In Japan, as in Hong Kong, there is a real sense of economic revival taking shape. Such optimism in Hong Kong is fueled by the growth in the flow of people, funds and goods and services between Hong Kong, the mainland and Japan.
Recent business surveys indicate some 70 percent of Japanese companies are considering establishing a presence in China, either for marketing or production purposes. Increasingly, Japanese companies have found southern China, especially the greater Pearl River Delta (PRD) attractive.
Already some 3,000 Japanese businesses are operating in the PRD, and the numbers are increasing. Forty percent of those Japanese firms indicated that they chose the PRD because of its proximity to Hong Kong. Shenzhen and Dongguan, in the eastern half of the PRD, are within a two hours' drive. Key cities in the western part of the delta will soon be linked to Hong Kong within a two hours' reach when the bridge from Hong Kong to the western half of the PRD is completed in a few years.