Nov 24- Nov 29, a Japanese delegation on high-tech innovation paid a visit to a group of industrial parks and institutes in Chinese cities Nanjing, Hangzhou and Jinhua, in an effort to see the potential in the Chinese market and seek chances of cooperation in the fields of blockchain, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data as well as big health.

The members of the delegation include renowned Japanese investors, well-known financial cliques and entrepreneurs as well as well-known figures in politics and business.

8btc News, as the invited blockchain media to conduct interviews with the delegation, would present their opinions on blockchain development and investment in the Chinese market as well as regulations on blockchain in the two neighboring countries.

Mr. Tatsu Tomita is the chairman of Union Capital Group Japan. It is a Swiss-based global investment company managing 3.5 trillion yen worth asset with its own funds and banks located in Singapore, Japan, Europe and Cayman. This is Tomita’s first visit to China, hoping to know more about the business environment in the country and seek chances of cooperation. He would also seek partnership on fund cooperation on behalf of Japan Post Bank.

Tomita told 8btc that Japan has been one step behind many Western countries in blockchain development, and many are still in the stage of labs. Traditional investors prefer investing in “visible” things such as real estate, stocks of listed companies and projects with high quality. At the same time, they are also very optimistic about the prospect of blockchain. Tomita said, “we are bullish for medical plus blockchain”. They had a medical+blockchain project which has the most comprehensive information on doctors and patients in Japan, aiming to eliminate the information asymmetry between doctors and patients.

Unlike Tomita, Shota Awata has been to China many times and regards China as his “second homeland”. As the successor of Toridoll Corp., of which the famous brand Marukame ramen has more than 5,000 branches worldwide with an annual turnover of over 700 billion.

“The first time I came to China five years ago, I felt the Chinese people were very energetic, their life was full of sunshine and hope; we Japanese, however, did not have such vitality. This impression deepened during this trip. The talent base, funds and development in technologies in the country are very attractive to me.”

The successor of one of Japan’s largest financial clique came across blockchain five years ago, but began to participate in the investment and operation of blockchain projects just these two years when blockchain became a buzzword.

“Blockchain is quite novel and compelling. I want to use this technology to do something interesting. At present, ICO (initial coin offering) is not allowed in Japan, like the case in China, (so) many projects have been moving out of the country. I am very much looking forward to the gradual opening up of regulations and policies.”

Ogasawara is the only member in the delegation with legal background. He is a legal advisor to the Japan Blockchain Association (JBA, a non-governmental organization under FSA) and a member of Cryptocurrency Legislative Committee at Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA, the financial regulator of Japan), having participated in the regulation formulation of the crypto industry for many times.

Since the beginning of this year, FSA has held eight seminars on digital currency trading business, discussing issues covering ICO, business license, wallet and STO (securities token offering). Speaking of the recent buzzword STO, Ogasawara said,

“Up to now, there is no STO case happened in Japan, but the future is beyond imagination.”

Seeing that China has invested a lot of funds in building blockchain industrial park, Mr.Ogasawara was confused, saying “China has blocked the fund inflow by banning ICO just like Japan, but the country invests great amount of money into building industrial parks. This is unthinkable in Japan.”

Naoto Yoshida is the president of Eole Inc., which is a well-known Japanese headhunting firm; one in every three local college students are using its service. Mr. Yoshida is also a pioneer in the Japanese gaming industry, and he treats this trip as a chance to look for cooperation that could combine related industries such as IP and content culture.

He is also quite interested in blockchain plus content, and has been involved in the development of a career role swap project. He told 8btc that via blockchain technology and related mechanism design, creators have the incentive to create better works and could get rewards, and players can also get incentives, in which way, better interactions between creation and use are formed. If there’s any related blockchain + content projects in China, he is very willing to work together in this area space.

The organizer of this visit said the mutual visits could promote bilateral understanding and facilitate the empowerment of blockchain to substantial industry. Liu Dong, director of the Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce in Japan, responsible for negotiation with domestic resources of this trip, told 8btc that the blockchain development in the Yangtze River Delta has attracted much attention of Japanese practitioners, especially after the rollout of many preferential policies as Hangzhou aims to “build the first city of digital economy”. It is conducive to the accumulation of resources and promotes the development of the industry as a whole.