and medium-sized companies looking to set up businesses in food-related industries and seeing it as an entry point into mainland China.

More Japanese were also interested in emerging sectors like health care for the elderly and research and development, he said.

The number of Japanese foreign residents in Hong Kong declined over the past decade but a rebound appears to be taking place.

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Although the number of Japanese foreign residents physically present in the city more than halved from 9,808 in December 2007 to 4,276 last December, it spiked to 6,905 in August, figures from the Immigration Department show.

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