Udon chain to debut in London
Famous Japanese restaurant Marugame Udon—which has more than 1,000 eateries in Japan—will be making its way to the UK this summer. The Japanese restaurant chain will be opening a 372-square-metre establishment on Liverpool Street, London. (Eater London, 22 March)
Gilts: buy, buy, buy!
In January, Japanese investors bought UK government bonds at the quickest pace on record. The investors bought £5bn worth of gilts, the biggest
monthly figure recorded since 2005 by the business, market news, data and analysis provider Bloomberg. This followed the Brexit deal. (Financial Times, 12 March)
Hitachi starts work on North-East trains
Hitachi Rail has begun welding passenger trains in the town of Sedgefield, after investment in the north-eastern UK factory climbed to £110m. The trains, to be used for intercity transport by East Midlands Railway and Avanti West Coast, will have high-tech aluminium carriage shells. (Press release, 5 March)
Global release for Ishiguro book
Now available in book stores across the world is the first novel since 2015 by the award-winning, Japanese-born British writer Kazuo Ishiguro. Titled Klara and the Sun, it is a dystopian science fiction novel that centres on Klara, an artificial intelligence-powered robot. (NHK WORLD-JAPAN, 2 March)