In the first three months, Japanese investors set up 221 firms in China, up 44.4 percent year on year, according to Gao Feng, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce.

In the first quarter, foreign direct investment in the Chinese mainland from Japan increased by 1.6 percent year on year to 1.09 billion U.S. dollars.

China has also made big investments in Japan. By the end of March, total direct investment in Japan had amounted to 3.5 billion dollars, covering various industries including manufacturing, financial services and telecommunications.

Bilateral trade has also seen stable development, with trade volume totaling 327.66 billion dollars last year, up 8.1 percent year on year, Gao said.