Japanese Forwarders’ Local Import Hub in Asia: 3PL Power and Environmental Improvement

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate by an econometric method which countries or regions in Asia are superior import hubs for Japan based on two axes, the third party logistics (3PL) business power of Japanese local forwarders and the logistical environment catch-up speed of these countries. According to the estimated results, this simple model can explain the structural changes in China's logistics based on its WTO accession and can develop Japanese forwarders’ stable import hub ranking by suggesting total optimization in the East Asian NIES (newly industrial economies) and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Countries) districts by Japanese forwarders.