After spending much of this year re-learning Japanese, I have been in a whirl of final preparations before heading off Tokyo in January, as Ambassador to Japan.
I have been all over the UK, including Scotland and Wales, meeting ministers, officials and Japanese investors. In Cardiff, Japanese Ambassador Tsuruoka and I met the First Minister, and watched Wales just beat Japan at Rugby. The Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019 will see a strong presence from the home nations of the UK. In beautiful Cumbria, in the far North West of England, I visited Sellafield, the UK’s nuclear centre which has a long, highly productive relationship with Japan.
Business has been a major theme. I have visited Japanese investments like Nissan’s impressive car plant in Sunderland and Eisai’s drug research centre in Hatfield. And I’ve met UK exporters including Brompton bikes, which are proving incredibly popular in Japan. Nomura hosted a lunch with a number of City institutions. Inevitably BREXIT was regularly raised. The UK government has to take some very important decisions and undertake a complex negotiating process. Different industries may be affected in different ways, but people were glad that government is engaging to listen to their views. In the longer term, as the UK seeks new FTAs, post BREXIT, Japan should be an early priority.
I saw a number of government departments that have co-operative relationships with Japan across a range of issues from global security to health, including: Foreign Office, International Trade, Business, Defence, Treasury, Home Office and Health. Science and Innovation collaboration is another strong theme. I met the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor and the President of the Royal Society at its historic building on the Mall. And representatives of University College London, who have welcomed many Japanese students since the Choshu 5 who travelled to London in 1863.
Tokyo will host the 2020 Olympics on my watch. London 2012 means that there are many opportunities for government and private sector collaboration. I called on the British Olympic Association and the British Paralympic Association, still basking in the glow of their fabulous Rio successes. We will be working closely with them.
Most memorable of all, of course, was our pre-posting call on Her Majesty the Queen. This is the third time that I have prepared to head off for an ambassadorship, and the second time to a country I had already previously served in. As you undertake pre-departure preparations you get a unique insight into the breadth of the relationship. Of course it’s not just about Ambassadors and big institutions. Relations between countries are also shaped by many personal ties of family and friendship, as I was reminded when invited to address the diverse membership of the Japan Society in London earlier this month.
With our luggage already on the high seas, we will be rattling round in an empty home this Christmas. Our visiting family will have to bring extra crockery. Sarah and I are feeling a mounting sense of excitement about arriving in Japan on 6 January.