Japanese Prime Minister Talks up Japan’s Web3, NFT Focus at Investors Summit

The Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has stated that Web3-related growth – including metaverse and non-fungible token (NFT)-related developments – will be part of the nation’s growth strategy going forward, and called on British business leaders to back his project.

Kishida, CoinPost reported, made a speech to bankers and professional investors at London’s Guildhall, where he stated that his government would be making “institutional reforms” that would “create an environment” that “facilitates” the creation of new services – including Web3-related infrastructure.

In East Asian nations, such as Japan and South Korea, successive governments have pumped public funds and resources into developing the tech sector – a fact that has led to the development of some of the world’s biggest IT-related companies, such as Japan’s Sony and South Korea’s Samsung.

Kishida expanded on his plans, speaking of the need to “attract private investment and redistribute wealth” as part of a “new form of capitalism” – inviting UK investigators to “invest in Kishida.”

The Prime Minister added that he intended to “create new markets” and funnel investment into “science and technology” and innovation,” as well as “startup investment,” and the digital sphere.

During the part of his talk that focused on digital investment, the PM remarked:

“[We will focus on] the promotion of Web3 such as blockchain, NFT, and the metaverse. We will realize a society where new services can easily be created.”

The comments build on the Digital Japan 2022 white paper, a document created by the Digital Society Promotion unit of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in March this year. The same document made reference to the NFT market as a growth engine of the Web3 movement.

Following the creation of the document, members of the party and opposition parties expressed concern that “promising startup companies” and talent from Japan have relocated overseas due to issues such as over-regulation and restrictive tax rules over the past few years.

Kishida’s speech comes just weeks after he held a summit with the former Digital Transformation Minister Masaaki Taira, the founder of the party’s NFT taskforce that visited the Prime Minister’s Office, along with another former Digital Transformation Minister, Takuya Hirai. The trio discussed Web3, blockchain-related technology, and NFT policies.

The taskforce has previously urged the government to create a new ministry in charge of Web 3 development.
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