For this reason, as part of the Japan Revitalization Strategy, to promote the entry of Japanese project stakeholders into international markets for transport and urban development projects, 58.5 billion Japanese yen will be earmarked for industrial investment within budgetary financing, addressing demand risk, and establish the “Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport & Urban Development. (hereafter JOIN)” to integrate “investment” and “project participation” as per requisite laws establishing the framework passed in April 2014.

JOIN will provide funding and other investments to local project owners in cooperation with Japanese companies as well as dispatch personnel such as executives and engineers in addition to conducting negotiations with the partner country. Also, since the international promotion of infrastructure systems is an important national policy, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and other ministers involved will coordinate to manage JOIN appropriately.

2) Additionally, an “Overseas Construction Hotline” was established within MLIT to respond to inquiries from Japanese companies for issues faced regarding construction technology and construction management in the context of international construction projects. Also, the inquiries made are used as feedback for things such as discussions with partner country governments so that Japanese construction companies can expand overseas reliably.

3) Furthermore, along with the expansion of the overseas construction market database, the collection of construction industry information from Overseas Establishments, and implementation of strategy formulation for construction and real estate companies to participate in international PPP projects, laws and regulations that foster a business environment conducive to Japanese construction and real estate companies are being developed to support these efforts.

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## Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport & Urban Development

Japan is facing a declining birthrate and aging society ahead of the world and in order to continue medium to long term economic growth, it is becoming increasingly important to be competitive in the ever growing and expanding international market. In particular, the global infrastructure market is expected to grow further due to rapid urbanization and economic growth. Since it is difficult to satisfy such a large demand with public investments alone, in recent years, operational projects utilizing PPP that take advantage of private sector finances and expertise and this is becoming a major business opportunity for private sector companies around the world.

Under the “Japan Revitalization Strategy (Cabinet decision June 14, 2013)”, a target of achieving 30 trillion yen in infrastructure system orders by 2020 was set and the promotion will be undertaken through the joint efforts of the public and private sector. Operation type projects in the sectors of transport and urban development come with expectations of long-term returns, but on the other hand it has characteristics such as long development terms, demand risks during the operations phase, and the influence of local government, requiring appropriate measures which are obstacles for the participation of Japanese companies.

Within the private sector there is increased interest in expanding into international infrastructure systems. At the “Advisory Panel of Experts Meeting for the Promotion of International Expansion for Infrastructure (Chaired by Professor Hitoshi Ieda)” hosted by MLIT, the discussions compiled February 2013 reflected opinions from private sector experts that policies to reduce project risk were needed.

Based on these government policies and private sector needs, MLIT is moving forward with the initiative of establishing the “Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport & Urban Development. (hereafter JOIN)” to integrate “investment” and “project participation” for international transport and urban development projects. The national budget for JOIN includes provisions of 109.5 billion yen (58.5 billion yen in industrial investment Note $ ^{1} $ , 51 billion yen government guarantee Note $ ^{2} $ ) in the 2014 Fiscal Investment and Loan Program. Also a law for the founding of JOIN was established in April 2014.

JOIN aims to promote the expansion of Japanese companies into international markets for transport and urban development through assistance listed below for the purpose of contributing to the