Why is it that pollen always seems to know when it's exam time? In the UK, come May/June, out pops the pollen to torment all those poor examinees, as if they didn't have enough to worry about. Japan's academic year …
When you live abroad but are paid in sterling, as I am, you become pretty sensitive to exchange rate movements. In the 18 months that I have been in Japan the yen has strengthened by 12 % against the pound. …
When I was a child I had a plan. I wanted to become an inventor. The main invention I was aiming for was to create flying French fries. I thought it would be awfully handy if fried potatoes could just …
The UK isn't the only country with something to celebrate this year: some 1800 Japanese companies are celebrating their 100th anniversary in 2012. Suggests it might be a good year for manufacturers of commemorative goods... Looking down the list …
That was the choice I was left with when I decided to buy a new car linked to my job. UKTI Germany exists to help British firms export and to encourage German firms to invest in the UK. I only …
I’ve witnessed two very different events in recent months on the stage in the main auditorium at the Maritim Hotel in Duesseldorf. In July it was Phil 'The Power' Taylor, the multiple darts world champion. This week it was German …
In theory Japanese companies were back at work after the New Year break on 4 January. But it's a while before normal routine resumes. On the first day back there is some kind of ceremony to mark the start of the …
Any body reading my blogs will know that I enjoy food, all sorts of different food, so it was in search of a good schweinshaxe while attending the Frankfurt fair as a young exporter when I endured one of my …
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 …
One of the more endearing aspects of Japan is that each December they choose a "kanji" (character) that epitomises the year just passed. Last year it was just "hot", and back in 2007 it was "fake", following a series of …
