Many Japanese don’t know much about Northern Ireland, although the recent media reporting on the “Irish backstop” issue has made them more aware that the island of Ireland is divided into Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland.
Japan will shortly be welcoming teams from all the constituent elements of the United Kingdom for the Rugby World Cup which begins in September. Our Embassy will be very busy with four teams and tens of thousands of visiting fans to support. The Ireland team is an “all of Ireland” team, so we are working closely with our friends from the Irish Embassy.
There is a long history of Japanese business investment in Northern Ireland. So I took the opportunity of a summer visit back home, to spend a couple of days in Belfast. It’s only 80 minutes flight from London: similar to the short hops that Japanese make around their four main islands. I met with a range of Japanese companies there,from sectors including: medical equipment; ICT; automotive components; aluminium castings and block chain. They were very complimentary about NI as a location, with high quality staff and a cost-base significantly cheaper than most other parts of the UK.
I had a good briefing from Invest Northern Ireland, the investment promotion agency, which has recently set up a new, strengthened office in Tokyo, based at our Embassy. I also met political and economic experts from the Northern Ireland administration to add background context.
A big part of Northern Ireland’s competitiveness rests on its high quality education system. Its primary schools are ranked sixth in the world for maths. I visited both the long-established Queen’s University, and the more modern University of Ulster, and learned about their links with Japan. Queen’s has joint research projects with a number of Japanese institutions: there were 365 co-authored papers in the last five years. One interesting collaboration is in the field of Peace Studies, with Hiroshima University. Conflict resolution is a particular strength of the University, drawing on the huge progress made in inter-community relations since the Good Friday Agreement over 20 years ago. I also met representativeas of some Further Education Colleges, who also had links with counterparts in Japan, in places like Toyama and Kagoshima.
Tourism from Japan to Northern Ireland is small but growing. Just after I left Belfast, it hosted the British Open, which will certainly have helped get it onto the radar screen among Japanese golf aficionados. Fans of the “Game of Thrones” TV series, which was filmed there, will also recognise some of the scenic backdrops. I was taken to look at one of the Province’s most famous tourist sites – the Giant’s Causeway – for an informative briefing from the National Trust team who run it. I remember studying its unique landscape of hexagonal basalt pillars, formed through volcanic processes, as part of my geography degree. But, visiting for the first time, I also enjoyed hearing the atlternative explanations of its origin, at the hands of the legendary giant Finn MacCool. Japan is a country with many myths and legends too, so I’m sure Japanese visitors appreciate this.
As Ambassador, I represent all parts of the UK in Japan, so it was very good to have an opportunity to get to know Northern Ireland, and its many strengths, a little better. I look forward to encouraging more Japanese to go there.
