As I take up my new job as Director of Trade & Investment at the British Embassy in Japan I’m feeling lucky and excited.
Japan is in the top three global economies, home to 127 million consumers with good taste, high disposable incomes and an appetite for the new and distinctive. Generator of 20% of all the R&D spend in the world, birthplace of all the companies that spring to mind when you think about high technology and high quality: Sony, Toshiba, Toyota, Nintendo. The prospects there for British goods and services must be legion, the potential for technology tie-ups and investment immense. And I’m going to have the chance to play a part in that process, selling the UK and all its strengths.
Instead I’m startled to find that my first job actually has to be selling Japan in the UK. So many people, in government and in industry, don’t seem to regard Japan as a priority for their attention. Some are pouring all their efforts into the high growth markets like China and India, and see Japan as a dying economy (in a literal sense they’re right – the population is forecast to fall to just 90 million by 2050). Others have heard the scare stories about how long it takes to build relationships, how demanding the Japanese are on quality and how different and difficult it is culturally and linguistically, and think it’s just not worth the effort.
So I set about trying to persuade them that they should think again. I soon find that generalities about the size of the market, Japanese pre-eminence in technologies from mobile communications to low carbon vehicles, or the reliability of payment and intellectual property regimes don’t really cut much ice: companies want to know exactly where their product or technology fits in, exactly what resource they’d need to devote to gaining a foothold. I can’t immediately help them on that, but am able to signpost them to the 50-strong team of staff that we have in the Embassy in Tokyo and the Consulate-General in Osaka. The staff are all experts in different sectors and able to carry out market research, search out potential agents, partners and customers, and advise on the best route to market. All for a few hundred pounds – not much more than the cost of a flight out to Japan.
Not everyone needs persuading. Many of the sector specialists drawn from industry and academia to work with UK Trade & Investment are well-informed about Japanese strengths and needs, and passionate about the opportunities. That runs the gamut from carbon fibre production for wind turbines, to diagnostics and personalised medicines and even wasabi (horseradish) cultivation. And when I visit the regional authorities in Bristol and Glasgow to find out how we can work together, I discover a very well-focused understanding of the benefits that Japanese investors can bring to the local economy and employment market. Bristol is keen to attract Japanese companies to their new National Composites Centre, for example, and Scotland to the Edinburgh BioQuarter.
A few days before I leave for Japan William Hague delivers a speech in Tokyo, setting out the new government’s approach: commerce to be at the heart of foreign policy, trusted countries like Japan not to be taken for granted but regarded as true partners.
I couldn’t really have asked for a better affirmation of just how important my new job is. So I was right to feel lucky and excited!
Sue Kinoshita
Director, UK Trade & Investment, British Embassy, Japan
3 comments
Comment by Mobile VAS posted on
Dear Ms Kinoshita,
Reading your post, something occurred to me with regards to what seems to be a bit of general indifference of the two countries towards each other. Isn't it possible that the economic welfare and regional dominance of both countries have caused this cool attitude.
Also, maybe because both economies are fully saturated in terms of most business niches, finding a profitable segment may be a lot easier in emerging markets. Let me bring an example, my company produces mobile VAS solutions for telcos all over the world. We have a big carrier grade product and an enterprise version as well. The enterprise version is affordable for SMEs in developed countries, but it produces only a trickle of the revenue stream. The big money is in the carrier product for emerging markets. That is where growth comes from. The sheer volume of these markets make them atractive.
Is it not possible that the biggest mission in your new post will be to convince both parties that there IS a potential for growth and mutually beneficial business opportunities?
Kind regards,
Lefty
Comment by Mobile VAS posted on
Dear Ms Kinoshita,
Reading your post, something occurred to me with regards to what seems to be a bit of general indifference of the two countries towards each other. Isn't it possible that the economic welfare and regional dominance of both countries have caused this cool attitude.
Also, maybe because both economies are fully saturated in terms of most business niches, finding a profitable segment may be a lot easier in emerging markets. Let me bring an example, my company produces mobile VAS solutions for telcos all over the world. We have a big carrier grade product and an enterprise version as well. The enterprise version is affordable for SMEs in developed countries, but it produces only a trickle of the revenue stream. The big money is in the carrier product for emerging markets. That is where growth comes from. The sheer volume of these markets make them atractive.
Is it not possible that the biggest mission in your new post will be to convince both parties that there IS a potential for growth and mutually beneficial business opportunities?
Kind regards,
Lefty
Comment by Mobile VAS posted on
Dear Ms Kinoshita,
Reading your post, something occurred to me with regards to what seems to be a bit of general indifference of the two countries towards each other. Isn't it possible that the economic welfare and regional dominance of both countries have caused this cool attitude.
Also, maybe because both economies are fully saturated in terms of most business niches, finding a profitable segment may be a lot easier in emerging markets. Let me bring an example, my company produces mobile VAS solutions for telcos all over the world. We have a big carrier grade product and an enterprise version as well. The enterprise version is affordable for SMEs in developed countries, but it produces only a trickle of the revenue stream. The big money is in the carrier product for emerging markets. That is where growth comes from. The sheer volume of these markets make them atractive.
Is it not possible that the biggest mission in your new post will be to convince both parties that there IS a potential for growth and mutually beneficial business opportunities?
Kind regards,
Lefty