Publications

Aichi Prefecture Assembly in Finland

The Chairman of Aichi Prefectural Assembly and staff from the prefecture were supported by Japan Local Government Centre, London staff on a visit to Finland in October last year. Chairman Mr Takamasa Suzuki and colleagues visited a range of sites and organisations over four days on a visit to Helsinki to view projects and discuss links between Aichi Prefecture and Finland.

Amongst the visits was a meeting at Finnair, the major long haul operator linking Europe and Chubu Centrair Airport in the prefecture, with direct flights from Helsinki. There was a discussion about the possibility of expanding the numbers of flights as well as current freight transport between the two countries, of which salmon is a major cargo. Other visits included a briefing at the Embassy of Japan in Finland to discuss Japanese municipalities’ interest in welfare and childcare in Finland, a visit to the ‘Cable Factory’ owned by the City of Helsinki, which has turned disused industrial buildings into the largest cultural centre in Finland (Aichi is a major industrial region of Japan), as well as a visit to the University of Helsinki and an opportunity to meet masters students of Japanese Studies and discuss their plans to work in a Japan related career.

JLGC would like to thank all those organisations in Helsinki for their time and warm welcome.

JST Pre-departure Meeting

JLGC’s annual Japan Study Tour 2017 will go to Tokyo and Iwaki City in Fukushima Prefecture in January, and members of the group of eight came to the JLGC London offices in Whitehall to meet each other and discuss aspects of the tour at the beginning of December. Iwaki City is in the Tohoku area of North East Japan hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. It is an industrial centre as well as a tourist destination, including the Spa Resort Hawaiians which developed from a show put on by a group of local women to save their small mining community facing a bleak future with a depression in the coal industry in Japan in the 1960s. The Joban Hawaiian Centre went on to become one of Japan’s most popular theme parks, and the story was later turned into an acclaimed film Hula Girls.

This year colleagues from the London Borough of Newham, Gloucestershire County Council, Birmingham City Council, The Guardian, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, Greater London Authority, Spelthorne Borough Council and New Local Government Network (NLGN) will be supported by fellow staff from CLAIR HQ (JLGC’s head office in Tokyo) and Iwaki City officials on a tour looking at Urban Renewal Five Years After the Tohoku Earthquake (JST web page link). Site visits and lectures will be on post earthquake and tsunami housing policy, high ground transfer plans for residents from the disaster area, policies for housing evacuees, post disaster initiatives for regenerating local industry and tourism, initiatives for renewable energy, offshore wind energy generation and others, as well as disaster prevention initiatives in the affected area including radiation measuring and precautions.

30th Anniversary of JET in Tokyo

Alumni and current participants in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme, managed by JLGC’s parent organisation CLAIR in Tokyo, gathered at an event to mark the 30th anniversary of the project, where they vowed to continue to act as bridges between Japanese and overseas communities, participants including the Chair and Secretary of JET Alumni Association (JETAA) UK, and Chairs of JETAA Ireland and German JETAA.

“As more and more Japanese companies look to expand their reach globally and adopt an international approach, it is more important than ever that JETs do their best to prepare their students and colleagues for a more multicultural Japan. In view of the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the 2019 Rugby World Cup, we pledge to support the Japanese government in its pursuit to host and promote successful international events,” it read.

The project is an initiative of Japan’s to promote international grass-roots exchanges in local communities across the nation, as well as improve English language education in state schools.

At the ceremony, which was also attended by Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida thanked former JET participants for continuing to “share their love for and knowledge of Japanese culture” with the world. FM Kishida promised continued efforts to “promote the JET Programme so that knowledge of Japan overseas will be deepened.”

The JET Programme started in 1987 with 848 participants from four countries. Currently there are roughly 5,000 active participants from 40 countries in the programme, including new recruits and those extending their contracts. Some 65,000 people from 65 countries have participated, making it one of the biggest exchange programs in the world, of which over 10,000 UK citizens, over 1,000 from the Republic of Ireland and around 280 from Germany have taken part.

Night Economy Conference in Berlin

JLGC staff attended the STADT NACH ACHT conference at Berlin in November 2016. The conference brought the night disciplines of urban planning, party culture, night time economy and health under one umbrella together. International speakers presented their own expertise, newest study results and good practice experiences in the same year that London has appointed its own new ‘Night Czar’ Amy Lamé. The Night Czar will also work very closely with the Chair of the Night Time Commission, to capitalise on the growth of London’s night time economy as well as looking at ways to create a safer, more responsible nightlife for the city’s residents.

Tokyo also has a ‘night czar’ of sorts with the Japanese rap artist Zeebra, who serves as Shibuya Ward Tourism Association’s ‘Night Ambassador’ and is leading efforts within Japan to introduce the night mayor system there, having successfully campaigned for the overhaul of Japan’s dated post-war law which prohibits late night dancing in clubs (which was repealed last summer). Other Japanese municipalities are currently also looking into how night time activities contributes to an area’s economy.

NALC Conference

JLGC was again able to attend the NALC Larger Local Councils Conference 2016: ‘Changing Places’ on 30 November 2016 this year, where Brexit and devolution were topics never far from the presentations and plenaries. The event was held in London and brought together a number of key national events and meetings. The one-day conference comprised of speaker sessions, interactive sessions and other activities, focusing on devolution and local referendum principles.

As was apparent at the conference, and many other local government events that JLGC have attended this year, with the advent of Brexit and the full localisation of business rates, as well as the election of new Metro Mayors in 2017, UK local authorities will need to find new ways to curate economic growth in order to support their local economies, jobs and local services. This will depend increasingly on their global positioning and competitive advantage as part of place-based industrial strategies.

In Japan local authorities have long been required to internationalise their efforts and engage globally through international strategies and connections. JLGC’s annual Seminar will provide a timely opportunity for UK and Japanese partners to reflect and recalibrate their efforts towards providing long term partnerships and solutions, more details of which, including registration will be updated HERE (link).

Düsseldorf Visit

JLGC staff made a preliminary visit to Düsseldorf, capital of the federal German state of North Rhine-Westphalia to meet with Japanese partners for an-up-and coming event to be held in the New Year. Staff met with colleagues from Japan External Trade Organisation, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in Düsseldorf, the Japan-German Industry Association, the Consulate General of Japan in Düsseldorf, as well as discussing working in Japan related employment in Germany with former participants of the JET Programme. The event to promote knowledge of JET and the skills of participants will be for Japanese and German companies. Düsseldorf has a major Japanese community, the largest in Germany.

JLGC was also able to take part in a Deutsch-Japanischen Wirtschaftskreis (Japan-German Industry Association) breakfast seminar in the Schloss Neersen castle, now local government offices, in the municipality of Villich on the outskirts of Düsseldorf. The seminar was on the subject of ‘Brexit: Opportunities for Japan and Germany’ which gave an overview of German thoughts on what will happen in the coming years to Japan’s presence in the UK. The gathered group of business directors and owners were of the opinion that Brexit represents a significant opportunity to snatch the lion’s share of Japanese investment into the EU, which until now has seen the largest portion invested in the UK.

German speaking participants of the JET Programme are well placed to be a valuable resource in Japan related work, having primarily worked as CIRs (Coordinators for International Relations), in city halls and prefecture headquarters using Japanese language for work in a professional environment. JLGC’s event at the Hotel Nikko Düsseldorf will promote JET participants to both German and Japanese businesses, at a time which sees renewed vigour in building trade links between the two countries and the revival of a stalled EU-Japan trade deal, now revisited with the prospect of Brexit. For more details of the event supported by the local JET alumni chapter, email mailbox@jlgc.org.uk