Japan-UK 150
North East of England and Japan: Economic Past, Present and Futures

Partners:
Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
Northumbria University
Newcastle City Council
Japan Local Government Centre

The symposium was opened by Cllr John Shipley, leader of Newcastle City Council.  Cllr Shipley thanked the organising partners and those in attendance for ensuring a good turnout for the event.  He then set the event in the context of the on-going UK-Japan 150 celebrations and praised the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation for its role in bringing the seminar to Newcastle.  He also thanked the Japan Local Government Centre for its work with Newcastle City Council to bring it about, noting the signing of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce on 26 August 1858 and the subsequent visit of the Japanese delegation to Newcastle in 1862.  As well as illustrating the events theme of both the past and future of the civic and economic links between the city and Japan, he also paid tribute to the recently-appointed Vice-Chancellor of Northumbria University Prof. Andrew Wathey and praised his contribution to the array of partnership boards in the city he had since been appointed to.

Prof. Wathey then spoke to welcome visitors to both the seminar and the new university campus, also paying tribute to the partner organisations involved in its arrangement.  Furthermore, he stressed the importance of the university’s strong links to Japan through the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation.  Prof. Wathey detailed the university’s own links with Japan, principally its work with the Ryo Group of artists in Kagawa prefecture and its research links with the Disaster Research Institute of Kyoto University.  Prof. Wathey also mentioned that the university’s origins lay in the Rutherford College of Technology, opened in the late 1870s, which Japanese visitors to the then town during the era of naval construction on the Tyne will have seen.

Prof. Wathey then argued that the university was an important part of the economic links between the North East of England and Japan.  As the North East of England shifts from its traditional reliance on manufacturing for its economic output, the emphasis has become more acute on skills and knowledge, for which universities obviously play a key part.  Furthermore, universities and the education sector contribute much to regional attractiveness for outside investment.  Finally, as a major employer in both the city and the region, Northumbria University continued to contribute to their economies, both as a major employer and in terms of its spending power.  This, he argued, was also born out by its status as the UK’s most-IT enabled university and its worldwide presence through its overseas partner institutions.

The next presentation was given by Prof. Marie Conte-Helm of the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation.  Prof. Conte-Helm’s presentation concentrated on the historic aspects of the relationship between the region and Japan.  This ostensibly began under the Bakufu era in Edo (now Tokyo) with the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and was followed up by the visit of the delegation of representatives to Newcastle in 1862.  On their visit they met William Armstrong, a local industrialist and munitions expert (Engineer of Rifled Ordnance at the War Department), who later began to supply armaments and vessels to the Imperial Japanese Navy.  This was followed by the Iwakura Mission to Britain, of which a group visited Newcastle, in particular the Gosforth Colliery, in an account detailed by the Newcastle Daily Chronicle.  The party also visited the new industrial settlement of Middlesbrough in the south of the region, where they witnessed iron ore extraction and foundries. 

Connections to the region then flourished, with the establishment of a small Japanese community around Armstrong’s Elswick shipyards (some graves of Japanese sailors killed in accidents in the city remain), while at Cragside, Armstrong’s Norman Shaw-designed residence, a number of Japanese features were installed.  Japan’s naval capacity was boosted by the construction of the Hatsusei on the Tyne in 1899, the fleet’s largest battleship.  The ships Agama and Iwate, also built on the Tyne, played decisive roles in the 1905 Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War.  Furthermore the hydraulic Tyne Swing Bridge, which remains a local landmark, was designed and built by Armstrong to facilitate the navigation of vessels, including Japan’s, downriver, from Elswick.  The victorious crew of the Newcastle-built Kashima, which also played a decisive role in Tsushima, visited the city the same year and were received as heroes at a match played by Newcastle United and Stoke City at the St James Park football ground.  On his last visit to the region in 1911 Fleet Admiral Togo was received by Sir Andrew Noble, who had taken over the running of the Armstrong firm.

Further evidence of the historic legacy of UK-Japan industrial involvement came with the foundation of a small Japanese community in Middlesbrough, which was the UK port on the N.Y.K’s fortnightly Japan-Europe shipping line in the early 20th century.  In 1901 an Honorary Consul of Japan was appointed in the town and estimates put the number of sailors resident in the town at 250.  Many of these ‘Middlesbrough Japanese’ married local women and settled in the town and were received by the then Crown Prince Akihito during his 1953 visit to London, which also took in Cragside later.  Furthermore, the Crown Prince also visited Durham, where he was afforded a civic welcome by the mayor, and Newcastle, where he was not.  Japanese involvement in the region continued apace with the establishment of an NSK works in Peterlee in 1956, followed by the Nissan car plant at Sunderland in 1984 (now the UK’s largest).  The plant was opened by then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1986, at a time when unemployment in the region was as high as 20%.

The Nissan connection was continued by the next speaker, Trevor Mann of Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK.  Mr Mann outlined the factors behind Nissan’s decision to build its European base in Sunderland, having examined eight possible sites in 1981.  These included the presence of skills among the local labour force from the era of heavy industry, the supply of local labour because of unemployment, the presence of port and rail in the town, the availability of land on the former airfield site and the provision of government grants as an Enterprise Zone.  Construction then began in 1984, with a staff of 600, followed by expansion of the site in 1987-1990 and again in 1991.  The plant is now the largest in the UK and has been for nine years.  Productivity has increased from 246,000 cars per year in 1992 to 450,000 in 2008, with the same level of staff (5,000) thanks to efficiency and improved production techniques.

The symposium then opened for questions to the speakers.

Questioner: why has the Nissan plant concentrated mainly on the production of smaller cars?

Trevor Mann: the comment to some extent is now dated, smaller cars are generally preferred within the market, not least because of the credit crunch and environmental concerns.  Therefore Nissan UK’s output is market-led.

Questioner: Japanese management culture is now known and regarded throughout the world.  Has Nissan’s presence over the past two decades worked its way into the management culture of the North East?

Trevor Mann: Nissan is an international company and as such works in many countries and works within many national systems.  However, I have seen evidence of ex-employees of Nissan taking the skills and culture learnt at the plant away to other jobs in British employers, with their work ethic and emphasis on quality valued by them.

Questioner: has Japan’s presence in the North East generally been welcomed?

Prof. Conte-Helm: yes, the impact of ‘Japanisation’ of British industry and culture has been immense.

Questioner: have there been any issues at Nissan over labour relations?

Trevor Mann: no, a single union agreement is in force at Nissan and we encourage our employees to join that union (UNITE), of which 25-30% of the workforce have done.

Questioner: what is Japan’s image in the region now?

Prof. Conte-Helm: previously there was a certain amount of fascination with Japan, but in recent years this has been eclipsed by China and its economic promise.  However, people in the region do recognise the importance of existing Japanese investment, which constitutes 15% of FDI in the region.

Questioner: after the peak of Japanese military build-up from Newcastle, were there any substantial links between the region and Japan during the 1920s and 1930s?

Prof. Conte-Helm: the Imperial Navy never forgot its roots in the North East and continued to value the link highly, in spite of the international situation immediately before the war.

After a break Consul General Kenichi Suganuma was the third and final guest speaker for the day and addressed the topic of UK-Japan relations past, present and future: ‘Future Possibilities of UK-Japan Cooperation: Sharing Values and Culture in an Uncertain World’.  Consul General Suganuma spoke of the past 150 years of intense relations, which had matured into a mutually-beneficial arrangement in recent years.  However, he posed the questions: will the present relationship last? What are new areas of future cooperation and what should we do to realise them?

The Consul General spoke of the Anglo-Japanese imperative of a world in which democracy, human rights and markets are upheld and both island countries’ status as an ally of the US.  He argued that Britain and Japan should join forces to promote their common values, in cooperation with the US.  However, this could only be achieved through softer forms of global interdependency such as cultural and academic exchange.  In particular, he envisaged lasting cooperation around political development, diplomatic initiatives, global threats, trade issues and research beneficial to both around the ageing society and education.  To do this would require more intensive contact and strategic discussion, avoiding past inwardness, he argued.  The Consul General Suganuma concluded in saying that “Sharing basic values and continued interest in each other’s culture is the formula for a long lasting and mutually beneficial relations, especially in an uncertain world.”

The final presentation concluded, the symposium then opened out into a general discussion.

Questioner: Would you agree with the view that Japan is increasingly inwards-focused? Is Britain also? For instance, on ethnicity data forms there is no box for ‘Japanese’, only ‘Chinese and Other Asian’.

Consul General Suganuma: this is a dilemma we increasingly face, as does Britain.  For instance, in the same way that Britain often remains distant from Europe, Japan does with Asia.  However, while Britain is a member of the EU and NATO and this brings a closer degree of cooperation with other countries, Japan is not a member of these organisations.

Prof Conte-Helm: the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation attempts to open doors between the two, such as the scholarship programmes etc.

Questioner: isn’t complaining about Japanese inwardness just complaining for the sake of it? For instance, the British neglect Japan through the lack of coverage at the BBC of Japanese issues and current affairs.  Shouldn’t Japan learn to stand on its own two feet?

Consul General Suganuma: Japan already is standing on its own two feet.  However, there is a general tendency to be too inward looking.  For instance, Japan is very bad at participation in international conferences.  When I was younger there was widespread participation in such events to showcase what Japan has to offer but these days no one makes the effort.

Questioner: to what extent does the Nissan parent company engage with its Sunderland plant? Is there much involvement by Japan in the plant and its workforce?

Trevor Mann: there is little movement between Sunderland and Japan as the UK side is self-reliant.  However, as regards the earlier question, I do believe Japan is taken for granted by the UK.  When I first started flying to Japan the planes were full but these days that’s not the case.  The UK government in particular is not interested in Japan.

Questioner: if the UK-Japan relationship comes down to an island culture, do you believe that relationship is expressed via the EU or as a bilateral concern (like Germany and Japan)?

Prof. Conte-Helm: the perception is that the relationship is a bilateral one between the UK and Japan.  However, while there is a lot going on, much of this is not visible.

Questioner: Just to pick up on that point, there is a lot going on that doesn’t get reported, for instance knowledge transfer between the two countries on biodiesels and fuel cells.

Questioner: Yes, for instance the recent Picnicopolis and Hotel Monument art-led tourism projects in the city.

Questioner: could you say something about Japan’s relationship with Scotland.  Does this have any lessons for the North East?

Consul General Suganuma: there is a long history of relations between Japan and Scotland, most famously through the life and work of Thomas Blake Glover.  In addition to vibrant cultural links between the two, there are 40 Japanese companies based in Scotland.

At this juncture the Sheriff and Deputy Lord Mayor of Newcastle City Council Cllr Michael Cookson thanked the guests for their attendance and was joined in doing so by Prof. Wathey and Cllr John Shipley.