The Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, part of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, works with Canadian companies to help them expand their business to international markets. The office offers several free services: preparation for international markets, assessing one’s market potential, finding qualified contacts and resolving business problems abroad. Local offices in Canada can connect companies with Trade Commissioner’s posts abroad and help companies to connect directly with foreign companies.
With respect to opportunities in the sector, Charlotte Garay in the Toronto office commented, “With the deregulation of the Japanese electric market, this is a time of change in Japan. It can be a difficult market for new businesses, but can also potentially offer great rewards.”
An energy sector report written by Leslie Gill in the Trade Commissioner’s office in Japan makes the following observation:
“Japanese utilities have long been protected by regional monopolies and with the end of that system, the companies are eager to learn about products and services that have been successful in other deregulated and competitive markets. Canadian companies may find opportunities to work with existing and new entrants to the electric and gas markets by marketing technologies that will give users a competitive advantage as competition intensifies. For example, through its business relationship with Opower, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) was one of the first utilities to implement a cloud service that provides an online platform for its customers. Utilities have announced agreements with telecommunications companies or other gas or electric utilities to bundle services to retail clients, which require advanced cloud-based systems.”
The full report is available at http://www.tradecommissioner.gc.ca/eng/offices-japan.jsp > Market Reports > Energy – Tokyo, Japan (www.tradecommissioner.gc.ca/eng/document.jsp?did=161986&_requestid=2006393 )
Some other reports provide insight into the sector:
• Institute of Energy Economics Japan (an overview of the energy market): http://eneken.ieej.or.jp/en/
• Federation of Electric Power Companies in Japan (with links to all the electric utilities in Japan at the top of the home page): http://www.fepc.or.jp/english/
More information about the Trade Commissioner Service is available at www.tradecommissioner.gc.ca.
JETRO, the Japan external trade organization, also has a number of sector reports at www.jetro.go.jp/usa/investinjapan/industryinformation.html.