Indian drug makers are queuing up in Japan trying to get a first mover's advantage in a market, which is set to open its doors especially for generic pharmaceutical companies as they plan to flood the land of the rising sun with cheaper versions of blockbuster drugs.

Mehta Partners’ Tarun Shah believes that with Daichi bagging Ranbaxy a whole new world gets open up and now the regulatory environment is also changing for the better.

"There are a lot of opportunities for us in the biopharma space. I want to tap that through collaborations," said Mani Iyer, Intas Biopharma.

On the other hand Calyx Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals President (R&D) Bansi Lal sees a good opportunity for his company in APIs and CRAMS sectors.

But cracking the Japanese code is not easy with price controls and a historical bias against generics but players say change is slow and suttle but a surety.

"It is a slow market but Japan is too big a market for any Indian to ignore," pointed out Ravinder S. Singha, President-Generic Forms, Jubilant Organosys.

But its not just a one way street as the subsidy regime in Japan gets revised, the pharma companies are looking at low cost markets like India. But at the same time controversies surrounding Ranbaxy in the US courts is making them wary.

But the Japanese market is set to triple in next 5 yrs to $5 billion capturing 30 per cent of the overall market. No wonder, for most Indian players it is Tokyo where all the major money is.