The Japanese government plans to cut the corporate tax rate by five percentage points over the next five years, bringing it to about the same level as Germany's 29.95% by 2020.
The move is part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's raft of economic reforms and is designed to stimulate the economy and to attract companies and investment from overseas.
Japan's current corporate tax rate is 34.62%, though businesses in Tokyo pay an effective rate of 35.64%.
The rate will drop by 2% this year, and next year the government plans a further cut to take the rate below France's rate of 33.33%.
