With Laos posting economic growth of 6 to 8 percent in recent years, a growing number of Japanese companies have invested in the country as a "Plus-One" location to avert the risk of concentrating too much in neighboring Thailand and China.

Surging labor costs in China, especially in major cities, and the floods in 2011 and continuing political turmoil in Thailand have led to an increase in the number of Japanese investors in Laos to 60 last month from 27 in November 2009, according to Japanese data.

The latest investors include Nikon Corp. and Toyota Boshoku Corp., a group company of Toyota Motor Corp., both of which will be building parts in Laos for their production bases in Thailand.