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Cover Feature DISASTER AFTERMATHRed tape and rigid adherence to regulations stopped a number of foreign firms from providing help and specialist expertise in the immediate aftermath of the 11 March disasters in north-east Japan, while other firms say their efforts to render assistance to the homeless and destitute were frustrated because the markets here are effectively closed to outsiders. |
BCCJ ACUMEN’s Purpose:To strengthen UK-Japan economic and cultural relations by providing BCCJ Members, the British community, and others in Japan with a forum to promote their products and services, share ideas and information, and cultivate Anglo-Japanese understanding and cooperation. |
Features
Feature Article New Year Gongs for UK Envoy and DriversAmbassador David Warren receives a KCMG (Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George) for displaying exceptional qualities of leadership and empathy through the immediate aftermath of the massive earthquake in northern Japan which caused a tsunami and a nuclear disaster at Fukushima, during which the British Embassy Tokyo remained open and fully operational. |
Awards Japan Decorates Two BritsTwo people from Britain have received decorations from the Japanese government for their contributions to bringing the nations closer together. |
Environment OFF THE MENUJapan is likely to abandon its whaling operations in the Southern Ocean within three years, due to economic reality and pressure—with Britain playing an important role— by environmental groups and governments around the world. The term Southern Ocean, created in 2000 by the International Hydrographic Organization, is the fifth and newest world ocean comprising the southern parts of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans to completely surround Antarctica. |
Exhibition VIVIENNE WESTWOOD SHOES 1973–2012The grand dame of avant garde, Vivienne Westwood, is celebrating 40 years in the business with a global exhibition of her iconic footwear. It was featured at Omotesando Hills in December and early January, following stops in London, Moscow, Beirut and Shanghai. |
Creative The Classroom RevolutionRecognised as being among the best in the world, British universities specialising in the creative arts are being sought out by Japanese firms that are looking to add to their corporate profiles a new way of thinking and interacting with their clients. |
Energy Japan Opens to Investment in Renewable EnergyIn July this year, when the Act on Special Measures concerning the Procurement of Renewable Energy by Operators of Electric Utilities (the Renewables Act) goes into force, the Japanese government will introduce a feed-in tariff (FiT) to encourage the use of renewable energy nationwide. |
Business Risk UK Bribery ActThe first case tried under the UK Bribery Act was relatively minor: last November, an administrative clerk was found guilty of taking a bribe to clear convictions of speeding motorists from an English court database. |
Embassy Nuclear: Old and NewAlack of fundamental understanding and the capacity to accurately measure small amounts of radioactive components are at the heart of people’s fears concerning nuclear energy. This was an observation made by Dr Keith Franklin of the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) during a presentation made to BCCJ members at the ambassador’s residence in the British Embassy Tokyo compound on 22 November. |
Charity Oxfam Opens in JapanAstaple of high streets the length and breadth of Britain, charity shops are conspicuous by their absence in Japan. But nearly 70 years after the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief was set up, Oxfam Japan has opened its first two shops in Tokyo. |
Fundraising 25th Christmas Cracker Raises Record AmountOver the years, BCCJ members and others in the wider Anglo-Japanese community have come to anticipate with pleasure an annual event that, for many people, marks the start of the winter holiday season. |
Charity UK Stars Support Tokyo CharityOne of Japan’s leading cancer charities has launched a fundraising album featuring British artists Sir Tim Rice, Maxi Priest and Julian Lennon, together with other global stars. The brainchild of Tyler Foundation for Childhood Cancer founders Mark Ferris and Kim Forsythe, “Shine On! Songs Volume One” also stars Alan Menken, Amber Lily, Monday Michiru, Tin Cup Gypsy and Wendy Parr, among others. |
Industry Corporate Compliance: Protection from the InsideLegal compliance in the corporate world is, in some ways, similar to earthquake preparedness in the layman’s world. On 11 March 2011, few people had an earthquake kit prepared. On 12 March, most everyone had their earthquake kit and you could see the sidewalks filled with people wearing hardhats. Such is human behaviour. We reach our most heightened state of preparedness after a crisis takes place. |
Entertainment TV ADDICTSRicky Gervais, Terry Pratchett and David Jason are just a fraction of the British entertainment scene’s stars who, in late October, were up for grabs at the trade show that ran in conjunction with the Tokyo International Film Festival, in which the UK was a first-time participant. |
Sports Wakako TsuchidaFour years after her last Paralympic dream ended in a six-person crash on the final straight in Beijing—and put Wakako Tsuchida in hospital for two months—the world number-one is determined to take the gold medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. |
Sport Shingo KuniedaWith a slight squeak of rubber on the surface of the court, Shingo Kunieda changes direction and stretches out his racket to meet the ball. In one fluid motion, it returns over the net and lands unerringly within the white lines. |
Sport Howzat? New Home for Noble GameAt a council meeting in Sano City, Tochigi Prefecture, on 6 December, the executive committee discussed an item more commonly associated with Commonwealth nations—promoting the “noble game” of cricket. A curious entry, this may seem, but it’s at the heart of an ambitious plan to make Sano the centre of cricket in Japan. Days later, the city unveiled a cricket supporters’ club with the catchphrase “Sano, Home of Cricket”. |
Music Secrets of the StarsAfter 20 years of interviewing the good, bad and ugly from the world of rock and roll, Guy Perryman has plenty of anecdotes to tell about the stars, from those whose laid-back approach to a schedule drives their Japanese handlers berserk to others whose egos have trouble fitting through the door with them. |
Book Book ReviewsThere is nothing inherently amusing about the idea of battle. Indeed, the very thought of writing a book that seeks to find humour in the fact that men go to war and kill and wound each other is, on the face of it, extremely distasteful. |
Translation 『BCCJ ACUMEN』Volume 3 / Issue 1のまとめ |
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