Data on spatiotemporal patterns of the foundation of Japanese companies in China from 1980-2016

This data article provides spatiotemporal patterns of the foundation of Japanese companies in China. The data for companies in the food manufacturing, wholesaling, and service industries were collected from published lists of Chinese companies founded through the investment of Japanese companies. The data are provided in a matrix heatmap format, a two-dimensional visualization of data using color to represent the magnitude of two variables: year of foundation and area in China where the company is located.