Cath Kidston has bought its Japanese shops from conglomerate TSI Holdings Co., Ltd., which was running them as franchises, The Telegraph reported on 14 July.

There are 31 shops in Japan—compared with 65 in the UK—but Kenny Wilson, chief executive of Cath Kidston, said over time the firm hopes to increase this number to between 50 and 55.

Wilson added that the business had enjoyed “new energy and new knowledge” since Baring Private Equity Asia bought a substantial stake in it last year to boost its expansion in Asia.

The Japanese government plans to allow a British doctor to work at a Tokyo hospital—treating non-Japanese patients who pay costs in full—The Japan Times reported on 19 July.

The move, which includes the addition of three doctors from the US and one from France, is part of a “special zone” deregulation initiative to enable non-Japanese to live in Tokyo without anxiety.

The British doctor, whose area of expertise is yet to be announced, will practice at Keio University Hospital in Shinjuku Ward.

Atsushi Harada has won a competition held by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation for his watercolour portrait of a snow leopard, The Japan News reported on 13 July.

The artist took the title of 2015 Wildlife Artist of the Year in the endangered wildlife category for White Ghost.

Launched in 2007 by British artist and conservationist David Shepherd CBE to raise funds and awareness of endangered animals, the competition has raised more than £150,000 (¥28mn) to date for the foundation’s projects.

Time Inc. UK’s music and entertainment brand NME is to partner with Kyodo Tokyo Inc, a concert promotions and live events firm, www.fipp.com reported on 14 July.

The partnership will see the launch of www.nme-jp.com and a series of live NME-branded music events in Japan.

Jo Smalley, publishing director of NME, said it was “a brilliant opportunity to deliver our content to an appreciative Japanese audience”, while Yoshito Yamazaki, president of Kyodo Tokyo, said he is excited to work with “an innovative and renowned media brand with a long history”.

Firms and organisations in Herefordshire have welcomed a cultural delegation from Japan led by The University of Tokyo’s professor of green tourism, the Hereford Times reported on 8 July.

Some 15 tourism representatives, lecturers and students joined Shinji Aoki to mark his 26th visit to Lowe Farm, where he presented a magnolia tree to its owner Juliet Williams and met heads of regional businesses.

Aoki said Japan’s economic issues are similar to those of Herefordshire: rural farms need support to diversify, and young people need help to make careers outside large cities.

An A-bomb survivor has spoken about the blast to members of the House of Lords in the first Internet telephone testimony to the legislative body of a country in possession of nuclear weapons, The Japan Times reported on 17 July.

Yoshiko Kajimoto, 84, addressed some 70 people in the parliament building. She was making airplane propellers 2.3km from ground zero when the bomb exploded.

A Hiroshima City official said the conference was a landmark event that, it is to be hoped, will raise awareness, particularly given this year is the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Japan’s per capita beef consumption is on the rise. It initially shot past 26kg per year around 1992, a year after Japan liberalised imports and, by 2000, it was nearly 28.5kg per year. However, a BSE scare occurred in September 2001, followed by an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Miyazaki Prefecture, and multiple cases of illnesses brought on by consumption of raw beef. Each tragedy brought a drop in demand.

Now, reports the Nikkei Marketing Journal (1 July), beef consumption is enjoying unprecedented popularity. Part of the new appeal is credited to the serving of cuts that undergo dry ageing. One restaurant that offers such cuts is the 180-seat Wolfgang’s Steakhouse in Roppongi, which opened in February 2014. Its current monthly turnover of ¥130mn is reported to be nearly double the initial projections, spurring the operator—the WDI Group—to proceed with the opening of two more branches, in Marunouchi and Osaka.

In addition to male customers, female customers have been ordering generous cuts of 300g on the bone. With an average outlay of ¥13,000 per customer, WDI Group President Ken Shimizu attributed the restaurant’s popularity to “fulfilling consumers’ latent needs for high-quality meat”.

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By Mark Schreiber

Innovative ways to pursue “undeveloped markets” in central urban areas is the topic of a feature in Nikkei Business (13 July). One example is family restaurants, which were first established in the suburbs, typically in independent buildings with parking facilities or at street level, thus enabling patrons to visibly confirm if the eatery is busy or not.

Since 2014, Gusto and Jonathan’s (brands of the Skylark Group) have been moving into locations that require patrons to take a lift, in some cases as high up as seven floors. Many of these restaurants have moved into spaces formerly occupied by izakaya (Japanese-style pub restaurants).

While some 77% of the Skylark Group’s restaurants are in suburban areas, it has hopes of opening more “floating” outlets, such as those situated on the upper floors of buildings in urban areas near railway stations with high pedestrian traffic. To succeed, they will also have to break the mould of being eateries for “parents plus children”, the typical patrons of family restaurants, and develop ways to appeal to a more diversified customer base.

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By Mark Schreiber

In addition to duty-free shops aimed exclusively at international travellers, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the current boom in tourists to Japan have been so-called outlet malls.

J-Cast News (19 July) introduced the Mitsui Outlet Park in Oyabe City, Toyama Prefecture, which opened for business on 16 July. It is located nearly equidistant from Kanazawa and Toyama, two major regional cities serviced by the Hokuriku Shinkansen, which was completed in March.

Billed as the first of its kind in the Hokuriku region, the centre features 173 shops—of which 81 represent the operators’ first launch in the Hokuriku region—and parking for 2,800 vehicles.

While it has adopted an enclosed design to protect visitors from the area’s heavy snowfalls in winter, it nonetheless includes a Ferris wheel and other amusement park rides for children. In efforts to appeal to foreign visitors, amenities include Wi-Fi spots, automatic currency conversion machines and prayer rooms.

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By Mark Schreiber

In Zama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, on the former site of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.’s Zama plant, an enormous distribution centre named GLP Zama has been completed.

It boasts favourable access to the Tomei Motorway, which links two of Japan’s major urban areas—Tokyo and Nagoya—and the nearly completed 300km Ken-O Motorway encircling the greater Tokyo metropolis. The facility, scheduled to begin operation in July, boasts floor space of some 130,000m2 and represents an investment of ¥20.9bn.

The 750m external circumference, reports Weekly Toyo Keizai (6 June), takes nearly five minutes to negotiate. The spiral vehicle ramp that gives delivery trucks direct access to five levels will be a boon to the multiple tenants expected to lease space.

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By Mark Schreiber

“The Japanese market for vacuum cleaners is heating up”, the Nikkei Marketing Journal (17 June) reports, noting the 2014 year-on-year sales growth of 6% for a total of 9.31mn units. Then, the market benefited from a sales rush for home appliances ahead of the consumption tax rate increase from 5% to 8%.

Under the front page headline, “The suction techniques of Dyson fans”, the article features a photograph of the firm’s founder Sir James Dyson CBE and an example of how in-store sales staff explain the virtues of the vacuum cleaners’ proprietary technology to prospective customers.

The firm attributes some of its recent product introductions to the results of surveys designed to uncover latent customers. These include the DC74 Fluffy cordless cleaner with a larger suction head, enabling it to pick up bigger particles; the Pure Cool air circulator fan with a built-in air cleaning function; and the V6 Mattress that filters out exhaust odour.

Although Electrolux cleaners from Sweden and robot vacuum cleaners from the US are selling well, the undisputed top foreign brand is Dyson from the UK. Dyson’s total sales in fiscal 2013 reached ¥230mn, while last year, it achieved the position of number one in sales on a value basis, accounting for about 24% of the vacuum cleaner market’s total turnover.

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DisplayNote Technologies has secured a deal with Japanese multinational IT provider NEC Corporation, the Belfast Telegraph reported on 10 June.

The Belfast technology firm’s software, which lets users share what is on their screen with other displays and devices, will be supplied to more than one million computers in Japan.

Ed Morgan, the firm’s head of marketing, said the collaboration “not only further strengthens the relationship between the two companies, it also increases our presence in the global market”.

Monocle has named Tokyo the world’s most liveable city in its annual quality of life survey.

While criteria include crime rate, health care infrastructure, as well as educational and environmental wellbeing, this year’s survey by the British magazine incorporates 22 new standards. These include the price of a three-bedroom house; the cost of a cup of coffee, glass of wine and decent lunch; and access to the outdoors.

Fukuoka and Kyoto also performed well, ranking 12th and 14th, respectively.

An Imperial Army veteran who oversaw construction of the Burma Railway has travelled to London to meet a former British prisoner of war, The Telegraph reported on 22 June.

Some 72 years since serving in Burma, 95-year-old Mikio Kinoshita met 96-year-old Sir Harold Atcherley, who was among those forced to clear a path for the railway track.

Atcherley invited Kinoshita after seeing him in a BBC documentary about the railway. “I wanted to extend the hand of friendship and human understanding after so many years of misunderstanding and hatred”, he said.

China has surpassed Japan as Asia’s number one nation for world-class universities, www.timeshighereducation.co.uk reported on 10 June, while three British universities are listed in the body’s 2014-15 global top 10.

According to the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2015, Japan has 19 institutions in the top 100—down from 20 last year and 22 in 2013—while China has 21—up from 18 last year and 15 in 2013.

The University of Oxford is ranked third, followed by The University of Cambridge in fifth place, and Imperial College London in ninth place.

Researchers at The Solutions Project have published plans regarding what the projected energy mix could be in a range of countries in 2050, as a result of 100% use of renewable energy, www.cleantechnica.com reported on 23 June.

In the UK, onshore wind could account for 45%, followed by offshore wind at 40%. A move to use 100% renewable energy would result in the creation of more than 360,000 jobs, lasting 35 consecutive years each, in operation and construction.

Meanwhile, the top providers of energy in Japan could be solar PV plants (41.5%), onshore wind (20%) and commercial/government rooftop PV systems (13%), as a result of which 2mn jobs could be created.

Lee Haskins has set his sights on the bantamweight division after defeating Ryosuke Iwasa to become world champion, the Bristol Post reported on 15 June.

Haskins won inside six rounds at Action Indoor Sports in Bristol to claim the IBF Interim title. From a total of 21 fights, Iwasa had lost only one fight before—to WBC champion Shinsuke Yamanaka four years ago.

The current British and European champion said he would now take on other champions and be confident in his ability.

Striker Shinji Okazaki has signed a four-year deal with Leicester City Football Club, the Daily Mail reported on 26 June.

The 29-year-old joined the Foxes from German team FSV Mainz 05, making him Leicester’s third summer signing.

Okazaki, who scored 43 goals in 93 games for Japan, said: “I am very happy to be here. To play in the Premier League is my dream and I will make every effort to help the team here at Leicester City”.

London-based The World of Fine Wine has named the Tokyo American Club’s restaurant, CHOP Steakhouse, as having the world’s best medium-sized wine list, according to a press release issued 9 June.

The restaurant is the first in Japan—and one of 22 in Asia—to be awarded the publication’s three stars.

Three-star wine lists are judged to have exceptional breadth; a range of leading producers; a good mix of vintages, styles and prices; an extensive by-the-glass programme, with a wide selection of half bottles and larger formats; outstanding organisation; as well as originality, personality and vision.

The practice of inemuri (napping while remaining present) has won the support of British sleep experts, The Japan Times reported on 18 June.

While accepted in Japan as a sign the person has been working hard and needs rest, napping tends to be viewed negatively in the UK.

However, Dr Robert Meadows, a senior lecturer at the University of Surrey, said some experts are now asking whether British firms should allow staff to take naps, particularly after lunch when efficiency is usually low.

A group from Hertfordshire, England, are planning to drive a red double-decker bus from London to Japan and back for charity, The Comet reported on 26 June.

The idea was first hatched when Matt Hart and his friend James Treadwell bought the dilapidated 1964 Routemaster—affectionately named Beatrix—and had a team mechanically restore it.

The journey is to raise money for ShelterBox, an international disaster relief charity that delivers emergency shelter and aid worldwide to people affected by disaster.

By Mark Schreiber

A nationwide online survey of 1,000 adult men and women, conducted by Macromill, Inc. just prior to the Golden Week holidays in April and May, asked participants about their plans for the 2015 summer holidays. The survey was designed by the Nikkei Research Institute of Industry and Regional Economy and the results appear in the Nikkei Marketing Journal (5 June).

When asked about the number of consecutive days they took off work, 25.2% of respondents gave a total of 5–7 days; 21.3% said 3–4 days; 11.7%, said 8 days or longer; and 32% said that they were either not currently employed or that they would not be taking a holiday. (more…)

Japan has climbed from 14th to ninth place in a global ranking of tourism competitiveness, while the UK comes fifth, The Mainichi reported on 19 May.

The World Economic Forum, which carried out the study, attributed Japan’s improvement to its “cultural heritage”, efficient transport infrastructure and a newly launched wireless Internet service.

The ranking aims to show how well countries can deliver sustainable economic and societal benefits through their respective travel and tourism sectors. By indicator, Japan ranks first globally for its treatment of customers and the quality of railway infrastructure.

The UK government’s Innovation is GREAT campaign in Japan moved up a gear with a delegation’s showcase of world-leading technology at the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan Engineering Conference, according to a press release dated 21 May (see page 46).

Representatives presented cutting-edge low carbon vehicle technologies developed with the help of funding from Innovate UK.

Paul Gadd, programme manager for the Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform at Innovate UK, said the initiative’s aims are to generate new business opportunities and demonstrate that the UK is a great place to conduct research and development.

Immigration service Arton Capital’s ranking of passports from around the world has placed British and Japanese passports first and fourth, respectively, www.iafrica.com reported on 27 April.

A passport’s power is calculated based on how many countries the holders can access without a visa.

The UK and the US were tied at the top of the list, with passport holders of both countries able to enter 147 countries without a visa. Meanwhile, Japanese passport holders can enter 143 countries without a visa.

The UK and Japan are among the countries that spend the most on toys worldwide, The Independent reported on 23 May.

Data from Euromonitor International shows that the amount spent per child grew last year to the equivalent of £600 in Australia, putting the country in first place, followed by £550 in the UK and the equivalent of £504 in Japan.

According to the report, “Middle class households are very important to the toys and games industry because they largely drive consumer spending”.

There is also higher spending in countries with older first-time mothers and more women in the labour force.

BBC Worldwide and Sony Pictures Television Networks in Japan have launched a branded programme block, according to a 23 April report on www.newsonnews.com.

BBC First will feature on AXN Mystery, Japan’s only dedicated mystery channel, which will now show top-rated and award-winning UK dramas.

Hiroko Ozawa, general manager of AXN Mystery, said: “AXN Mystery has had great success with British dramas, which have attracted a strong Japanese following with their high production value and unique style of storytelling”.

Honda Aircraft Company is offering private demonstration flights of its new HondaJet as part of a tour of Europe, Pilot reported on 22 May.

Scheduled to take place following the 2015 European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland, in May, the aircraft will visit Cambridge, Birmingham, Leeds and Farnborough.

Michimasa Fujino, president and chief executive of Honda Aircraft Company, said, “The HondaJet is demonstrating its maturity and readiness for entry into service”, adding that he was “excited to bring the aircraft to Europe”.

A London couple have passed the half-way mark in their cycling trip from the UK to Japan, the Daily Mail reported on 11 May.

The cyclists resigned from their jobs in spring 2014 to undertake the 20,000km journey. Now, some 14,000km into the ride, the pair are in Myanmar, having passed through countries as diverse as Poland, Slovakia, Oman and Nepal.

Aside from commuting to work by bicycle and taking part in a couple of short cycling tours, the couple did no specific training prior to departure. They said the trip would be taken at their own pace, adding it was a way to meet people and learn about new places.

Four horses from Japan are to run in this year’s Royal Ascot in Berkshire, marking the first contingent from the country since 2011, Racing Post reported on 29 April.

Owner Hidetoshi Yamamoto and trainer Kazuo Fujisawa will send over Prince of Wales’s stakes contender Spielberg, as well as Lelouch, Pelussa and Super Moon.

Nick Smith, head of communications and international racing at Ascot said, “It is great to have such a strong Japanese team coming over this year and a runner or two in the handicaps would be quite exciting.”