Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made a public push to woo more foreign investment on Wednesday, pledging to further capital markets reform and promote asset management in a speech to hundreds of global investors at a Tokyo conference.

For the first time in decades, Japan is seen as an increasingly attractive market for global investors. It is emerging from years of deflation and efforts to improve corporate profits and governance are bearing fruit.

The benchmark Nikkei share average shattered its all-time high this year - a once unthinkable feat - and has been climbing since. The government is keen to capitalise on the wave of interest and wants to make Japan a global hub for the asset management industry.

Kishida told investors at a conference sponsored by Morgan Stanley in Tokyo that his administration was "committed to furthering financial capital market reform". The promotion of the asset management industry would be a pillar of that, he said. (Reporting by Anton Bridge; Editing by David Dolan)