Japan Beats Out U.S., Europe as Hardest Place to Do Business

More than half the foreign firms in Japan believe it is more difficult to do business there than in the United States and Europe, the government’s Fair Trade Commission said in a survey released today.

The survey, conducted last November among 1,274 firms that were at least 50% owned by foreigners, showed 50.4% of foreign firms complained that Japanese markets were harder to enter and required special business practices.

And 24.4% of the companies believed Japanese clients demanded too much in product quality.

The survey also found that 20.7% of the firms believed Japanese clients demanded more punctual and frequent delivery of goods than clients in other nations.