Japanese capital to turn Asian farm-produce hub into reality  Japanese investors have shown great interest in agricultural projects in Vietnam, especially those in the Central Highlands city of Da Lat.   The representative of DI, a Japanese consultancy firm, said at a workshop in Da Lat in March 2015 that Lam Dong province and Da Lat City in particular can turn into a leading agricultural production complex which makes produce, especially vegetables and flowers, for export to Japan. According to DI, nearly 70 percent of Japan’s vegetable imports and 60 percent of flower imports are from Asian countries. Thanh Nien reported that Japanese investors have expressed their intention to develop Da Lat into a clean vegetable-growing area in Asia. In February 2015, ISE Food expressed its willingness to seek Vietnamese partners to transfer technology for farming egg-laying hens in HCM City. In mid-March 2015, the delegation of Saitama provincial authorities and businessmen had a working session with HCM City authorities to develop vegetable growing and food packing projects. Yasuzumi Hirotaka, managing director of the Japan External Trade Organization in HCM City, noted that Japanese interest in the agricultural sector in Vietnam is very high. The Japanese labor force in agriculture just accounts for 4 percent of the population, and the majority of them are old. Japanese enterprises, which feel pressure from tax reductions and a reduced labor force, now have to make investments overseas to improve their competitiveness. The existence of a system of 300 Japanese restaurants in Vietnam also attracts Japanese investors to Vietnam. Meanwhile, Pham Manh Kha, an agronomist, noted that Vietnamese will get big benefits cooperating with Japanese investors. They will have opportunities to export their products to choosy markets. In 2014, Always and Veggy, the two Japanese companies that visited Vinh Phuc province in the north, suggested developing a project to provide clean water to Japanese restaurants in Vietnam and to export to Japan, which is expected to obtain revenue of $1 million in the first year. In the second phase of the project, the vegetable growing area will be 50 hectares instead of 5-10 hectares. Tran Kim Long, a senior official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Development, confirmed that agriculture is the sector which now attracts investors from Japan and South Korea. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), Vietnam had attracted 530 foreign invested projects in the agricultural sector by May 2015 with total registered capital of $3.7 billion, which accounted for 2.9 percent of total projects and 1.4 percent of total investment capital, each of which has investment capital of $7 million. DNSG