The idea has raised eyebrows among foreign fund managers in the region whose biggest complaint about Tokyo is often not the lack of a decent office or apartment but high taxes and strict regulations.

Yuji Yamamoto, the minister for financial services, recently unveiled a plan for Tokyo's own version of London's Canary Wharf, a gleaming skyscraper banking district in once-derelict British docklands.

High-rise offices with 24-hour access and onsite health clubs would be developed along with housing complexes to encourage foreign banks to cluster in the area in the capital around the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Bank of Japan.

But Yamamoto did not say whether Japan would tackle high taxes and red tape, the most common complaints about Tokyo from fund managers, many of whom opt to work in Singapore or Hong Kong instead even if they manage Japanese stocks.

"Building buildings doesn't create a financial system," said one fund manager based in Singapore who asked not to be named because it could be bad for business.

"Japan has an unfavourable tax regime both for financial products and the individual. The overall operating environment in Japan is unfavourable because there is a deep suspicion of capitalism," he added.