Japan is a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, located in East Asia. Sometimes it is also called the “land of the rising sun”. The population is spread all over the country, however more than 30 million people live in the Tokyo Metropolis area,  which is one of the largest cities in the world. Since 1868, Tokyo is the capital of Japan, seat of the Emperor of Japan as well as the Japanese government. It is highly ranked in the Global Economic Power and the Global Cities Index. Like the many high risers in town, the price index is sky rocketing and the public transport is one of the most crowed in the world (it´s really interesting to experience the Shinjuku Station in the morning of a business day).

The economy of Japan is the third-largest by nominal GDP. Japan is one of the world’s largest automobile manufacturing countries, has a large electronic goods industry and is ranked among the world’s most innovative countries based on global patent filings. Facing strong competition by China, Korea and other Asian countries, Japan´s focus is on high-tech products, such as optical instruments, hybrid vehicles, and robotics. Travelling through the country, this is one of the most important experiences: people value the tradition, spiritual habits AND modern technology. More than 10 million visitors are interested to see the country and go shopping, an increasing number of them are from China. In 2020, Japan invites guests from all over the world to enjoy the Summer Olympics.

Projects and programmes are performed in many sectors, e.g. growing the capacity for solar power, performing research projects and re-establishing nuclear power facilities . Despite the disaster of Fukushima, the government issued in 2013 the fourth Strategic Energy Plan, with a 20-year perspective, declaring the period until 2020 as a special stage to reform energy systems. According to that plan, nuclear energy is a key base-load power source and would continue to be utilized safely to achieve stable and affordable energy supply. Further investments are needed and performed through large-scale projects and programmes.

Concerning project management, Japan first followed the PMI approach. Later two association were established, SPM Society of Project Management (SPM) and PMAJ Project Management Association of Japan. SPM was already founded in 1999. It has more than 3000 individual and 150 corporate members, most of them are globally active corporations. Twice a year, an annual conference is held, in Tokyo or one of the six regions of SPM. Furthermore, SPM organizes ProMAC, a conference for international exchange in the field or project, programme and portfolio management. This year´s ProMAC will be held in Australia.  SPM is very active in the ISO/TC 258 and in national standards activities through the JSIC Japan Industrial Standards Committee In addition, SPM is closely connected to major Universities in the country and performs research activities, publishes white papers and articles in the field of project management. Next month, SPM will join IPMA and thus increase the international exchange of experiences, especially in the Asian-Pacific Region.

What is special about the Japanese project management? A study reveals interesting insights, based on research in construction, manufacturing and IT industries. It states that “Japanese companies experienced a deflationary depression in the 1990s.

To survive and regain their global competitiveness, the Japanese looked for solutions in the kaikaku (reforms or innovative reforms) of business management, organization and technology. Kaikaku Project Management (KPM) consists of three significant Japanese elements for successful performance: 3K – kakusin (innovation), kaihatsu (development) and kaizen (improvement). In organizational models, 3S (scheme, system, service) project models in terms of lifecycle in value creation paradigm are proposed, and KPM is the core management for integration and innovation by 3S/3K combined methodology… construction, manufacturing and IT industries practice the similar nature of project management style, but each with a different and unique approach; adjusting and fitting each idea nicely into their own industries based on relevancy, necessity and effectivity.” So it will be interesting to learn more about Japanese Project Management in future…