Unlike their US and EU counterparts, Japanese corporations have so far been considered as late movers in tapping the BOP market with innovative, inclusive and profitable business models. However, this trend has been fast changing as the Japanese government, through bodies like Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO), has been trying to identify opportunities for the Japanese private sector to enter BOP markets in developing economies and ways to combine Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) programs with BOP business projects. The result of such initiatives, according to a study in 2010-11 by Carla Bringas, a Peruvian Masters student at the Tsukuba University, show that Japanese companies are highly interested to enter the BOP market.

The study termed “Does BoP business approach fit in the Japanese framework? : Japanese private businesses searching for new markets while contributing to the reduction of poverty”, stresses that time is ripe for Japanese companies to strengthen partnerships with the public sector to implement innovative business models tailor made for BOP needs, engaging this population as consumers, employees and producers. The study highlights the role of the METI, JICA and JITRO in fostering such strong win-win public-private partnerships and that of the ODA in serving as a catalyst for attracting and mobilizing funds for their implementation. The study also cites success stories of Japanese companies in building sustainable BOP business models and provides a compilation of BOP business promotion projects announced by JICA in 2010 and JETRO’s pilot demonstration projects for development and import schemes till 2010.