William Hague says Japan deserves more attention from Britain

Prime Minister Naoto Kan agreed Thursday with visiting British Foreign Secretary William Hague to enhance bilateral relations, with Hague suggesting that the previous British government had almost neglected ties.

‘‘I do think that the relationship with Japan needs more attention from British ministers,’’ Hague told reporters after meeting with Kan at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo. ‘‘My visit today is part of that.’‘

Hague became British foreign minister in the government of new Prime Minister David Cameron following the general election defeat in May of the Labour Party, which had been in power for 13 years.

‘‘We have talked about how we can work together to strengthen the bilateral relationship far into the future,’’ Hague said, adding that he and Kan had discussed ‘‘economic opportunities.’‘

Referring to the value of trade between Japan and Europe as well as to the number of Japanese firms investing in Britain, he said, ‘‘There is no doubt this can be expanded greatly further in the future.’‘

Speaking to Japanese business representatives and members of the press at the residence of British Ambassador to Japan David Warren, Hague expressed his support for Japan’s bid to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

‘‘Japan matters to Britain. You are our closest partner in Asia,’’ he said.


On the economic front, Hague urged Japan to remove trade barriers, referring to an estimate that the maximum removal of both tariffs and nontariff barriers in Japan could deliver 43 billion euros (4.85 trillion yen) of additional European Union exports to Japan and 53 billion euros of additional exports from Japan to the 27-nation bloc.

‘‘UK direct investment in Japan is currently lower than in any of the major Asian economies, even though you have the largest domestic market in the region,’’ Hague said, adding that eliminating trade barriers ‘‘would be good for all of our citizens.’’

Is the sun rising?

Sales at four major Japanese department stores increased in May for the first time in 26 months (Asahi, Nikkei, Sankei, Tokyo)

The number of new cars sold in Japan increased by 22% in May compared to the year earlier. (Yomiuri, Nikkei, Mainichi)

MHI invest in wind power

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd will join a large scale offshore wind generation project in the UK.

Another medical M&A by Japanese firm

Japanese medical companies continue their acquisition wave, with dialysis equipment maker Nipro saying tha it would buy diabetes test device company Home Diagnostics for approximately US$125m. This is a 90% premium over HD's previous closing price, and the deal involves a cash buy-out.

Japan Wind Development Co Ltd - Smart Grid

Japan Wind Development Co. Ltd will work together with a British electric power company to create the next generation smart grid in the Orkney Isalnds

Japanese companies looking to invest

Canon announced it plans to acquire Oce, one of the largest European manufacturers of printers, scanners, copiers, software and imaging suppliers.

Oce reported sales revenues for 2008 at 2.9 Billion Euros

Mori Seiki Co makes investment to set up a company in Germany

Mori Seiki Co will set up a machine tool leasing company in Germany with Mitsui & Co and a German company.

R&G Precision Engineering of Rushden Northants recently invested in Mori Seiki machinery and this has allowed the company to retain it's competitive edge during expansion into the oil. gas, defence and medical markets.

Japan Radio and ORLA UK establish Joint Venture Company

Japan Radio Corporation and ORLA Protein Technologies of Newcastle UK established a joint venture for the development of a sensor of diagnosis for diseases in November.

Both companies have been collaborating in developing the technology since 2007.

The capital of the company “ O-J Bio” is 125k pounds ( 1,800milion yen), and 20% is from JRC and 80% is from ORLA.

The sensor is a device with several cm square, and it makes a diagnosis of the disease from a small amount of blood.

The target is the application for detecting and making diagnosis of the infection diseases such as flu and AIDS. They aim at sales of 10 billion yen within five years by distribution for testing equipment companies.

News from the Tokyo Motor Show

Sanyo Denki considers assembling a battery system for hybrid cars outside Japan.

Sanyo Denki announced a plan to increase production of lithium-ion batteries for hybrid cars.

Fuji Heavy Industries plans to launch a hybrid car in 2012 and market it not only in Japan but also in major countries in the world.

Solar Powered Apartments

Sekisui House says it will start selling apartments fitted with solar cell systems from next month. The firm is planning to piggyback on changing government legislation, which will require power companies to pay JPY48 per kW/hr for sustainable micro power generators (i.e., home-based solar cell and wind turbine owners) feeding to the national grid, from November. Right now, the utilities pay just JPY8per kW/hr. According to Sekisui, the new power systems will add about JPY5.6MM to the price of a typical four-room apartment, but amortized, this works out to just JPY5,000/month.

Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co., Ltd. make acquisition

Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co., Ltd.Tokyo, Japan Group of companies that develop and market innovative, high-quality products for storing, moving, and using digital content Acquired Freecom B.V.Rijswijk, Netherlands Data storage and multimedia solutions provider

Global market for solar cells to hit JPY10trn

Research firm Fuji Keizai has issued a report saying thatthe global market for photovoltaic cells will hit JPY10trn (US$106bn) in the next ten years, through to 2020 -- a 500% increase over current demand. The global market size in 2008 was JPY2.11trn (US$22.44bn), and although the growth rate for this year has slowed because of the economic slowdown, Fuji Keizai is predicting a strong recovery in 2010. (Source: TT commentary from nikkei.co.jp,Aug 28, 2009)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd will invest about 30 billion yen in mass production of lithium-ion batteries.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd will invest about 30 billion yen in mass production of lithium-ion batteries. [NIKKEI, ASAHI, YOMIURI]

Expertise in Electric Vehicle technology sought ......

Prof. Shimizu of Keio University established a company called SIM-Drive in an effort to spread electric vehicles through cooperation between industry and universities. [TOKYO, SANKEI, ASAHI, MAINICHI]

NEC and Mitsubishi Denki target LED business

NEC and Mitsubishi Denki will enter the LED bulb business from September this year. [NIKKEI]

Lawson and Matsumoto Kiyoshi form business alliance

Lawson, the major convenience store chain and Matsumoto Kiyoshi, the major pharmacy chain, will form a business alliance. They will jointly establish a company within this year to open a new type of store from next spring. [NIKKEI]

Japanese utilities to start purchase of consumers' solar power

A Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) program designed to subsidize home owner's costs of installing solar power panels will kick off later this year. The plan allows home owners to sell power back to grid power operators at a fixed (high) price, thus allowing them to off-set their solar investments -- a cost-recovery process that takes about 10-15 years. The power companies will inturn get their money back by passing on the higher costs to general consumers. The power companies will payJPY48 per kw/hr for such solar-produced domestic power,about double the current rate of power.

UKTI are organising a stand at SEECAT 2009

Japan - Special Equipment Exhibition & Conference for Anti-Terrorism (SEECAT) 2009Special Equipment Exhibition & Conference for Anti-Terrorism (SEECAT) specialising in Anti-Terrorism, is holding its 3rd show this year between 21 -23 October 2009. UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) Tokyo and UKTI Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO) are organising a UK information stand at SEECAT 2009 to help market the strength of UK’s products and technologies in the security and defence sectors. SEECAT is concurrently held with RISCON - Risk Control exhibition.

Sanyo Denki will increase production of solar batteries to meet increasing domestic demand.

Sanyo Denki will increase production of solar batteries to meet increasing domestic demand. [NIKKEI]

Green economy and beer sales; growth sectors ....

Kirin Holdings post record-high sales between January and June 2009.[ASAHI, MAINICHI, YOMIURI]