Astra, among a few Philippine-based software firms, joined the May 16-18 Software Development Expo and Conference (SODEC) 2007 at the Tokyo Big Sight in Japan.
With Japan's rising labor cost and shortage in manpower, the country's offshore outsourcing for software development is seen to grow an average of 5% to 8% annually, this makes Japan a huge market for foreign service providers like the Philippines.
After many years of bringing their software development needs to countries like China and India, Japanese companies are currently looking for other countries that can provide more cost efficient and value-added services.
The country's participation in the previous year's SODEC resulted in 113 trade inquiries, and generated sales of 1.6 million dollars.
(Lifted from eServices Philippines)