You've got to admire Japan's resilience. An earthquake 6000 times more powerful than the one that hit Christchurch in February, the most towering tsunami in a thousand years, nuclear crisis, power shortages, typhoons, astronomically strong yen, flooding of their factories in Thailand, predictions that the Japanese population is going to reduce by 25% within the next 40 years. It's enough to make anyone reach for the strongest sake they can find and retire to their futon.
But consumers and companies alike have instead picked themselves up,brushed themselves down and got on with things. Production facilities were nearly all back in operation by September. Tokyo Disney Resort, deserted in the spring holidays in March/April, saw record attendance in the July-September quarter. There's been a rush of investment in new production facilities in places like Vietnam and China to counter the rise of the yen. Companies knocked up to 25% off their utility bills over the summer in response to power shortages. Many are investing heavily in British wind and tidal power as a way of quickly developing the technologies they need to kick-start renewable energy production back home, in anticipation of a move away from nuclear. Innovation, already mind-bogglingly inventive, moved to new levels: today's paper alone introduces fade-resistant hair dye (handy for an aging but always immaculately turned-out society), yoghurt-flavoured sake and a process for manufacturing polyester fibres in diameters of just 300 nanometers in atypical cross-sections such as triangles.
As a consequence Japan now has the highest predicted growth rate in the G8 for the coming year. OK, not a crowded field, but for an economy that people were writing off 9 months ago it's a pretty amazing achievement.
Gratifyingly, British companies have noticed this quiet, determined recovery and are queuing up to take advantage of the opportunities it offers. All UKTI teams around the world have targets to meet for the amount of work that they do for British companies. At the end of July the Japan team had only achieved 19% of its target and was struggling to counter perceptions of nuclear meltdown and a stagnating economy. But British companies were not daunted. By the end of November we'd achieved a gratifying 105% of our target, with another 20% or so in the pipeline for the ensuing few weeks. 187 companies had commissioned chargeable services in Japan - more than in any other country bar the US and China. Our customers have been a diverse bunch: from natural skincare products to floating tsunami shelters and antibodies for medical research. British companies have truly proven that they have confidence in Japan's recovery and in its longer-term viability, and are voting with their feet to grab some of the action.
All the talk at the moment is of fast-growing developing markets. No-one could describe Japan as fast-growing, and the World Economic Forum rates it as the world's most sophisticated market, so it's about as far from developing as you can get. But for sheer pluck, resourcefulness and determination not to be sidelined it certainly deserves respect, and the attention of any British company, whether new to exporting or aspiring to be a global player. We'll be glad to help you - we're busy, but can always find room for another customer!
Sue Kinoshita
Director of Trade & Investment, UKTI Japan