The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU) has been fined £17.85mn for failing to be open with the Bank of England (BoE) about enforcement action it faced in the United States, Business Times reported on 9 February.

Along with MUFG Securities EMEA plc, which was fined £8.9mn, the BTMU has been accused by the BoE’s Prudential Regulation Authority of having failed to be open and co-operative regarding an enforcement action imposed on the BTMU by the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS).

The BTMU was fined $315mn in 2014 for misleading the DFS with a watered-down report on its dealings with sanctioned countries.

Justin Gardiner, brand manager of Caterham Cars Japan for S-Eye Co., Ltd., said the firm has sold the 100 cars allocated to the country for 2017, meeting the entire sales quota for the year, Forbes reported on 17 January.

One fifth of Caterham’s global production is allocated for sale in Japan. In 2017, this included 60 of the 60th anniversary models of the Caterham 7, all of which were sold within the first two weeks of January this year.

Caterham’s cars are classed as keijidosha, or light automobiles, giving them access to special tax advantages.

Ecotricity Group Ltd. has sold £1mn worth of small wind turbines to Japan over the past 18 months, making it the largest wind energy exporter in the UK, the Stroud News & Journal reported on 19 January.

Built by Ecotricity subsidiary Britwind, a further 30 windmills are set to be dispatched to Japan by the end of March—130 have already been shipped.

“The Japanese government is backing renewable energy and has created a real opportunity for wind power”, said Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity.

The Harris Tweed Authority will be appointing an ambassador to Japan to prevent the false marketing of tweed from the Scottish Outer Hebrides, The Herald reported on 12 January.

While the popular Harris Tweed brings in about £4mn a year in Japan, the Harris Tweed trademark is not always used properly in the market, with some goods falsely marked. The appointed ambassador will look to ensure consumers are not misled.

Harris Tweed products use Orb Labels, the oldest British trademark remaining in continuous use. The cloth is protected and defined by the Harris Tweed act 1993.

Nissan has received clearance from the UK government to commence trials of its self-driving cars on public roads in London, Wired reported on 16 January.

The modified Nissan Leaf electric car has been updated with Nissan Intelligent Mobility, comprising a special suite of radar, laser and camera systems. Clearance from a final local authority is needed before tests can commence.

It is hoped the car will be available commercially by 2020.

The UK and Japan have signed an acquisition and cross-servicing agreement that will allow their armed forces to share logistics support in an effort to strengthen their defence ties, The Mainichi reported on 27 January.

The agreement will see Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and the British military share supplies including food, fuel, transport and equipment during UN peacekeeping missions, international relief operations and joint exercises.

The move will strengthen the UK’s military ties to Japan and the Asia–Pacific region.

Abellio Transport Group Limited, the international arm of the Dutch rail firm NS Groep N.V., has agreed to sell a 40% stake in its Greater Anglia rail franchise to Mitsui & Co., Ltd., the BBC reported on 17 January.

Although the value of the deal has not been disclosed, Abellio says it will result in the investment of £1.4bn over nine years, leading to shorter journey times and new trains.

The deal is still subject to regulatory approval by the Department for Transport.

The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, the famous 1831 woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai, will be displayed at the British Museum for the first time, the Independent reported on 12 January.

The artwork is so fragile that it cannot be exposed to light for long, and will be removed halfway through the exhibition. The piece was last displayed in 2011.

The Hokusai exhibition, which focuses on pieces from later in the artist’s life, runs from 25 May to 13 August, and will close between 3 and 6 July while some of the paintings on show are changed.

The UK–Canada produced Tokyo Idols has premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival as an official selection in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, CTV News reported on 26 January.

Made by writer-director Kyoko Miyake, the film documents the industry surrounding Japan’s female J-pop idols, singers that are the recipients of intense attention from fans who are predominantly older and male. The sector is worth $1bn annually.

Miyake said that having financing from outside Japan allowed her to be “quite free of censorship”.

Saitama-born British Superbike (BSB) champion Ryuichi Kiyonari will bring his British racing career to an end this year, The Irish News reported on 2 January. He will return to the All Japan Road Race Championship with Moriwaki Racing.

With a career spanning 237 BSB races, Kiyonari came first in 50 of them and secured a further 44 podium positions, placing him second on the list for all-time championship victories.

Kiyonari will compete at the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race, an event he has already won four times.

Keith Dunn OBE, chief executive of St. John Cymru Wales, has been named Japanese honorary consul for Wales as a result of his experience as head of a UK Japan exchange programme, the BBC reported on 4 January.

His responsibilities will include supporting Japanese firms, promoting understanding of Japan and helping Japanese citizens in emergency situations. There are about 500 Japanese nationals living in Wales, and 25 Japanese companies employing some 4,600 Welsh people. He will also oversee cultural events and assist the embassy.

“I wasn’t really expecting to have learning Japanese as one of my new year’s resolutions”, he said.

On 24 February, Japan will initiate a new system to be called Premium Friday (PF), to encourage workers to leave the workplace any time after 3pm on the fourth Friday each month. The concept has caught on in other countries, and may have been influenced by the originally Hawaiian custom of Aloha Fridays, when casual clothes are worn to work on a Friday. Some firms in Japan already have introduced similar policies allowing staff to wear more casual attire at the end of the week.

On 28 January, the Asahi Shimbun reported several examples of plans announced by businesses to launch the PF movement.

Backed by such powerful organisations as the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Keidanren (the Japan Business Federation), it is hoped the extra hours will provide some much-needed stimulation for the economy. The research arm of Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, Limited believes that the 11 2017 PFs will have a total economic impact of ¥124bn.

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At the end of 2016, Japan had 3,212 shopping centres—an increase of 24% from 2001. But in the view of some people, the number is approaching saturation point.

The Japan Council of Shopping Centers defines a shopping centre as a facility with a total sales area of 1,500m² or more, and accommodating 10 or more tenants. The Nikkan Gendai dated 4 January reported that 2017 would see a year-on-year decline of 15% in the number of new shopping centres opened, with 46 openings planned for this year. This represents the lowest level of openings in five years, and the second-lowest figure after that achieved in 2012, the year after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

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One way to make sure customers don’t become bored with the same old thing is to look for ways to liven up a store’s product mix. The Nikkei Marketing Journal reported on 21 December that mass merchandiser Yodobashi Camera Co., Ltd. has set up several special sales corners on the premises of its big store in Tokyo’s Akihabara district. One that started on September 30—almost the Christmas season in the minds of retail store planners—adopted film and comic character displays and spinoff goods from Star Wars and Marvel Superhero comic books, both of which are enjoying popularity in Japan.

Another corner, in October began to display a selection of guitars, and included a section where prospective customers could try them out.

Yodobashi’s archrival Bic Camera Inc. took a completely different tack at its Shinjuku East Exit store on the other side of the city. It announced the operation on its premises of the Bic Sports Bar. On 11 December, for one day only, it tied up with a beer garden at the Tokyo Dome stadium and broadcast women’s softball games—the aim was to promote alcoholic beverages. While revenues had declined during the two fiscal quarters ending in August, food and drink saw an increase of 3.8% the following quarter.

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The London-based craft gin distillery Sipsmith has been bought by the spirits firm Beam Suntory Inc. for an undisclosed sum, the BBC reported on 16 December.

The deal follows other moves by large drinks firms to tap the increasing demand for craft beers and spirits. For Sipsmith, which was founded in 2009, the acquisition bolsters its presence in existing export markets and adds new ones in Central and South America.

Beam Suntory, a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited and the world’s third-largest spirits firm, counts Yamazaki whisky, Laphroaig Scotch and Courvoisier cognac among its products.

Japan plans to contribute a financial package worth ¥1 trillion to the proposed nuclear reactor project at Wylfa Newydd off the Welsh coast, the Nikkei Asian Review reported on 14 December.

The money will be provided in the form of loans from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the Development Bank of Japan to Horizon Nuclear Power Limited, which has been contracted by the British government to build and run the plant. Horizon is a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd.

The Japanese government sees the funding as a way of boosting exports of its nuclear power technology.

A consortium led by East Japan Railway Company has made a bid to run the West Midlands network franchise, the Nikkei Asian Review reported on 31 December. Other members of the consortium include Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and the Abellio Group.

They will compete against the existing franchise holder, a UK–French joint venture. The bid represents JR East’s first attempt to run an overseas train operation as it seeks new sources of growth.
The decision will be made in June.

The Japanese trading operations of Citigroup Inc. are being investigated by the Bank of England for its role in October’s “flash crash” in sterling, the Financial Times reported on 6 December.

The investigation is focusing on multiple sell orders that came from Citi’s Tokyo desk. Although not believed to have started the crash, they nonetheless played a key role in sending sterling to its lowest value in 31 years. A panicky trader and an electronic tool known as an Aggregator are possible reasons for the orders.

The incident saw the value of the pound fall from $1.26 to $1.14, with the currency sliding 9% in about 40 seconds.

Sports Direct International plc has agreed to sell its Dunlop brand to Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. for $137.5mn, The Daily Telegraph reported on 27 December.

The British firm expressed its intention to become the “Selfridges” of sports retail, and as such would focus on its core UK business and developing relationships with third parties. As part of the deal, Sports Direct will be granted a royalty-free licence to continue using the Dunlop brand name.

Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley bought Dunlop Slazenger in a 2004 deal reportedly worth at least £40mn.

At a meeting on 1 December, Japanese banks including Nomura Holdings, Inc. and Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Limited told the UK government that they would begin moving some operations out of London within six months unless they were given clarity on the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU, the Financial Times reported on 16 December.

The meeting was held with City Minister Simon Kirby and International Trade Minister Mark Garnier and was described as being a “frank exchange of realism”.

The Japanese phenomenon of maid cafés has made its way to north England, the Manchester Evening News reported on 3 December.

The first maid café event in Manchester was hosted by the Newcastle-based Meian Maids, a group established last year by student of Japanese Sally Blake. According to Blake, the majority of the group’s customers are female, unlike in Japan where the clientele is predominantly male.

Maid cafés emerged in Tokyo in the early 21st century. They typically see waitresses serving customers while performing dances, playing games and drawing pictures, behaviour that in Japan is generally described as “cute”, or kawaii.

UK–Japan firms were among those recognised in the inaugural Japan Women Award 2016, presented by Forbes Japan in conjunction with LiB, Inc., a Tokyo-based female employment agency, Japan Today reported on 28 December. The awards recognise female entrepreneurs and firms working to attain gender equality.

Calbee, Inc., which runs a factory in Wales, was recognised for having boosted to 22% the number of women in managerial positions in fiscal 2016, up from 8% in fiscal 2011. Meanwhile, Unilever Japan K.K. was recognised for its efforts to promote a female-friendly workplace.

England rugby Head Coach Eddie Jones has been asked to help with Team GB’s preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the BBC reported on 13 December.

Team GB would be seeking Jones’s advice based on his success, the fact his team will be competing in Japan the year before the Games at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and the experience he gained as coach of the country’s national rugby team, according to British Olympic Association Chairman Sir Hugh Robertson.

A team from Imperial College London was among those that won the 2016 Daiwa Adrian Prize, the university announced on 15 December.

The award came for collaboration—between the university’s Department of Materials and Kyushu University—on research in ceramic oxide surfaces. The universities have had an active relationship for more than 20 years.

The prize is administered by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and given every three years, with winners receiving £10,000 in prize money. Three other prizes were also awarded.

“Fads starting with young people, transcending generations”. That, in a nutshell, was how the Nikkei Marketing Journal (NMJ) explained the reason it picked smartphone game Pokémon GO and the hit animated film Kimi No Na Wa (Your Name) as its top two choices for 2016.

The thrice-weekly newspaper of the retail industry issued its Hitto Shohin Banzuke (List of Top Hit Products) on 7 December. Now in its 45th year, the list is distinctively Japanese in that it adopts a sumo-style hierarchical listing, or banzuke, using traditional calligraphy and even titles such as yokozuna (grand champion) and ozeki (champion) to rank the products.

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Hito ga tarinai! (We can’t get enough people!) is being heard increasingly in Japan’s retail and service sectors. With crackdowns on unpaid overtime threatening to exacerbate the pinch, management is being forced to get creative to make sure sufficient staff are on hand.

On 25 November, Toyo Keizai Online reported that to conserve human resources (and avoid being stigmatized as a “black company” that overworks its staff), several restaurant chains have announced plans to cut back on hours of operation.

Royal Host, for example, announced late in 2016 it would suspend all-night operations until January, and was also mulling selective holidays for outlets one day a week. Over the past several years, about one-fifth of Skylark restaurants have been closing two hours earlier than previously. McDonald’s Japan has reduced the number of outlets operating round-the-clock by around 40% over the past two years. And in March 2016, Aeon supermarkets in the greater Kanto area began closing one hour earlier.

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Sales at Mitsubishi Motors UK have been given a boost by a “once in a lifetime car”, according to the firm’s Managing Director Lance Bradley, Insider reported on 8 November.

The firm saw revenue rise to £622.6mn in the year ending 31 March 2016, up from the previous year’s £551.9mn. Bradley attributed the success to the Outlander PHEV, saying the model not only increased turnover, but also raised awareness of the brand.

“It’s a combination of a good car at the right price and nobody else having a model like it”, he said.

The Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), a miniaturised reissue by Nintendo of Europe GmbH of the firm’s original NES from the 1980s, quickly sold out online in the UK ahead of its 11 November release, Ars Technica UK reported on 10 November. Amazon and other e-commerce shops stopped taking pre-orders for the much sought after device.

Costing £50, the console comes complete with an assortment of retro computer games. The Mini NES is expected to be a Christmas favourite this year in Europe.

In Japan, the console sold out within an hour of its release.

Tokyo Gas and British utility firm Centrica have announced a new arrangement to swap liquefied natural gas (LNG) next year, the Nikkei Asian Review reported on 21 November.

The deal will see Tokyo Gas’ LNG supply from the US going to Centrica, with Centrica’s LNG sourced from Asia going to Tokyo Gas. Actual swap volumes will depend on demand, but could see as much as 1.4 million tons flowing from Tokyo Gas to Centrica.

The move is designed to lower transportation costs and avoid expensive tolls on the Panama Canal.

The National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, the umbrella organisation for food co-operatives in Japan, will take a 90% stake in the British food wholesaler SFG Holdings in a deal estimated to be worth ¥1bn, the Nikkei Asian Review reported on 7 November. Norinchukin Bank will acquire the remaining 10%.

The federation, also known as Zen-Noh, is responsible for about half of Japan’s rice exports to the UK, and it is looking to double overall exports to the country over the next three to five years.