Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, a body widely seen to be overly protective of domestic companies, is pushing for tax reforms to encourage more foreign funds to invest in Japan.

The ministry also wants to set up a forum to bring foreign fund managers face to face with the Japanese executives who often fear them. The moves reflect an apparent change of stance by Meti, which this year used national security objections to block a bid by The Children’s Investment Fund, the UK-based hedge fund group, to raise its stake in the electricity wholesaler J-Power to 20 per cent.