Japan Day Seminar 2011 – July 29th
By Andrew Stevens
"Japan and the North East of England – Investing in People and Places"
Gateshead Civic Centre
Chaired
by Professor Marie Conte-Helm OBE, Director of the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese
Foundation, the seminar looked at investment links between the North
East of England and Japan, and how future regional growth could be
promoted through economic partnerships. The backdrop to the day
was the reaffirmation ceremony between Gateshead MBC and Komatsu City,
with a ceremonial dedication of a new Japanese garden in the town’s
Saltwell Park taking place during the morning, led by the Mayor of
Gateshead Cllr Joe Mitchinson and Mayor Shinji Wada of Komatsu City,
and a signing of a renewed twinning agreement in the council chamber in
the afternoon. Both were accompanied by participation of Komatsu
City and Gateshead schoolchildren taking part in the annual Youth
Exchange.
Consul General Masataka Tarahara then gave the
initial opening address to the seminar, hailing both the region’s
600-strong Japanese population and mentioning the Consulate General of
Japan in Edinburgh’s recent 20 year anniversary also. Professor
Conte-Helm was then able to give her standing presentation on the
historic context of Japanese links to the region, beginning with the
Japanese Imperial Navy’s acquisitions of Tyne-built warships in the
nineteenth century through to the wave of investment on Tyneside during
the 1980s by the Nissan and Komatsu companies.
Gateshead
Council Leader Cllr Mick Henry’s presentation focused on the borough’s
past as a manufacturing hub on the Tyne, which to some extent continues
to this day with an above regional average manufacturing base in the
town. Cllr Henry considered the town in the context of the
emerging North Eastern Local Enterprise Partnership and its recent bid
for city status as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Year.
While Gateshead had pioneered modern light industrial location
practices with the Team Valley Trading Estate constructed in the 1930s,
it had since diversified its economic offer with a strong retail sector
via the Metro Centre (Europe’s largest shopping centre) and emerging
growth in both hotels, leisure and digital-creative activities.
Cllr Henry saw the creative and digital industries in the aspiring
city’s future in a global economy.
Komatsu UK’s
Managing Director Peter Howe then gave an overview of the company’s
activities in Gateshead, which begun with the construction of the
Komatsu site at Birtley in 1985, following the decision of rival plant
machine manufacturer Caterpillar to withdraw from the town. As
well as hailing the steady production numbers at the Gateshead plant,
dented only by the recent recession, Mr Howe paid tribute to the
region’s pro-investment policies and skilled workforce and strong
transport links to the company’s key markets in Europe. He added
that the company was proud to be the catalyst for the links between
Gateshead and Komatsu City.
Jun Arima, Director General of
the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in London then spoke on
business opportunities for the UK in Japan. Mr Arima noted that
the UK is the biggest global destination for Japanese investment,
ranked first (¥417bn) above the US (¥278bn) and the second largest
investor in Japan after the US, as well as the biggest base for
Japanese manufacturing in Europe (235 sites to Germany’s 169). He
also paid tribute to the importance of the UK-Japan trade and
investment partnership, based as it was around common values of
democracy, rule of law and the free market, amid wider global
uncertainty. He called for strategic collaboration between both
countries, in particular an alliance of British research capacity and
Japanese technology, especially in light of the uphill tasks facing
Japan around reconstruction following the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami
and the opportunities this afforded UK businesses. Here JETRO and
other Japanese organisations in the UK could play a significant role,
he suggested. He also mentioned that currently there are no
UK-based Regional Industry Tie-ups under JETRO’s auspices and hoped
this could change in the future.
Dr Sierk Horn of Leeds
University was then called on to present his findings around the
spatial distribution of Japanese investment in the UK. Dr Horn
considered that the emerging relationship between industrial sectors in
both countries was now based around a more complex set of realities
which afforded further examination of factors such as the fluidity of
markets and new competitors, as well as changing investment priorities
(e.g. from manufacturing to R&D). In particular, following
the wave of investment in the 1980s, the UK was now witnessing the
departure of a number of Japanese firms. As such, those offering
industrial support policies needed to rethink their strategies, he
concluded.
The final presentation was delivered by Cllr Dave
Wilcox OBE, Chair of the European and International Programme Board of
the Local Government Association, as well as a leading figure in the
partnership between Derbyshire and Toyota City. Cllr Wilcox
outlined the historical context of the Toyota Motor Company’s
investment in Derbyshire and what support the local authority had been
able to offer to not only ensure the plant’s retention by the company
amid economic uncertainty, but also take a hands-on approach towards
economic development to ensure the company’s location was
optimised. To ensure the economic momentum of Toyota’s investment
in the area was maintained required careful political leadership and
negotiation, he argued. This collaboration had paid off in terms
of both economic vitality in the county, as well as key sustainability
policies locally.
A closing address by the new Director of
the Japan Local Government Centre in London, Yutaka Tanaka, mentioned
both his hopes in the new post and also his appreciation of Gateshead’s
vibrancy and hospitality. The question and answer session which
followed, chaired by Professor Conte-Helm, heard how the region’s
investment profile in Japan was likely to grow further in the coming
years but that regional economic policies needed to be in place to
ensure this, while others reflected on the shared manufacturing culture
between Japan and the North East which had seen both positive
investment on account of local labour force strengths but that
inconsistent regulation at national and EU level did not see this
partnership become as fruitful as it might be. Participants then
attended the traditional Japan Day reception in the Civic Centre,
cementing the day’s reflection on the longstanding partnerships between
the North East and Japan.
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