With the right level of investment this presents an opportunity for the UK to create many thousands of jobs and generate substantial economic growth, the Manchester University report is quoted as saying.

This highlights the opportunity for the government to invest in the vast potential of northern England, as it meets the UK demand for a new generation of nuclear reactors, and uses this as a springboard for providing goods and services to the global nuclear sector worth £300bn.

The report was commissioned by the Dalton Nuclear Institute, which was established in 2005 as a leading national centre for nuclear research and education.

The nuclear new-build renaissance continues in countries such as China, India and the UK, with 60 reactors being built, 155 planned and a further 338 proposed.

Wacoal Holdings Corp. said it is buying Eveden for about £150mn, Fuji television’s Zaikei news website reported on 3 April. The lingerie firm said it will use cash reserves and loans to buy all the shares of the Kettering, Northamptonshire-based specialist in designing and manufacturing high quality, fashionable lingerie and swimwear for large sizes.

Since 2006, Eveden has consistently outperformed the market, consolidated its UK position and expanded overseas.

Goodwill Envoys Appointed for “Great Campaign”

A voice actor/singer and an actress have been appointed the latest goodwill ambassadors for Britain’s “Great Campaign”, Daily Sports reported on 11 April.

Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt awarded certificates to Masachika Ichimura, 63, and An Suzuki, 24, at the British Embassy Tokyo.

They will promote major events, including Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee and the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games. Next January, Ichimura will perform his stage play Anjin: English Samurai in the UK.

Change in Global Food Sales

The UK grocery market will be the eighth largest in the world by 2015, while India will displace Japan as the world’s third largest in terms of value, Talking Retail reported on 4 April.

In the same year, according to research, the BRIC nations—Brazil, Russia, India and China—will be among the top-five grocery markets. China has already overtaken the US as the world’s biggest food and grocery retail market, and its grocery sales are expected to triple in value to nearly £1trn by 2015.

Seeds and Tree Donated

Japan donated seeds from six plants that grow in the earthquake and tsunami area to Kew Gardens, and planted a memorial tree there, media reported in April.

A zelkova, the official tree of Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, was planted in Kew’s Japanese garden. Pupils of schools in both countries who had exchanged letters after the quake attended the event along with the leader of the British international relief team.

Star Plans Top-Tier Move

Shinji Kagawa is planning to move from Borussia Dortmund to either Premier League leaders Manchester United or FA Cup finalists Chelsea, it was reported on 3 April by the English-language edition of Bild, Germany’s biggest circulation tabloid. The 23-year-old has scored 12 goals in 25 league games this season.

Wake-up Call over Data “Gold Mine”

Symbol group retailers—which supply independent grocers and small supermarkets and produce stores—need to get together to collect and analyse information about their customers as did convenience store groups in Japan 10 years ago, when they were being “beaten up” by supermarkets, Talking Retail reported on 9 April.

A leading consultant to the sector was quoted as saying that convenience stores had collaborated on a common system for contactless payments, made use of the data they collected and have since moved from a position of weakness to one of strength.

Collecting, understanding and making use of customer data was “the elephant in the room” within the UK convenience sector, which is “sitting on a gold mine” of customer data, but not making proper use of it. There is a wealth of information available to retailers from their till-roll data, including what type of shopping mission customers are on, how sensitive they are to price and how health-conscious they are, the consultant said. “Every till receipt contains the DNA of the shopper”.

Founded in early 2007, Cocorose London started trading from the city’s trendy East End markets. The firm’s footwear is now stocked throughout the UK, as well as in Japan, Australia and countries of continental Europe. Stockists include exclusive stores, such as Isetan and Fortnum & Mason.

The Ruby Rocks brand, meanwhile, is a mix of vintage and quirky and is one to watch.

About £6bn worth of shoes are sold annually in the UK, with exports worth more than £500mn. The BFA, in its 113th year, represents more than 100 key firms employing 9,000 people.

The UK has an enviable reputation around the globe not only for high-grade men’s welted footwear—such as Church’s, Crockett & Jones, Barker, Cheaney, Tricker’s and John Lobb—but also for lines in which the UK is successfully competing with the Far East, such as Hotter and New Balance.

Pure London takes place in February and August at London Olympia.

They saw how Stansted works with low-cost carriers, such as easyJet and Ryanair to deliver a first class operation, maintain excellent on-time performance and improve the passenger experience.

A Stansted Airport spokesman said that “the Low Cost Carrier (LCC) market is in its infancy in Japan, so the visit provided an ideal opportunity for the Narita team to learn from the best practices on offer.

“They were particularly impressed with the 25-minute turnaround of Ryanair’s Boeing 737-800 and the facilities available for LCCs to help maintain their high punctuality rates”.

Stansted is firmly established as a world leader at serving the low-cost airline sector and, in 2011, was named Skytrax World’s Best Airport for Low-Cost Airlines.

London’s third-busiest airport, Stansted has a route network stretching to about 150 destinations, offering more direct scheduled European flights than any other airport.

Aki Matsushima caused a stir in MasterChef, the BBC TV competition for amateur cooks, which is watched by millions every week, local media reported in early April.

Matsushima, 25, used skills developed while studying for a doctorate in quantum physics at the University of London to add very cold liquid nitrogen to her miso ice cream to make it smoother. It went down a treat and she has enjoyed subsequent fame.

Inspired by her homeland, she has since designed ice creams in collaboration with Gino Gelato—featuring kinako (soya bean flour) and molasses, wasabi and chocolate, plum wine honey sorbet, red miso and caramel, white miso and walnut, and green tea-flavoured white chocolate stracciatella (the name given the chocolate shavings in an Italian ice cream).

She told reporters that, when you add nitrogen to ice cream, it evaporates and creates a white mist, which quickly cools the mixture and creates smaller ice crystals that make the texture smoother.

Matsushima is now creating ready-to-eat Japanese meals. She lives in London with her parents, who own a Japanese restaurant.

The 50-year-old Liverpudlian and newly appointed boss of Olympus was sacked last October after confronting board members over high fees the firm had paid for acquisitions. After initial denials, the firm later admitted to a £1.1bn accounting cover-up, leading to the arrest of top officials.

One of the judges, FT Editor Lionel Barber, said: “If there was one person who captured the spirit of boldness in business in 2011, it was Michael Woodford. His selection was a matter of serious discussion among the judges. There were concerns that it might be misconstrued as an incitement to whistleblowers and a broader insurrection against business. But these concerns were allayed once the logic of the choice became clear. Woodford took a considerable risk in exposing wrongdoing. As chief executive, he was arguably acting against his self-interest, since his job was obviously in jeopardy. Yet he did the right thing. He campaigned for proper accounting and persuaded the Japanese authorities to act. He was a study of boldness in action. By choosing him, the judges followed suit”.

One of the UK’s most celebrated designers—revered for his classics with a twist and idiosyncratic take on traditional styling—was invited to visit Japan in the early 1980s by the firm C. Itoh (now Itochu Corporation). A licensing contract followed.

Nationwide, the Paul Smith fashion empire has more than 200 stores, including boutiques and outlets in department stores.

His first fashion show in Japan—held in January and titled “I Love Japan”—has taken his relationship with the country to a new level. The show marked the launch of Japan’s first major fashion event since the 11 March 2011 triple disaster.

Nissan plans to build 100,000 Invitation cars per annum at the north-east UK plant, where it now makes about 480,000 Qashqai, Juke and Note models each year.

The £125mn investment and £9.3mn UK government grant would create 2,000 jobs. Production is expected to start in mid-2013.

The drinks will be marketed under the Stones Bar label that bears the iconic rock ’n’ roll lips and tongue logo that has been around since the 1970s. The new products will be a beer-like drink, Rolling Hop; a gin-flavoured cocktail, Rolling Gold; and a lemon-and-lime-flavoured Citrus Highball.

It also has been reported that, in July, Yamaha Music Media will release the Japanese version of the 352-page, 700-photo book, The Rolling Stones 50.

And from 26 April, Tobu Department Store in Ikebukuro will hold an exhibition titled “The Rolling Stones 1962–2012—Tracing the history of the past half-century”.