Despite Japan's moribund economy and stagnant consumption, many foreign firms are still keen to enter the Japanese market, with some eyeing the pharmaceutical and distribution industries.
Foreign direct investment in the form of capital participation or acquisitions set a record in fiscal 2000, which ended in March, for the third year in a row, according to analysts.
Overseas firms are taking advantage of the drawn out economic slump that has knocked prices of stock and real estate down from their high-flying levels of the past.