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[Music] [Music] good morning and welcome to this launch of our virtual spring mission run by the department of international trade with export to japan our digital partner and welcome to japan my name is chris heffer head of dit here coming to you live from the british embassy in tokyo today's event kicks off our partnering with japan spring 21 free trade agreement series a set of activities across a range of different sectors and parts of the uk over the next few months to get you started with your journey to japan in the next 60 minutes we have a host of experts from business and government who will give you a sense of the japan market what the newly signed fta means for you successful british companies perspectives on how to succeed in japan and hear what support is out there for you after the speakers we have breakout sessions for 30 minutes where you can ask any question on doing business in japan with specialists from dit and the british embassy tokyo i'm afraid we can't take questions during the session so do make use of those breakouts afterwards and welcome to all of you i think we have over 800 companies on the line this morning and so to start this event and hopefully your journey to exporting to japan i'm delighted to welcome the minister for exports graham stewart mp from the department of international trade to kick us off minister over to you well thank you very much chris um for that kind introduction and thank you to our teams across the world more than 110 countries and then our teams at home throughout the united kingdom in for their work organizing today's launch event as we kickstart the largest uk trade mission in history we hope that this will be the dawn of a new era for free trade between the uk and the land of the rising sun while noting that uh while we're seeking to make japan a key partner for today's global britain actually our first deal with japan was signed back in 1613 our first free trade agreement more than 400 years ago the uk japan fta technically known as the comprehensive economic partnership agreement or super is the first major new uh trade deal the uk as an as an independent trading nation has made in more than 40 years and it brings two like-minded allies even closer together our island democracies set the standard for high quality goods whether that's japanese porcelain or british fine china and together they're pushing the boundaries of innovation from robotics to ai to fintech by deepening our trade which was worth 29.2 billion in 2019 we will help our economies blossom at a pivotal moment as we in the world seek to build back better from the impacts of the kobit 19 pandemic we'll by doing it we will support well-paid jobs in industries that are vital for our future and will raise the bar for rules-based international trade in the 21st century that's why i'm here to urge you uh i know you're on the calls you're interested already to grow your businesses through exporting making the most of the benefits from our groundbreaking trade deal and it's i'm pleased to say that this deal has been welcomed across the board from the national farmers union to scottish salmon producers and tech uk benefits of the deal include cutting-edge digital and data provisions which protect source code to enable the free flow of data while agreeing a ban on data localization that means that companies don't have to meet the cost of setting up servers in japan if they don't want to more flexible and competitive rules of origin meaning that we're going to hear fashion industry uh icon in a moment meaning that textiles and leather industries for instance brought the world harris tweed and ettinger now benefit from making it that much easier to store tokyo fresh week our confectionary exports will also benefit from reduced duties whilst our creative industries will have their brands and innovations protected as we go beyond the eu in tackling the online infringement of intellectual property rights we've also gone further to promote the best of british food and drink through greater legal recognition of our produce whether it be storn away black pudding english sparkling wine or of course welsh lamb sold in the japanese market we're looking forward to more than 70 geographical indications being recognized which will be more than ten times as many as the gi's as they're called were recognized in chamber in japan before such advantages mean greater trade which will boost jobs prosperity and wages in every corner of the united kingdom it'll benefit the over 140 000 people 140 000 who work for japanese companies across the uk we all know the big employers such as nissan in the northeast sony in south wales and mitsubishi electric and scotland but it's all also our small independent and upcoming businesses that thrive through our relationship with japan more than 8 000 small and medium enterprise businesses are exporting to the japanese market and this provides opportunities we hope for many more to cut their teeth on what the country has to offer by embracing diverse markets like japan one of the biggest in the world our businesses will maximize their potential growth allowing us not just to build back from the impacts of the pandemic but to build back stronger we've learned in the last year that supply chains are vital for coping with shocks like the kobe crisis and that economic resilience will be key to us enjoying the benefits of long-term recovery and growth and i'd like to assure you that the department for international trade is not going to rest on its laurels our deal with japan brings us a big step closer to joining them in one of the most dynamic trading areas on earth the cp tpp not very pitifully named but it's a comprehensive and progressive agreement for the trans-pacific partnership the high this high standards club would deepen our ties with economies worth nearly nine trillion securing tariff-free trade with its 11 members on 95 of goods and modern provisions for services and technology trade and interestingly if you combine the global share of gdp of the cptpp members and you add the uk share of global gdp it comes to around the same size as the eu 27 and if i had a high level view of what dit should be about it's helping reposition uk business and trade with the fastest growing parts of the world because 90 of global growth is expected to be outside of europe over the coming years and the team in japan is seeking to translate our trade policy success into real export opportunities for uk businesses so throughout this year 2021 each season will offer new opportunities for uk companies to strengthen ties with our japanese partners because we recognize that signing trade deals is only the start of the challenge the real challenge is to bring those opportunities to life for uk businesses and smes in particular so they can go through the door they can go through the open door where they can go through that door and realize the benefits that arise this launch event fires the starting gun for three months of intense activity which will constitute the biggest trade mission the uk has ever conducted from foodx to the wind expo our mission will feature events that showcase the best that the uk has to offer from advanced manufacturing to food and drink as well as our world leading services and renewable energy office first-time exporters will gain insight as to how their business can take on japan with webinars workshops and one-to-one go global events using the expertise from market specialists to unlock the potential in up-and-coming uk businesses and our mission will continue to ban the drum for research and innovation through our power matching events pairing major companies with innovative startups and the british chambers of commerce will join us to celebrate the work our fta is doing for women's economic empowerment we'll be discussing how the relevant chapter in our agreement will continue to signal our values and how we can tackle challenges facing women in trade both at home and indeed in japan now as the days lengthen this summer which we very much look forward to so will opportunities for closer uk japan collaboration the world will turn to tokyo for that pinnacle of global sporting events the olympics and we will be carrying the torch alongside them we can be proud to see british experts such as events specialists travanding using what they learned at london 2012 to help make tokyo's own games a success and as we embrace opportunities overseas dit will be helping businesses at home go global now last year i launched a pilot of our export academy for smes and new exporters structured programs and webinars and events will help them trade with confidence whilst participating benefit businesses can benefit from end-to-end export support from identifying new markets and prioritizing them to making and delivering an export plan we continue to enhance the expert advice freely available to uk businesses which our teams provide our specialist export to japan service a one-stop shop for all exporters wanted to take on the japanese market means it's now even easier to make the most of the new trade deal export to japan represents more than half a decade of work between embassy staff trade specialists and private sector partners to deliver vital services and advice to more than 11 000 businesses our close collaboration with industry has made this the go-to support service to develop businesses exporting journeys to japan now as we secure new opportunities around the world i'd like to encourage you to grow your business by exporting to japan by flying the flag for the best of british in this huge market you'll bring home jobs and opportunity to every corner of the uk japanese consumers are already showing their enthusiasm for british brands as you'll learn from our next speaker to paul smith who's enjoyed great success over several decades with his iconic fashion label i hope businesses like his and events like this will help inspire you to unleash your potential by trading with japan if you're not doing so already thank you very much indeed hello i'm paul smith uh here in my studio in london actually but i'm with you today and i'm very pleased to be with you today um i've been working in japan since the early 80s i think 82 1982 i've been every year apart from this last year two or three four times a year what you find with japan is what you put in you get out because they're so uh the business community are so good at uh if you can prove that you know your stuff um then you can have a great success like i have uh in japan um immerse yourself in it relax don't worry about the jet lag enjoy the food think about the culture and then also i've learned so much about the work ethic uh with the japanese business people and the fact that they involve entire teams into meetings i've learned a lot myself and i've given a lot so um may it continue and thank you japan i've had a wonderful time and i look forward to the future thank you bye thank you minister and thank you to sir paul smith let me now try and do a quick overview of the japan market and then hand over to mary claire joyce my head of trade to talk about the benefits of the fga as many of you know japan is a large market it's the third largest gdp in the world nearly twice that of the uk and around four times uh gdp per capita of neighboring china it's a rich country at the third largest number of millionaires globally and companies like you do well there are nearly 10 000 british companies currently exporting to japan with a total export value around 15 billion pounds our largest export market beyond the eu the us and china japan has a huge reputation innovation powerhouse and in fact the industrial cluster around the wider tokyo area produces more patents nearly twice as many as the whole of silicon valley japanese companies one of the highest spending on r d of gdp and it leads the world in patent applications per million population and so actually those two give you the reasons why companies like yours have come to japan the first on the left they've been the market size people cited those high income levels the large customer base for products and services and the second the chance to really test yourself actually to test yourself against the best in the world and bring those audi value products and services see what else is happening if you can make it in japan you can make it anywhere as paul smith proves with a bit of work ethic it appears as well the japanese government has set out a strategy to try and take japan into the future called society 5.0 building on society 4.0 the informational digital age we live in today and it tries to respond to some of the strategic challenges and opportunities japan faces and provides opportunities for uk companies such as you the population in japan today is around 125 million back twice out of the g of the uk but a third of those are over 65 and that proportion is due to rise the population is actually due to fall in japan to around 80 million by 2060 so it is both aging and shrinking and the government has to respond and is responding uh promoting digital and robotic technologies to help the elderly making financial services and products available to all and trying to increase productivity in farming where amazingly the average age of a japanese farmer today is 65 years old those demographics also means a shrinking and tight labor market and so japan needs to bring in more workers both from overseas and in power it's very well educated female workforce japan can be quite rule-bound but it's beginning to introduce new digital regulations such as allowing digital signatures and applying ideas from the uk such as the regulatory sandbox japan has now committed to net zero by 2050 which will mean a massive increase in renewable energy decarbonization of the transport system and an overhaul of the electric grid here lastly the japanese government is trying to help companies like you into the market by growing the trade agreement trade agreements and providing more on-the-ground support to welcome companies in having said tokyo is this huge industrial area there is a life beyond tokyo in japan and some of the regions are huge in their own right kyushu down in the south as big as the time thai economy at kansai with osaka is bigger switzerland and chubu where nagoya and toyota's headquartered about the same size as well so do you remember there is a life in japan beyond just tokyo as well a quick overview here of the japanese consumer and their characteristics and you heard from sir paul smith a little earlier on this and you'll be hearing later from hotel chocolat and hush wines the japanese customers do have high levels of disposable incomes often into quite late and age they're living at home with their parents not paying mortgages and a bit more a bit more disposable cash large appetite for innovative products and uh services can be quite passionate about some fairly niche hobbies and interests which can be quite lucrative for british companies japanese consumers are famously demanding especially on presentation and packaging we have many japanese british cus companies have to change their packaging their packaging standards just for the japan market consumers here are early adopters and trend conscious and fashions can change quite easily too so you may launch on one market positioning but have to keep adapting that as you go heritage does go down well so do tell your story and tell your british story of where you come from and how you've got to where you are lastly we said convenience is key but i guess what we mean by that is do you think about how your product or service fits in the lives of japanese consumers it may be quite different from the uk flats are much smaller fridges are much smaller freeze is non-existent ovens non-existent and diets are not western just to name a sort of food and drink set of examples so do think about how your products fit in the lives of japanese people today we're also seeing a younger generation be a little bit less materialistic a bit more digital and perhaps uncertain about the future giving those demographic trends so we are seeing a rise in subscription and sharing models or experiential cons
mption maybe a little bit more function over style as well just to say thank you to all those who are shoving comments in the chat we will look at those as i said at the beginning we won't try and respond to those we'll do as a breakout afterwards if that's okay i think there are nearly 500 companies online now uh so keep joining so do keep those positive comments coming we'll try to pick up on those laters but i guess our key message is have a plan for japan it's worth doing your homework first it can be a very attractive market but it's not always the easiest or cheapest place to do business scoring below many of the g7 or some of those global indices and english is not universally spoken like the uk covert has hit the economy this year next uk exports are down a little bit as well and the automotive hospitality luxury sector is a little bit soft at the moment lastly sadly borders are shut um and may take a little while to open possibly even after the olympics in my personal opinion so use this moment to scout the market and develop your plan for japan and finally as paul smith support smith set up pretty far better than i will do it's worth adapting your style for how japan does business business etiquette is different be on time remember those business cards and the occasional bar goes down well in the uk the customer may be king but over here they're god so be reverential to your customers and we've seen uk companies here be far less adversarial or negotiating with customers and they might do another market as so paul smith said decision making is consensual if you're after the key decision maker or finding out where the buck stops you won't find it you need to work the system and there's even a word fit in japan namawashi things can take time in japan so do be patient visit often when you can and show commitment but be prepared to respond quite rapidly to the many detailed questions you should expect and lastly again it supports it says don't panic be yourself tell your story say why you're different and set out clearly what the usp of your products and service really is mary claire do you want to come now in on the fda benefits please thank you chris and good morning to everyone joining from the uk and good morning good evening sorry to everyone in japan so as chris said i am mary claire joyce head of trade for d.i.t japan based here in the british embassy in tokyo and i'd like to give you a quick overview of what the uk japan fda or sipa as it's commonly called is and what it means for you i certainly can't go into the depth that many of you will want to hear but we will be following up with a much longer and more thorough explanation next month as part of the series of business focused uk japan trade events running from this week all the way through until the end of may and in the breakout group sessions later on we'll be giving you more information on this last october when the uk japan fta chief negotiator graham zebedee came to tokyo for the signing of the fta with the secretary of state liz truss he said that our focus now must be on making sure that you pick companies understand and reap the benefits of cepa so the super builds on the previous eu japan trade agreement which came into force in 2019 but it actually goes much further than the european deal particularly in the key areas of food and drink digital trade financial services these all are of course key strengths of the uk economy just to name a few so let's let's look first at what it means for the good sector the fda will bring about tariff liberalization in 99 of exports from uk to japan and you can find out what the new tariffs are for your goods at the above.you pay website there is a new tariff rate quota system which has been introduced for some goods which we can help you to navigate your way through it along with a more liberal rules of origin approach supporting confectionary and auto exporters for example so this means that products made in the eu then imported into the uk encounters british for the purposes of exporting to japan for food and drink exporters under the fta there's a strong potential for the number of geographical indicators to increase from 70 to 70 just as the minister was saying earlier meaning that products from all around the uk such as cornish clotted cream welsh lamb english sparkling sparkling wine etc will be protected in the years to come the next significant improvement in making doing business with japan easier for uk companies is that the fda allows for the free flow of data there'll be no restrictions on the access to algorithms and no localization of data meaning that uk companies will no longer need to set up their own servers in japan it's going to be much easier for financial companies to operate in japan and for companies between the uk and japan who want to send their staff for long periods of time it'll be much easier for that for them to do so and for those staff to stay with their dependents in country there's also two new chapters one on smes and the other on women's economic empowerment and on the latter i should add that this is the first time that japan signed up to a free trade agreement with the chapter on women's economic empowerment so we've done a great trade deal with japan but it doesn't stop there of course it came into force on the 1st of january this year but this is only the beginning due to the speed at which we had to negotiate the deal there are still some unresolved issues such as market access barriers that we want to resolve and we're going to do this through the implementation committees there are 11 in total and five working groups which are going to take place during the course of this year and next year this is your opportunity to tell us if it's not working for your business and this is where my team comes in so our dit japan trade team is made up of 18 members of staff based in tokyo and osaka these are the sector leads that you can see here but actually there's a lot more members of staff who work in those teams as well and we work very closely with our digital partner export to japan with steve amyokosan and you'll be hearing very shortly from steve about services that export to japan can offer you we're all here to respond to your inquiries to identify potential partners for you and to guide you through the do's and don'ts of doing business in japan we look forward to hearing from you and hopefully to seeing you in person in future in japan thank you and now let me pass you on to chris sheldrick ceo of what three words thank you very much my claire good morning everybody good afternoon everybody i'm just gonna share my screen and bring a couple of bits up to share with you here we go good morning so i'm going to talk a little bit about what three words we're a british business but we are working a lot in japan and we are an address system a global address system and uh if you think uh the navigating around um the uk can be difficult in rural areas well japan has its own um good things and challenging things about addresses i don't know if you know it's the only country in the world uh which has numbered its streets in the order that the houses were built uh instead of uh sequentially like a lot of the rest of the world so you can have number one next to 82 next to 43 and if you don't speak japanese it can be very confusing um even if you do we've been working in japan a couple of years i i admire sir paul smith's uh nonchalance when it comes to the jet lag but if you can get over that then then it is a phenomenal experience as he says so just to explain what one three words does we actually decided to simplify addresses we took the whole world and we overlaid a three meter by three meter grid over the whole lot and instead of using addresses or gps coordinates we named every single three meter square in the world with three words out of the dictionary and so here this example using three hiragana words in japanese we do the same in english that could equally say table chair spoon and we've done this for absolutely everywhere in the world um and what this means is that any navigation tool um can then very simply enable people with these three words to to talk about anywhere um and we wanted to to get this to what three words used in in japan um it does struggle with addresses but we we did it by first of all attracting some really significant japanese investors so people may know sony as an electronics company um they also are working across the whole spectrum and what i would recommend is trying to get one of the conglomerates on board um with you as an investor um it's it's incredibly um credibility building for you in your meetings and we also brought subaru and alpine on board with us um from the automotive sector um through our partnerships mitsubishi motors was the flagship integration we got um into the car market of course many many of the global car manufacturers in japan and then i'd also say um do think about what other sectors um these big conglomerates work in so hitachi for example we all think of as an electronics company they happen to work with emergency service solutions which is a big sector that walkthrough words operates in so we've really tackled japan by by building these big partnerships with the major conglomerates as investors partners and customers and we're we're really big advocates of what can be achieved in the japanese market um that's all from me thank you so much for having me okay um i'd like to thank chris sheldrick there of what three words for sharing his valuable insights and his own experience into the japanese market my name is david bickel and i'm the president of the british chamber of commerce in japan um i think we've got various experiences of japan amongst those who are joining today but for those of you who have been to japan before i expect some of you will know how popular winter sports are in this country if you turn on the television late at night chances are you'll see coverage from one of the competitions you very rarely see japanese competitors in the uh the downhill and the slalom events but where you do see a lot of coverage here is the area in which they excel and that's the the ski jump now if you're watching on tv there's usually a fascinating shot of the moment when the competitor edges out onto the bench slots his skis into the tracks adjusts his goggles takes a deep breath and then pauses and i think at this point they're looking down the slope of the ramp to the launch point and then out towards the vista beyond and in some ways i think this is a bit like business leaders feel that are on the cusp of deciding whether or not to make a concerted effort to enter the japanese market in that respect they're a bit like the ski jumper and i think today i feel probably a little bit like the the coach who you often see on television standing there beside them as they prepare to launch now it's certainly not the role of a chamber of commerce to nudge or push any any business that's not ready to take that plunge rather i think it's our role to help boost the confidence of these companies in their capabilities and have confidence that their preparation can enable them to succeed in this market and also that to have confidence that there is a network here to support them as they travel along this journey so once you decide to make that concerted effort to explore the japan market look at japan entry i think you'll rapidly pick up pace as you start to learn more about the market and you begin to refine your value proposition and then i hope as you reach the launch point very much like the ski jumper as they leave the ramp you'll see this vista of opportunity which is the japanese market stretching out before you fortunately in the reality of the business i think in the business world obviously at any time if you uh uh wish to pause you have a break which the sku jumper doesn't have now it won't surprise you to know that i wasn't invited here today to talk about uh winter sports and skew jumping but really to talk a little bit about the changes that we've seen at the chamber over the last five years in terms of the business environment here in japan and what that means for uk companies it's a very big topic with huge changes depending on the sector you're in and the sector you're looking at so i think it's helpful to begin by looking at some of the um the fundamental similarities that we've got here in japan there are of course huge differences in terms of language and culture but our two countries have an awful lot in common as well island nations constitutional monarchies populations with a deep sense of history and tradition which reflects in the brands that we appreciate and covered in terms of modern culture our two countries have gone through very similar experiences that have allowed them to showcase themselves to the world back in 2012 we had a london olympics in the uk followed on quite quickly in 2015 by the england and wales rugby world cup japan had its rugby world cup in 2019 and then we're very hopeful that later this summer we'll get the summer version of the olympics here in tokyo we also have a a whole generation of very senior japanese business leaders now back here in japan who've cut their teeth in international business with overseas accommodates and frequently those seconds for japanese companies have actually been in the uk so for these individuals they haven't just learned about international business in the uk they were there when they had formative experiences in their lives this is maybe where they got introduced to football and picked a favorite soccer team or it's the place where their children first went to kindergarten or first went to school what it means is though that they have a genuine affection for the uk and we're very fortunate as a country here to have many anglophiles who are at senior positions in japanese business governance changes have also over the last five years i think have opened up japanese businesses more to international perspectives and to doing business in international ways so for a combination of reasons we're seeing japanese companies increasingly willing to collaborate and to scout talent including from foreign companies and to seek innovation and advantage from foreign external ideas that includes from the uk so this is very important i think if you're looking to come into the japan market through some kind of collaboration and in line with this i think we're seeing an increasing amount of uh support available from official japanese organizations whether that be something like the japanese government's jetro the japan external trade association or whether it's the initiatives of the municipal areas like the tokyo metropolitan government so all this i think is very positive for uk businesses which are thinking of making their products and services available to the japanese market at the end of the day i think success comes down to relationships and that's probably something you can say about you know any geography where people do business but with japan relationships i think it's harder to develop them it takes more effort but i think the theme you're hearing today is that when you do get good relationships with japan the benefit can be disproportionate importance so i think this is where the british chamber of commerce comes in our fundamental purpose is that our members make great connections with people who matter to them in business so for a new entrant to the japanese market startup this could be to help them find customers and a peer group network or for a listed blue chip company this may be about introducing them to a platform of business influencers here in japan to which they can tell their corporate story our members can benefit from the chamber of commerce leveraging its relationships across public and private networks providing a high quality and business focused event program a media platform and offering outstanding opportunities for both virtual and physical networking experiences um i think really at the end of the day this allows you to connect more easily with a greater number of potential customers peers thought leaders and people interested on the topical mass of the day and wh
are interested in your business um so with that you know i very much hope that through the information provided today you'll get that confidence to take that first step make the leap into the japanese market and the british chamber of commerce can be there to help you as you do that so with that it now gives me great pleasure to hand over to one of the uk's leading cyber security companies which is dark trace and their ceo poppy gustafsson thank you hi my name is poppy gustafsson ceo of dartrace a cyber ai company darkplace was founded in the uk and many of our founders were actively involved in protecting london during their 2012 olympics it's what inspired them to start duct trees all of those years ago since then we've become a world leading cyber ai company with 4500 customers all over the world cyber security is a very real and relevant societal challenge in today's digitally connected world and it is a significant uh national security concern for any leading country we are proud to be solving this challenge through innovation and it is our artificial intelligence that is successfully protecting all types of organizations from hospitals to government department and the world's largest businesses and we're protecting them from cyber attacks if you are interested in technology japan is the place to come we first established an office here in 2016 and today it is one of our largest offices in asia as japan approaches its own olympics we're proud to be protecting many japanese businesses as well as critical infrastructure here in japan firstly thank you so much to popular darktrace for your insights into business in japan i'm shaz chadri deputy director for dit and uk regions my regional teams provide support to businesses on the ground all over england helping them get the tools confidence and knowledge they need to take advantage of the uk's free trade agreements such as the free trade agreement with japan thanks for the opportunity to speak with you briefly today to tell you about the export academy it's a free structured course run by international trade experts which helps small and medium-sized businesses to learn all they need to be able to sell internationally in a matter of weeks whether you're new to exporting or looking to expand to new markets the export academy is the place to start the export academy was launched by a minister for exports graeme stewart in october 2020 as part of a wider export growth plan since then we've been piloting the export academy in the northern powerhouse windows engine southwest regions where we're looking to take it to the next stage so what is the export academy the core export academy consists of 10 webinars developed and delivered by trade experts sequenced over a number of weeks you'll be part of a cohort or businesses in a similar position going through the course together multiple colleagues from the same organization can sign up together or separately throughout the course you'll be encouraged to put together an export plan with some concrete next steps you can take to help your business enter or expand across the international stage webinars take you all the way through learning about the benefits and barriers of exporting to the fundamentals of market selection strategy getting your product where it needs to go and crucially getting paid of course highlights the technical aspects of exporting that businesses need to know but sets is in the context of how exporting can fit into business growth strategies we are continuing reviewing and adding to this core content for example to highlight opportunities arising from particular free trade agreements and to look at the specific opportunities and challenges for selling internationally online and we will continue to add further features for businesses that join including mentoring and roundtable sessions sector specific master classes and in-depth partner events this further support will allow businesses to tailor their learning to ensure they gain maximum value from the program quit with your new knowledge quietly academy you'll be support to create an action plan to allow you to start or continue on your exporting journey so far we've had more than 900 people register for the export academy from over 800 unique businesses and we've had some great feedback from those that have attended the module so far many of those that are attending have been brand new to exporting but by no means all of them a couple of examples from the north west illustrate this well colin the mansion director of billing and base pump manufacturing distributed thomas hall told us the academy has been very useful for upskilling their team to take advantage of international opportunities this is a particularly relevant consideration as the uk enters into new free trade agreements and others have been able to join the export academy when their business environments have changed such as eddie the managing director of soul pack solutions a battery pack manufacturer based in south shield and let him tell you in his own words by his experience with the export academy at the time of the year my company was involved in very large acquisition that turned us from being a reluctant exporter to one that now exports to over 30 countries by joining the northeast export academy we've been able to access a lot of their online courses the great thing being that we can access them day or night so what's next for the export academy we're now evaluating the pilot in the north midlands and southwest to learn what worked well for participants what we can improve and build on we're looking at possible next steps most obviously expanding the export academy to the rest of england but also looking at how we can enhance the program for example through expanded content covering a range of sectors overseas regions and routes to market a more formal route for participants to evidence their achievements and better mechanisms for peer-to-peer support thank you for listening please do take a look and consider signing up for the academy for free at events.great.gov dot uk forward slash export academy and now it gives me great pleasure to hand over to leslie balfour lin co-founder of balfour winery at hush heath estate konnichiwa watashiwa rezuri bar for rendezoo i would like to welcome you here to balfour winery at hush heath estate my husband richard and i are the co-founders i've always had many connections to japan i was born there and lived the first 10 years of my life there so i have very special memories of japan and so has my husband actually because he was chairman of liberty of london for many years and used to fly to tokyo for board meetings regularly in fact i wanted to show you that on the front of our leslie's reserve wine our sparkling wines we have the liberty print very delicately placed and the union jack is because of our connection to this country and being in the uk many of our wines are named after family members all of our children our pet dalmatian our vineyard dog has a wine named after her as well as our 1503 which is the year hush heath manor our family home was built the manor is set in the middle of a 400 acre estate including orchards vineyards and ancient oak woodlands in 2020 we sent over our first shipment of balfour wines to japan and the department of international trade was very helpful to us in helping us identify the distributor that we needed for japan and this company is 21 community we're very excited about working with you and looking forward to the future relationship unfortunately because of covid we were not able to come out and visit japan last year but as soon as that is behind us we will be making that a priority and we also hope that one day we'll be able to welcome you all here at balfour winery hashita state sayonara thank you for that leslie export to japan started life excuse me export to japan started life as an idea jotted down on a napkin back in 2013. the vision was to create a digital hub a go-to place for uk exporters to gain information knowledge and access partners who could provide help and support the concept moved from a napkin to a very basic website that website started to get populated with content and as the content grew so did the traffic as this track traffic started to flow we became inspired to create even more content i fondly remember the day when we achieved the 1000 visitor mark for the very first time it took us a year to do it and we celebrated hard but now on days like today we get 1 000 visitors in a single day with a huge amount of hard work by so many people and the ongoing commitment and support of the british government that initial napkin idea has now grown to become the largest independent platform for japan related business in the world and what's more it's british a fine example of how we can employ british technology and know how to develop world-beating ideas and concepts and how the british government can partner so successfully with the private sector today hosting the partnering with japan spring 21 event is a highlight and a huge milestone for all of us at export to japan i know many of you are already members of export japan but for those unfamiliar with the platform i'll just give a brief high level overview of how the platform works and david if you could pop up the first slide please and the next slide please first thing to note for everybody is that export japan is run as a not-for-profit partnership between four strategic partners it has the support of the department of international trade and the british chamber of commerce business link japan and british airways and that means that all the content on the site is available to you the users free of charge there's no charge to access the content and no charge for you to become members of the platform the platform contains a wealth of information there's information on case studies events webinars podcasts missions to japan suppliers that can support you and access to those suppliers as well next slide please i mentioned that it took us a year to get to our first 1000 visitors uh but now we're delighted to say that we have exceeded well over half a million half a million visitors to the site and we have in excess of 11 000 members on the site next slide please we've taken time over the years to really work out the optimum way to make our information um easy to find and accessible for people and we've basically broken it down today into four ways of navigating into the site the first one is search by industry the second one is the step-by-step guide and those are the two main ways to navigate in and i'll come to those in a moment the next one is the partner program and then send your inquiry the partner program is where you can access the individual private partners that can supply support and services for the various steps of the journey and send your inquiry is the place where you can send in any enquiries that you may have we hope that the digital content on the site can answer many of your questions and enquiries but of course there may be some specific enquiries you have so feel free to send them in there and we will make sure that they get passed on to the relevant team or individuals or company that can help you with the answer but let me just take a step a little deeper into the first two sections so if you click on the tab that is searched by industry and if i could have the next slide please this is the page that will will open up and what we've got here is a tab for each of the main industry sectors that we know that uk companies are very successful in in japan and by clicking on any one of these icons you can drill down deeper and get access to all of the content that we've got on the site relating to your particular sector so if you're looking for the information relating to your sector or your business this is the way to navigate into the site next slide please the next step is to go in by the step-by-step guide and this this routine is more for companies that are at a particular stage on their journey into japan and are looking for help to get to that next stage so for example we can see on the top left for companies that are at a very early stage that may even be asking themselves the questions why should i even attempt the japanese market and getting more information and research and stuff like that at the early stage all of that sort of information is there but also further on through the various tabs available on this section there are very very specific pieces of help and very detailed pieces of help such as how to do your recruitment um how to protect your trademarks etc how to open a local office and the options available information like that so this way of navigating into the site is much more related to where you are on your journey well the final point i will just make uh on that point is i know there are some questions coming up in the chat about uh access to the materials that we're showing you here today and within the next couple of days the the whole of a recording of this particular event will be available on the export japan website so just give us a day or two to get it polished up and edited and that will be up on the website so that you can go back and listen through to any sections of this particular broadcast that you may have missed so without further ado we're moving on and i'm delighted as the next stage here uh to introduce chris horobin of hotel chocolat who is going to tell us all about the success of his organization in the japanese market over to you chris hello everyone my name is chris horobin i'm the ceo and the co-founder of hotel chocola here in japan now many of you may know us from the uk where we have about 125 stores or hotels as we like to call them we opened our first hotel in japan in november 2018. two years later we have around 20 hotels which by the end of this year we would hope to to double japan can be an amazing opportunity with a population of around twice out of the uk um with a with a passion and pension for discovering it and trying new things so to be successful in japan i think it's important obviously to have a great product one with a difference one with a point of view ours more cacao less sweet less sugar than the similar chocolates really resonates with the japanese like many opportunities it doesn't come without its challenges the focus on detail and the demand the expectation for quality is at a different level to that which many of us will be used to i think it's also wise not to assume that what we do in the uk or in other markets is going to be the best for japan and likewise not everything that you get told when you first come to japan is likely to be the best for your company so listen test learn follow your own path and find out what's going to work for you in this market it's an exciting journey one that can bring many rewards beyond the the obvious the financial ones and it can help and enter in japan can really help across the whole of a group to demand the need for innovation uh enhancing the quality and sharing that both ways can really bring great value so you know take take the best of both worlds enhance it and grow faster not just in japan but in other markets so um i hope many of you um will be able to take advantage of the opportunities that the new trade agreement can bring um and i would look forward to many of you are joining us in japan as you say the more the merrier and and if we can be of any help then please do feel free to reach out to us so from hotel japan sayonara for now and we hope that we will see you soon thank you japan it's not what you think it is it is so much more than that japan is not just home to tokyo the greatest mega city on the planet it's not just a country of ancient traditions and breathtaking futuristic technology it's not just a place of refined taste and cutting-edge fashion [Music] it's not just an advanced economy that is the third largest in the world japan is so much more it is a country with whom we signed our first trading agreement in 1613 and the first country we signed a major free trade agreement with since leaving the eu we are two island nations with many common interests and where the uk brand is valued and instantly recognized whe
e there is affection for all of the united kingdom it is a marketplace with a hunger for new innovative products and services backed by timeless traditions of trust reliability and quality a market where relationships matter and customers value service japan is a challenge that will make your business better an experience that will enable you to build a global business there is no better time to partner and do business in japan come be a part of creating your future in japan so i hope you can hear me now it's julia longbottom here the ambassador designate to japan sorry about the technical glitch there um but i'm feeling a bit like the uh the ski jumper i'm sitting at the top of the slope i haven't formally started in my role yet but i couldn't resist this opportunity to join you all to talk about increasing uk trade into japan and exploiting the new free trade agreement so as i prepare my launch as ambassador i hope very much that you will all join us on the journey like paul smith and i'm abandoning uh worries about the jet lag and i'm establishing links with old friends and making the most of those relationships here in japan that really make everything work our team are ready to help you find the right relationships to expand or to launch your business in japan and i hope you'll get a lot out of the breakout sessions that we're about to start so the um links should be in the chat now i've seen that many of you have been um impatient to uh to get on and have these conversations so i do hope you'll select the breakout groom breakout room that works for your sector and i look forward very shortly to seeing many of you in person when it's possible here in japan all the very best with your business success making the most of this free trade agreement thank you
