INTERNATIONAL TRADE

New Silicon Valley?: Japanese companies’ appetite for U.S. high-technology companies will continue to rise despite upheavals in Japan’s financial markets, according to a lawyer who specializes in Japan-U.S. mergers and acquisitions.

Lisa M. Kitsuta, a Newport Beach attorney who met last week with executives from Japan’s top companies in Tokyo and Osaka, said she noticed “a tremendous interest in Orange County by Japanese companies” during her visit.

“They are extremely knowledgeable of the county, which to them is the new Silicon Valley,” she said.

Kitsuta said the Japanese executives were particularly interested in acquiring or investing in companies in the biotechnology, supercomputer and semiconductor fields.

And while Japanese companies’ appetite for U.S. real estate has been dampened by upheavals in Tokyo’s financial markets and a weakening of the yen against the dollar, Kitsuta said there remains strong interest in Orange County real estate.