History of overseas strategies of Japanese firms can be divided into three periods; until 1960's, when import and export were the main focus; from 1970's to the first half of 1980's, when establishing overseas bases was a major interest for clear purposes of reducing labor cost, averting trade conflicts, or securing natural resources; and after 1985, when strategy started to be formulated from more global viewpoint in order to cope with new situation arising from stronger yen and Japan having become one of the largest creditor nations in the world. In the globalization strategy, optimum sourcing of management resources in the world, such as men, materials, money, and information, is not enough; they must be utilized with maximum efficiency. In order to achieve this, the whole company group including overseas subsidiaries must be vitalized. In formulating and implementing a vitalization strategy, the following good cycle must be realized: business philosophy based on respect for humanity + clear long-term objective of the company for survival and growth → collection of information from reliable people → appropriate location of overseas subsidiaries → management and vitalization of the company group as a whole updating and expanding information by further information collection activity → establishment of new overseas subsidiaries and their management → collection of new information →…