A SoftBank Group Corp. Pepper robot—the first to be used in the UK—has been dismissed from its job of helping customers at the upscale Margiotta supermarket in Edinburgh, International Business Times reported on 22 January.
The robot, named Fabio by staff, was demoted and then let go after one week. This followed its failure to offer customers helpful answers or entice them to try food samples.
Fabio was introduced to the shop as part of an experiment for the BBC TV programme Six Robots & Us.
Sterling Pharma Solutions Ltd., an active pharmaceutical ingredient developer and manufacturer based in Northumberland, has announced it is expanding its presence in Japan, according to a 24 January report in Pharmaceutical Processing.
Sterling Pharma Solutions has been audited by the Japanese Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Agency and recently appointed Koichi Hirayama to represent the firm in the country.
The UK firm hopes to benefit from the growing trend among Japanese pharma firms to outsource work, to better cope with cost pressures.
A partner at UK professional services company Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, Jo Ahmed, has been appointed honorary consul in Manchester by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, the Manchester Evening News reported on 4 January.
In her new role, Ahmed will support Japanese businesses, promote engagement with Japan, participate in cultural events and assist with maintaining relations between Manchester and regional authorities.
At Deloitte, Ahmed has worked with Japanese firms such as Brother Industries, Ltd. and Japan Tobacco Inc.
British author Kazuo Ishiguro OBE has emphasised the affection he has for his birthplace of Nagasaki in letters to the city’s mayor and prefectural governor, the Asahi Shimbun reported on 29 December.
Ishiguro, who moved to the UK at the age of five, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature last year and said Nagasaki had formed the foundations of his career as a writer.
“I still feel a special emotion just to hear the word ‘Nagasaki’”, he wrote.
The former baseball player Shogo Kimura is attempting to make the switch into cricket, the first Japanese player to do so, the Daily Mail reported on 28 January.
This came about after Japan Cricket Association asked Nippon Professional Baseball if a player would be willing to take on the challenge, and Kimura’s name came up. He has trained at Sano, Tochigi Prefecture, a city that aims to be the home of cricket in Japan.
He played for the Yokohama BayStars, Hiroshima Carp and Seibu Lions in a career spanning 2003 to 2017.
In 2020, the English rugby team will embark on their first tour of Japan, The Times reported on 29 January.
The tour will comprise two tests and represents the first time England will have visited a tier-two nation under the new touring rotation arrangement. Previously, they would have been expecting to head for New Zealand.
England have only played Japan once before, at a 1987 World Cup match in Australia.
The Nikkei Business of 15 January ran a 20-page special cover feature titled “The major competition that’s shaping up for electric vehicles (EV), as seen by Dyson”. Cover stories of this length on foreign manufactures are not unheard of, but are generally limited to firms such as IBM Corp., Amazon.com, Inc., Apple Inc., and The Boeing Company, the operations of which have a direct impact on Japanese business. For a foreign firm such as Dyson Ltd. that’s still relatively new, the coverage makes for a PR coup. It was a rare acknowledgement.
Dyson employees now number 8,000—four times more than five years ago—and one employee out of three is an engineer or scientific researcher. The writer noted with admiration that Dyson’s ratio of research and development to sales is approximately 12%, considerably higher than that of Japanese firms such as Toyota Motor Corporation and Sony Corporation.
Starting with the firm’s guiding philosophy of “solving the problems others ignore”, the article introduces founder James Dyson OM CBE’s four-step innovation process, the components of which are design, build, test and break. By the time one of the firm’s much-heralded cyclone vacuum cleaners is ready for market, it will have undergone 5,000 or more cycles of this process.
Even something as mundane as a hand-held hair dryer—to cite one example—can benefit from innovative thinking, particularly considering that the existing technology in many conventional products has hardly changed in decades. In this case, many users complained that dryer operation was too slow, too noisy and damaged hair.
Harnessing aerospace technology, Dyson adopted precision rotor blades for its hair dryers that addressed the problems and harnessed customer feedback in terms of temperature settings, blower power, body colour and other features. The models are being sold in 75 countries.
Shortly after joining the firm as an engineer in 2013, Fred Howe, a graduate of the University of Leeds, proposed an idea and was quickly given research funding of £30,000.
“Working here is an engineer’s dream”, says Yvonne Tan, manager of the motor engineering section at Dyson in Singapore. But the firm won’t give the go-ahead merely with a set of blueprints. “We won’t get approval without building a mock-up and proving it will function”, explained Christopher Vincent, another developer at the firm.
On 26 September last year, company founder Dyson announced his intention to develop an EV in an open letter to his employees. Now that Dyson has thrown down the gauntlet to the EV industry. Nikkei Business is not beyond speculating that it may eventually surpass Tesla, Inc.
One key reason is the difference in corporate management. Tesla has assembled its capital through the issue of common stock or corporate bonds to investors, which it used for the development and production of its EVs, battery factory and so on. As it is heavily committed to these investors, it puts heavy pressure on its employees to come up with results quickly.
Tesla’s Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk can be described as an innovator according to the archetypal Silicon Valley formula.
Dyson, meanwhile, is privately owned and, as its EV development is self-financed, it is under no pressure to show results. The development method takes an approach similar to that of other Dyson products, with in-house technology and heavy reliance on promising young engineers.
It appears that the strategy of these two makers of EVs may be destined to collide. There’s a strong likelihood that Dyson, with its radically different corporate values and marketing approach, will not use Tesla’s success as a role model to be followed. Rather than a large sedan with long-range capability, many market watchers are expecting Dyson’s EV to be a compact aimed at daily commuters.
In Japan, it is not uncommon for businesses with recognisable brand names and solid distribution networks to diversify into products or services quite different from their main line of business. King Jim Co., Ltd., known mainly for its office supplies and electronic accessories, has begun promoting a new line of home appliances, such as toasters, coffeemakers and food processors, through a so-called antenna shop in Tokyo’s trendy Jiyugaoka shopping district in Meguro Ward, the Nikkei Marketing Journal (25 December) and other newspapers have reported.
Antenna shops are short- to medium-term experimental operations that provide a setting for on-the-spot customer feedback.
They mostly rely on walk-in business and so are set up in areas likely to attract the desired consumer demographic.
They do not necessarily sell a firm’s standard products. In fact, they need not display the sponsoring firm’s name or sell anything at all, since their intended function is to serve as an antenna to garner word-of-mouth data on what consumers are thinking.
Named Toffy Jiyugaoka, King Jim’s shop occupies a two-storey building and has some 120m2 of floor space, roughly equivalent to that of a convenience store. The shop mainly sells goods from Ladonna K.K., a subsidiary of King Jim and a speciality homeware and interior goods maker.
One of the more interesting attributes of Toffy, which King Jim is hoping will serve as a draw to the shop, is the chance for visitors to go upstairs and drink hot beverages produced with the coffee maker models on display. They can also avail themselves of pop-up toasters—the nostalgic styling of which evokes memories of the 1960s American TV sitcom Bewitched—on the premises, so as to compare the aroma, taste and texture with the products they’re using at home. Imported butter from France is also provided.
The antenna shop is expected to welcome 60 to 120 visitors per day—mostly women in their thirties and forties.
Japanese gardens, bonsai trees, beaded curtains, theatre performances and other accoutrements from the land of the Mikado have taken root abroad since the late 19th century.
But a pedestrian crossing designed to imitate one in Tokyo?
Yes, says the Nikkei Marketing Journal (22 January). In December 2017, Singapore introduced what is there called a scramble walk crossing—known as an X crossing in the UK—at its famous Orchard Road shopping street. Currently operated on an experimental basis on weekends and holidays only, the crossing is said to have been inspired by the famous scramble crossing at the intersection by Hachiko Hiroba on the north side of Tokyo’s Shibuya Station, a place of organised confusion that attracts overseas tourists who go there just to photograph throngs of Japanese crossing the street.
Singapore follows on the heels of London, which in November 2009 adopted the same type of crossing at Oxford Circus, at a cost of £5mn.
Every two minutes, pedestrians in Singapore will have 40 seconds to walk across the intersection. The crossing, located near Somerset Station on the local underground, will make Japanese residents and visitors feel at home, since nearby are branches of Japanese stores such as Takashimaya, Isetan and even the Don Quixote discount shop, which opened its first outlet in Singapore in 2016. One big difference is that the ban on smoking in public in Singapore is strictly enforced, with heavy fines for violators.
While a decision whether to adopt the scramble walk permanently is pending, the experiment has gained praise from locals since it reduces pedestrian waiting time. Shops in the area are also said to be in favour of it, as they have been feeling the heavy competition from shopping malls in the island nation’s suburbs.
Beam Suntory Inc. has launched a new Japanese gin, named Roku, in UK pubs and restaurants, Bar reported on 20 December.
The drink, which is distilled and bottled in Osaka, was introduced to 50 establishments in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Roku is being distributed by Maxxium UK Limited.
The gin uses six Japanese botanicals, including cherry blossom flower and leaf, yuzu peel, sencha and gyokuro teas, as well as sansho pepper.
Hitachi Rail Europe Ltd. has begun work on a new fleet of trains to serve Scotland and the north of England, the firm announced in a 19 December press release.
The 19 five-carriage trains will incorporate Japanese bullet train technology and will be built in Doncaster. The fleet will use hybrid power and be capable of reaching speeds of up to 140mph.
The trains will run across the Pennines, connecting Liverpool and Manchester with cities such as Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
The UK and Japan hope to secure a quick deal on post-Brexit trade standards, The Japan News reported on 15 December.
Speaking in London, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said he wanted to begin preparation on mutual recognition of standards and judicial support. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson added that this could be accomplished “readily and speedily”.
Mutual recognition would see the countries accepting each other’s rules as equivalent and avoid the creation of technical trade barriers between them.
Cooperation between the UK Space Agency and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in dealing with space debris has been announced following the signing of a memorandum of understanding, The Japan Times reported on 13 December.
The two bodies will work together to promote public–private measures to tackle the problem of orbiting debris left by rocket and satellite launches. Various incentives will be developed for firms reducing the amount of debris.
It is planned that a research team will visit the UK in February.
The European head of Japanese pharmaceutical firm Eisai Co., Ltd., has warned that it may cut investment in the UK, pharmaphorum reported on 29 November.
Citing poor commercial opportunities, the small size of the UK pharma market and issues with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Gavin Hendler said, “We don’t feel that we are getting a good enough deal”.
Eisai has invested £1.3bn into the UK, including in a Hatfield, Hertfordshire, factory.
Tokyo-based engineer dispatch firm Trust Tech Inc. has completed a deal for Wrexham-headquartered recruitment firm Gap Personnel Group, Insider reported on 5 December. Trust Tech acquired a 75% stake for £20.1mn following an initial agreement in October, and it follows the purchase of Newcastle-based MTrec Limited in 2016.
As part of the deal, Trust Tech has committed to supporting Gap’s expansion plans in the UK and Europe. Currently, the firm has 45 locations across the country.
Gap’s existing management team will continue to oversee the firm.
The UK and Japan have agreed a three-year defence cooperation plan, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and British Ministry of Defence announced on 14 December.
The agreement follows the “two plus two” talks between the countries’ respective foreign and defence ministers and will see some 45 British Army personnel train with Japanese soldiers this year and visits by HMS Sutherland and HMS Argyll. This delivers on the commitment made by Prime Ministers Theresa May and Shinzo Abe in Japan last August.
The meeting took place at Greenwich Naval College in London.
The British Museum has renewed its 10-year partnership with Mitsubishi Corporation, allowing it to undertake major refurbishments of the Japanese galleries this year, Broadway World reported on 13 December.
Changes to the design and infrastructure will allow for more frequent rotations of artefacts and give the museum the chance to show light-sensitive works.
The centrepiece of the galleries following refurbishment will be a set of Edo-period samurai armour that the British Museum recently acquired.
Jenson Button will return to full-time racing this year, competing in Japan’s Super GT series, AOL reported on 4 December. Button will drive a Honda NSX GT500.
The former Formula One world champion made his Super GT debut in August at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture, while his participation for 2018 was announced at the Honda Racing Thanks Day fan event on 3 December. His team and co-drivers have yet to be revealed.
Button retired from full-time Formula One racing at the end of 2016.
Sano City is looking for a manager to head its Cricket Town project. The city has begun an ambitious ¥400m redevelopment of the Sano International Cricket Ground (SICG) after being awarded a national grant for the project.
The project manager will be in charge of developing the project and business plan, forming a team, as well as kick-starting an annual plan for cricket and promotional events. The aim is to increase the number of visitors to Sano, the scale of businesses attracted to the city and the relocation of people to the area, while developing a self-sufficient business within three years.
For the 47th successive year, the influential Nikkei Marketing Journal (NMJ) pronounced judgment on the year’s most successful products and services, in a traditional calligraphic style that emulates the banzuke (rankings) issued before each of the six annual grand sumo tournaments.
It was in 1971 that the thrice-weekly paper covering retailing and distribution came up with the idea to announce the year’s most successful products and services. The list is presented in a manner that mimics the rankings of sumo wrestlers, with east and west yokozuna (grand champion) at the top, and working down the ranks with ozeki (champion), sekiwake (junior champion) and so on.
During the period of post-war economic recovery, consumer products appealed mostly to basic needs and had scant differentiation aside from brand name. Nonetheless, they were eagerly snatched up by consumers. But from the early 1970s, as income levels rose and more Japanese people travelled abroad, the phenomenon of hit products developed in synch with more diversified consumer preferences.
Without a doubt, many people will recall 2017 as the year when acceptance of electric vehicles as the cars of the future achieved critical mass.
Are you ready for the next leap into technological wonderland? Nikkei Business (18 December) reported that by this spring, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. will be launching sales of electric eyeglasses called TouchFocus.
The product uses a lens known as MR and is the brainchild of the company’s New Healthcare Development Division. It uses two lenses, between which is sandwiched liquid crystal, which enables the focal distance to be changed via a system called touch focus. For the power supply, the frames incorporate a small battery that is recharged via a USB.
The Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living (HILL), the research arm of Japan’s second-largest advertising agency, released the details of its 2018 Living Mood Survey. Conducted via the Internet over five days in early October, the survey queried 3,900 adults aged 20–69 living in 11 cities.
In response to how the economy would fare in 2018, 21% of the subjects predicted it would “become worse”, considerably less negative than the 30.2% who made similar predictions for 2016. Likewise, optimistic predictions for 2018 accounted for 14.6% of replies, 2.1 percentage points higher than the number who gave that response for 2017.
While some 60% responded that they did not foresee major changes in the year ahead, 31.3% said they expected to encounter more enjoyable things in 2018—3.7% higher than last year. That figure, moreover, was almost three times the percentage (12.2%) of those giving negative predictions.
Grosvenor Group Limited has expanded into Japan’s retail sector after acquiring the Namikikan Ginza building for an undisclosed fee, Mingtiandi reported on 23 November.
The 10-storey, 6,610m2 property was purchased from Imabari Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., who bought it for ¥25bn in 2015. Analysts estimate that Grosvenor will not have paid much less than that price tag.
The Namikikan Ginza area, located in central Tokyo’s upscale Ginza shopping district, is filled with shops and travel agencies.
Prince Hotels, Inc. plans to use the 2019 Rugby World Cup to boost by five percentage points the number of European customers it has, according to a 7 November Travel Weekly report.
In particular, since Prince Hotels is hoping that Brits will visit Japan as a result of the competition, this year the firm appointed Hills Balfour Ltd. to handle PR in the UK.
“We’re working to raise our profile in the UK and we think it’s a brand which will perform well here”, said Satoshi Funatogawa, the hotel’s regional sales director for Europe.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. has hired 180 new investment bankers in London since 1 April, City A.M. reported on 14 November.
The move comes as the finance firm seeks to boost its income outside Japan by increasing its European operations. The firm had already announced plans to open a subsidiary in Amsterdam.
Four Japanese banks have chosen Frankfurt as their base in the European Union as they try to minimise the impact of Brexit.
The ryokan (Japanese-style inn) Abba Resorts Izu was named Asia’s Best Culinary Boutique Hotel at the World Boutique Hotel Awards in London on 9 November, the resort announced in a press release. Owner Windsor Yeh described it as a “great honour”.
The judges praised Abba Resorts Izu for its location, level of hospitality and cuisine. It was the only ryokan to win an award and one of only two Japanese winners.
The World Boutique Hotel Awards is in its seventh year, and winners were chosen from more than 600 nominees in more than 80 countries.
The Cambridge-based Internet of Things firm ZifiSense Limited will see its ZETA networking technology used for an aquaculture project in Kyushu, Business Weekly reported on 27 November.
The technology has been adopted by IT Access Co., Ltd., and QTnet K.K. following a pilot project at a sturgeon fish farm in Miyazaki Prefecture.
ZETA allows monitoring even in areas that have little or no communication and power infrastructure, making it suitable for use in rural areas.
Subaru Corporation has been named as sponsor of the Welsh national rugby team’s new away kit, Wales Online reported on 13 November.
They join Isuzu Motors Ltd., who grace the home kit. The sponsorship from both Japanese firms comes as a result of Welsh Rugby Union’s (WRU) partnership with UK automotive importer IM Group Ltd.
“We took a new and innovative approach to our latest shirt sponsorship negotiations and looked at ways to maximise value for our partners”, said WRU Chief Executive Martyn Phillips.
The important role, during the 1940s, of unpaid University of Manchester researcher Kathleen Mary Drew-Baker in saving the Japanese nori (seaweed) industry was outlined on 19 November by Ars Technica.
Back in those days, nori cultivation was not properly understood, and production had been disrupted by industrialisation and poor weather. But research by Drew-Baker published in Nature revealed how the seaweed was grown.
After her paper was read in Japan, cultivation was resumed, and led to the industrialised production of the plant seen today.
Oxford Instruments plc announced the winner of the 2017 Sir Martin Wood Prize for Japan on 13 November, with Dr Michihisa Yamamoto of the University of Tokyo walking away with the award.
Yamamoto was recognised for his work on the “control and detection of the quantum phase in semiconductor nanostructures”. The prize was established in 1998 with the aim of recognising and encouraging young scientists in Japan.
Yamamoto was presented with a medal, certificate and ¥500,000 prize at the British Embassy Tokyo by British Ambassador to Japan Paul Madden CMG.