Justin McCurry
Justin McCurry is Tokyo correspondent for The Guardian and The Observer.
Contributions
Tapping Changing Tastes
The dimly lit dance floor of a nightclub in Tokyo’s Shibuya district may not sound like the ideal place for an event promoting the craft of brewing beer.
David Bowie and Me
Masayoshi Sukita’s 40-year collaboration with one of the music world’s most enduring and successful artists almost didn’t happen.
Genki Dean
Genki Dean is quickly discovering the minor drawbacks to being one of Japan’s most sought-after Olympic athletes. Two days after he trained in the pouring rain in front of 80 Japanese reporters, cameramen and photographers, the 20-year-old javelin thrower is nursing a fever and a rasping cough.
Bird Man v Bureaucrats
Gary Dyer has a chance encounter with one of Japan’s leading botanists to thank for his current job as a birdkeeper at Kobe Kachoen, a popular bird and flower park located on the city’s Port Island.
Smell of Success
If you had no idea what Anthony Flenley did for a living, you would probably be able to sniff out his core business within seconds of entering his premises, located a stone’s throw from Osaka Dome.
Drinking Japan: A Guide to Japan’s Best Drinks and Drinking Establishments
This unusual book is a look at life in Tokyo from the perspective of commuting to and from the city on the Odakyu line. The author, a British academic who taught English at Nihon University from 1997 to 2011, rode the line to work from his station at Mukougaoka Yuuen.
Our Man in Osaka
Simon Fisher understands why Tokyo, as Japan’s political and financial heart, tends to dominate talk of the country’s commercial ties with Britain. But as the UK consul-general in Osaka, he knows, too, that the western part of Japan—stretching from Aichi Prefecture in the middle to Okinawa in the far south—plays a key role in bilateral trade and investment.
Helping Hands
It’s a busy weekday evening at the Azabudai offices of Hands On Tokyo, where the air is filled with the clunking of plastic bottles and the scent of luxury toiletries.
Harmonious Society, Harmonious Handover?
British firms must redouble their efforts to do business in China, as forthcoming regulatory changes and the intricacies of domestic politics threaten to stifle foreign involvement in the world’s second biggest economy.
Health Food for Dogs
As one of Britain’s top police dog handlers, Geoff Bowers was accustomed to putting the 500 animals in his charge through their paces. These days, he is happy to admit that a run with his small number of pet dogs leaves him exhausted. The reason: they are fed a diet comprising completely raw and natural ingredients — a food more than a decade in the making without the additives, grains and cereals found in conventional dog food.
Investing in The Arts
In times of financial strain, the arts are often among the first victims of government funding cuts. But the austerity measures being implemented in Britain and elsewhere should not deter those responsible for promoting culture from reaching out to new audiences, said Lord Tony Hall, chief executive of the Royal Opera House in London.
Sir Robert Fry KCB, CBE
What will the next strategic shock be? When, and where, will it occur? Those were the unsettling questions posed by Sir Robert Fry, former deputy commander of coalition forces in Iraq and newly appointed executive chairman of the British global business performance advisers, McKinney Rogers.
Britain: Open for Business
Britain was an attractive destination for Japanese foreign direct investment long before the yen’s dramatic appreciation against sterling. The doomsayers who warned, years ago, that Japan would pull out of the UK unless it joined the euro zone have been proved wrong. On the contrary, Britain attracts more Japanese investment than any other country in Europe.
Ultimate Teamwork
Generations of executives have attempted to adapt the mindset of the battlefield to the business world, from developing a strategy to defeat corporate rivals to building camaraderie in an inhospitable environment...