Japanese mid-sized firms flocking to South-east Asia for growth

[KUALA LUMPUR] For decades, Japan's mid-sized companies built their businesses around a stable domestic market. Now, faced with a shrinking population, a labour shortage and slowing growth at home, many are increasingly looking overseas - not out of ambition, but necessity. Yusuke Ojima, corporate officer and head of the overseas division at Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Nihon M&A Center, observed that South-east Asian countries are gaining traction amid this wave of Japanese "capital exports". Citing a survey by the Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro) released last year, he noted that 43.8 per cent of Japanese-affiliated companies already in Asia and Oceania plan to expand further.