Britain’s arguably most successful technology firm, ARM Holdings, is to be sold to Softbank for £24.3bn, The Guardian reported on 18 July.

Through ownership of the Cambridge-based firm—whose microchips are used in more than 95% of smartphones—Softbank hopes to become a leader in the Internet of Things.

Philip Hammond, chancellor of the exchequer, said: “Just three weeks after the [EU membership] referendum decision, [the deal] shows that Britain has lost none of its allure to international investors”.

London-headquartered market research firm Technavio has produced a new report analysing the smartwatch market in Japan, which is expected to grow at a compound annual rate exceeding 96% during the period 2015–19, media reported in July.

According to the study, the availability of high-speed broadband, the increased penetration of smartphones and technological advances have enabled consumers to use connected services.

Faisal Ghaus, vice-president of Technavio, said: “Connected wearable services like smart health wristbands can alert users on their medication timings and dosages, and enable them to access multimedia and infotainment services while on the run”.

The UK has become the third country, after Singapore and Malaysia, to import rice from Fukushima Prefecture since the March 2011 disaster at Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant, The Japan Times reported on 19 June.

From this July, 1.9 tonnes of the grain—named Ten No Tsubu—will be exported by a Fukushima branch of the National Federation of Agriculture Cooperative Associations via a UK trading firm. The rice will be sold in London shops.

An official at the Fukushima Prefectural office explained: “It’s bright news for Fukushima, which has been struggling with the import restrictions”.

The Royal Society of Chemistry hosted the 7th UK–Japan Symposium in London on 13 June, according to a report on its website.

Some 115 scientists—including established experts and early career researchers—from over 40 institutions joined the event, held together with the Chemical Society of Japan.

At the event, delegates discussed fundamental research advances in carbon nanomaterials, in the hope of being able to develop broad applications for carbon nanomaterials, from more efficient energy storage to better drug delivery.

A British cultural heritage expert has praised Japan’s tourism for putting the country on track to achieve global standards, but said more work is needed, The Japan Times reported on 4 May.

According to David Atkinson, chairman and president of Tokyo-based heritage restoration firm Konishi Decorative Arts & Crafts Company, Japan’s business strategies are reaching a level on a par with other tourism-focused countries.

“Tourism can be a main pillar of Japan’s economic growth that stands on its own merit”, he explained. “It is already a large industry worldwide, and Japan has potential”.

British actress and author Joanna Lumley OBE is to explore off-the-beaten-track areas of Japan in a new three-part documentary series for ITV, The Belfast Telegraph reported on 12 June.

Lumley will travel across the country’s four main islands by boat, train, plane and on foot, covering more than 3,200km.

Jo Clinton-Davis, ITV’s controller of factual programming, said: “Exotic, enchanting, exciting—Japan is a country with so many gifts. And with her natural warmth, vibrant curiosity and inimitable humour, Joanna Lumley is uniquely equipped to bring them home to our viewers as she guides us though this latest adventure”.

A high school teacher from Greater Manchester, has received the Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese government for her work fostering relations between Japan and the UK, Bury Free Press reported on 22 June.

Mary-Grace Browning, who has been conducting school trips to Japan for 30 years, was also recognised for her reconciliation work including that to take the grandchildren of British prisoners of war to Japan.

Headteacher Vicky Neale said: “Anyone who knows [Browning] will be in awe of her incredible enthusiasm, energy and dedication to ensuring that young people from both countries experience each other’s cultures”.

Stirling Albion Football Club is marking the 50th anniversary of its match against Japan’s national football team, which made them the first British club to play in the country, the Daily Record reported on 12 June.

The Scottish League Division Two side were a top division team at that time, in June 1966.

Fifty years on, an exhibition at the Smith Museum and Art Gallery in Stirling is to showcase photographs and memorabilia from the time. According to 70-year-old former winger Henry Hall, the players “felt really honoured to be the first British team to play in Japan”.

Former Japan and current England rugby coach Eddie Jones has urged Japanese rugby to adopt a more professional approach, Eurosport reported on 1 July.

Jones spoke to reporters after watching Japanese Super Rugby franchise the Sunwolves train in June in Tokyo.

He said: “The whole structure needs to be more professional. You need businessmen running the business side of things and professional rugby men running the rugby side”. He added, “Japan needs to be more aggressive in selecting young players and bringing them through”.

Arsenal Football Club have agreed a deal—subject to medical and regulatory processes—to sign Japan forward Takuma Asano from Sanfrecce Hiroshima, The Express reported on 3 July.

Asano, 21, has made five international appearances for Japan since his debut in August 2015, and is likely to be part of the national squad for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Arsene Wenger, Arsenal manager, said: “Takuma is a talented young striker and very much one for the future. He has had an impressive start to his career in Japan and we look forward to him developing over the next couple of years”.

Welsh Rugby World Cup star Dominic Day is to join Toyota Verblitz in a short-term deal until January 2017, Wales Online reported on 14 May.

A second-row player who has been capped three times, Day turned down a chance to stay with current team Bath and an approach from Cardiff Blues to make the move.

Speaking of the run up to his decision, he said: “I spoke to a few players who have been [to Japan] and friends who are working there now. I heard nothing but good things about being out there and how the players are looked after. It was just an opportunity I felt I couldn’t turn down”.

Since 1971, the Nikkei Marketing Journal has been celebrated for issuing an annual banzuke (sumo-style ranking list) of hit products enjoying strong popularity in the domestic marketplace. Indeed, the list—initially issued every December—proved so popular that some years ago, the publication began running a second ranking at midyear to identify each year’s early performers. This year’s banzuke appeared on page one of the 8 June issue.

A new word, “yasunemics”—used to describe the current situation in the Japanese marketplace—tops the midyear list. A play on the name for the current Japanese prime minister’s economic policies, or Abenomics, the word is written in Japanese using the kanji character for the “A” of “Abe”—in this case pronounced yasu (cheap)—and combined with ne (price).

The word refers to the ongoing price deflation that has plagued Japan for the past two decades, and which is now influencing greater numbers of consumers to seek bargains when they shop.

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On 8 June, Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. released its 2015 report on the alcohol retailing trade, which contains some grim news. Although firms filing for bankruptcy have shown a general decline over the past decade, there were 163 businesses that shut down operations or dissolved in 2014, making it the fourth consecutive year in which an increase has been posted.

The main factors are seen to be the ageing of Japan’s population; the so-called trend toward sake-banare (loss of interest in alcoholic beverages) among young people; and competition from convenience stores.

One more view is that a previous revision of the law controlling liquor sales aimed at controlling excessive price-cutting may have had a major impact on the growth of low-cost retailers.

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A university senior, who applied to work for a convenience store chain, was told he would be hired as a regular staff member. He had been assured by his recruiter that he could expect take-home pay of “somewhat over ¥200,000”. Just before he reported for duty, he received a notification of employment spelling out his duties and responsibilities. The content, however, differed from what he had anticipated. First, the breakdown in wages specified a basic salary of ¥150,000, to which was added a first sales allotment of ¥20,000 and second sales allotment of ¥30,000.

Nevertheless, he went ahead with the job and found that his work hours began at 8am and ended at 10pm with only 30 minutes allotted for a rest period. Paid holidays were practically nil. Despite these long hours, after the withholdings for tax and social welfare, etc. his monthly pay cheque was never to exceed ¥176,000. Eventually he began showing signs of physical and mental fatigue and wound up resigning the position.

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J-Cast News reported, on 13 June, that Japan’s Rakuten shopping portal would shut down its e-commerce site based in Cambridge, England. The announcement also said that the firm would terminate its operations in Barcelona, Spain, and Vienna, Austria, by the end of August.

The decision comes on the heels of an announcement in February 2016 that the Tokyo-based Rakuten, Inc.—a shopping portal founded in 1997 and with revenues last year of ¥713.5bn—would close its marketplaces in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

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The lunchtime behaviour of Japan’s office workers has come to be treated as a useful socioeconomic indicator.
An article in Nikkei Marketing Journal (11 May) examines changing trends in terms of lunch procurement, time spent eating and other practices.

According to a 2014 survey of staff at Shinsei Bank, Limited, 16.1% ate their lunch at a restaurant, but this figure declined to 13.9% in 2015. Fewer workers also ate in the bank’s dining hall (13.8% in 2014 compared with 12.6% in 2015).

One factor is more bank staff bringing lunch from home. Compared with 38.1% selecting this option in 2014, the percentage had risen to 44.1% in 2015. Staff who bought boxed meals outside the office and took them back to eat at their desks declined slightly, from 22.7% to 21% over the period.

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Direct sales in Japan via the Internet—estimated to total ¥12.6trn in 2014—are projected to double to ¥25.6trn by 2021. Nikkan Gendai (14 May), however, reports that there is a downside to this healthy growth.

According to a study by Tokyo Shoko Research, Ltd., 74 firms in the Internet and door-to-door sales sector filed for bankruptcy during fiscal 2015. In 2009, the number of similar bankruptcies was 18, a figure that has continued to increase year on year. Businesses selling apparel and consumer electronics are said to be particularly hard hit.

Just under 80% of those failures (58 firms), however, are those with five employees or fewer, indicating that smaller businesses are most likely to go under. Moreover, 20 of the business were established after 2010, indicating the difficulty in sustaining new firms.

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Cornwall’s Truro College Rugby Academy is to represent England at the Sanix World Rugby Youth Invitational Tournament in Fukuoka Prefecture, the Falmouth Packet reported on 24 April.

It will be the fourth time the Cornish college will compete at the championship, which is one of the most prestigious Under-18 rugby tournaments in the world. Previous squad members include current England internationals Luke Cowan-Dickie and Jack Nowell.

Marek Churcher, coach for the Cornish side, said: “The quality of opposition in every game is of the highest level, with the Japanese teams improving year on year”.

Much ink has been devoted over the past two years to the declining revenue of McDonald’s Japan. Nikkei Business reports that, after nearly half a century of popularity, the business model of restaurant chains offering fast food no longer appeals to Japan’s consumers. Its 16 May issue covers the decline in a special section titled “The Collapse of Eating Out”, which features six articles.

They look at the performance of 10 major nationwide restaurant chains that last achieved year-on-year growth in 2011, when total operating profits reached ¥94.7bn. For the past four years, profits have declined; the 2014 figure was ¥33bn, around one-third that of just three years earlier.

According to the Japan Food Service Distributors Association, the number of customers is down 3.1% year on year, making last year the first time in the past 20 years when a decline was recorded for three years in a row. A president of a family restaurant chain was quoted as saying that “depending on price increases to boost turnover per customer has reached its limit”.

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Japan’s Leicester City Football Club fan base has had a boost thanks to forward Shinji Okazaki, and the side’s success in the Premier League, www.aol.co.uk reported on 3 May.

Supporters of Okazaki who began to follow the Foxes when he joined the then-struggling side saw Leicester win the Premier League title in May.

One fan said, “After Shinji Okazaki joined [the club], Japanese TV decided to broadcast every Leicester match and, due to Leicester’s success and Okazaki’s contribution, lots of Japanese noticed the team and supported them”.

Snow Peak, a Japanese outdoor pursuit firm, is set to target the UK’s “glamping” (glamorous camping) market with the launch of a boutique in London, The Financial Times reported on 15 May.

The UK—where the term glamping was coined—is a growing market for the activity, with 2% of the population having gone glamping, according to market research group Mintel.

Toru Yamai of Snow Peak said Europe and North America had spotted the joys of the activity, which offers the thrill of the outdoors with exceptionally high-end equipment and a team of professionals to help.

A fossil from the Natural History Museum in London of the earliest known bird will make its world premiere in Tokyo in 2017, The Japan News reported on 29 May.

It will be the first time a specimen of Archaeopteryx, which lived in the later stage of the Jurassic period about 150mn years ago, will be shown in Japan.

About 180 items from the British museum will be included in the special exhibition, titled Treasures of the Natural World: Best of London’s Natural History Museum.

A US–Japan joint venture is to build Wylfa Newydd, the nuclear power station planned for Anglesey, North Wales, a report, dated on 20 May, states on www.globalconstructionreview.com.

Horizon Nuclear Power, a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., announced that Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe, Bechtel and JGC Corporation (UK) would be responsible for building the plant.

Malcolm Twist, project director, said: “All the partners are proven at the highest level … we expect to begin firming up relationships with our main sub-contractors—many of them British—very soon”.

The UK’s largest trout producer has secured its first order from Japan during a three-day Seafood Expo in Belgium, The Press and Journal reported on 13 May.

Dawnfresh Seafoods Limited of Lanarkshire will supply trout bellies, which are often considered an offcut by consumers. In Japan, however, the fat-rich produce is in great demand, given its popularity grilled or in sushi.

David Rae, the firm’s head of brand and international sales, said the deal is new territory for the business. He added: “Overall, the Scotland stand [at the expo] created an impressive showcase for Scotland’s produce, and it was a great success for us”.

Japan Tobacco International has launched its first e-cigarette across the UK. The battery-operated device uses replaceable cartridges of vaping liquid, City A.M. reported on 27 April.

It is estimated that such devices are used by about 85% of e-cigarette smokers, equating to about 2mn users. 

The product was launched at Sainsbury’s supermarkets in January, and plans have been drawn up to boost sales by television and outdoor media campaigns.

Ahead of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has told British voters to vote to stay in, The Guardian reported on 5 May.

Abe said that a departure could threaten Japanese investment and put more than 100,000 jobs at risk. He noted that, “Japan attaches importance to our relationship with the UK as a gateway to the European Union … it is better for the world that Britain remain in a strong EU”.

“Our priority is reaching trade deals with the EU, and large trade areas, rather than with individual states”, he added.

An executive chef at Bondant Welsh Food Centre has hosted a Japanese delegation to show how to make the perfect Welsh rarebit, the Daily Post reported on 13 May.

Tamao Sako, a chef, author and entrepreneur from Osaka, was joined by representatives from the Hankyu Department Store researching Welsh products for future British fairs to be held in their Osaka branch.

Sako will return to Bondant in the summer, accompanied by amateur cooks who want to learn about British and Welsh specialty cakes.

Mottox Inc., a Japanese wine importer, has struck a deal to bring four English sparkling wines—from the vineyards of Kent, Hampshire and West Sussex—to Japan, The Drinks Business reported on 6 May.

The British Bottle Company, an export firm specialising in UK-made alcoholic drinks, helped secure the business. According to a representative, English sparkling wine is attracting “considerable interest from the international trade”.

Kayo Kono, chief buyer and brand manager at Mottox, said English sparkling wine is “the brother of Champagne, with its own charm”.

Delegates from the University of Worcester have visited Japan to provide advice on inclusive sport and legacy plans ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, according to a press release issued on 19 April.

The university’s arena has accommodated regional, national and international sport fixtures and events for those with disabilities, while helping to break down barriers to participation in sport among all social groups.

The trip to Japan follows a visit to Worcester in 2015 by a delegation from the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, who observed the university’s inclusive approach to coach and teacher education.

A new system using fingerprints to shop and check in at hotels is to be launched in the summer to encourage tourists to visit Japan, The Telegraph reported on 11 April.

Overseas tourists will be able to register their fingerprints and credit card information in airports or other public locations. During the test phase, 300 establishments in popular destinations, including souvenir shops, restaurants and hotels, will have a fingerprint-reading device.

It is hoped the data will help the Japanese government analyse the spending habits and patterns of tourists from overseas, thereby supporting the creation of tourism management policies.