Introduction to U.S.-Japanese Investment

The legal environment for foreign investment in Japan has undergone sweeping changes in the past year, both in the Japanese domestic legislation and in the international law spheres. New international law commitments started with findings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about a year and a half ago that Japanese economic conditions warranted a relaxation of foreign exchange controls, and after the necessary adjustments, on March 12, 1964, Japan arranged to shift her IMF status from an Article XIV country to an Article VIII country, meaning essentially that thereafter her foreign exchange budget was abolished and her current accounts (i.e., import-export payments, interest, royalties, dividends, etc.) became freely convertible into foreign exchange. But quota allocations were instituted to serve as new import control mechanisms for all non-liberalized import items (8-10%) in place of the prior foreign exchange controls. In parallel negotiations Japan arranged to become a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) effective April 27, 1964.

Japan thus became the twenty-fifth Article VIII nation out of 105 IMF members, and the twenty-first member of OECD.