Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said during a policy address on Monday, 3rd October 2022 that the country’s plans to invest in digital transformation include non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and metaverse services. Japan has been encouraging investment in digital technology through tax incentives for firms that embrace a digital future.
In his address to the Japanese parliament, Kishida said the country would continue to support the social implementation of digital technology and promote Web3 services that utilise the metaverse and NFTs. Web3 has been implemented in Japan following a trend of officials taking steps to implement Web3-based services rather than following a common bureaucratic method in policymaking.
The Web3 policy office under the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) has been working on creating policies to expand blockchain technology in Japan. The country's blockchain expansion will be facilitated by the Web3 policy office within METI.
In April, an “NFT White Paper” was launched by Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party and led by Akihisa Shiozaki, which described Web3 as the “new frontier of the digital economy” and discussed how the national Web3 strategy would be advanced. METI is reportedly planning to offer tax incentives to Japanese crypto companies in order to entice them to remain in Japan and fuel the country's expanding Web3 business.
