Hello and Goodbye
It’s that time of year when we say hello and goodbye to seconded staff returning to and coming from our member local authorities in Japan. This March saw the departure of Atsuko Yamaguchi returning to Saga Prefecture, Kyoko Yoshimoto returning to Takaoka City in Toyama Prefecture, and Shunya Hosogoe returning to Miyagi Prefecture. Congratulations on your two years hard work at the London office, and good luck in your future roles in Japan.
From April JLGC’s four new staff are Kayoko Tamura from Hagi City in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Kayo Yamada from Gifu Prefecture, Satoshi Emoto from Tokushima Prefecture and Shinichiro Minato from Ishikawa Prefecture. Welcome to London and we looking forward to learning more about your part of Japan!
Hackney Fashion Hub
In March JLGC staff visited Hackney Council in London to look at how it is using its place assets to market the borough competitively, not only in the regional but also the global economy. Meeting with Andrew Sissons (Head of Regeneration Delivery) and Carl Welham (Business Investment Manager), they heard how the council is using the cluster of fashion-led businesses around Hackney Central as an opportunity to position Hackney’s run-down town centre as once again belonging to London’s historic ‘rag trade’, building on the Burberry Factory Shop in the town centre (the highest grossing for company with sales of £100m and 650,000-800,000 visitors per year, 350,000 inbound from the Far East alone).
The new ‘Fashion Hub’ could be considered as the Hackney town centre ‘answer’ to Shoreditch’s ‘Tech City’ in the west of the borough, part of diversifying the local economy in order to offer more jobs for local people. The London College of Fashion has announced plans to use this space to create a 10,000 student campus on the site, recognising its global importance for London’s reputation in fashion. Ultimately the hope is that rather than visitors just coming to Hackney for the outlet shops, they will be encouraged to stay based on the well-developed food and drink offer. Rather than ‘gentrification’, this is a representation of the Hackney ethos of support for independent and ‘quirky’ traders
Staff also heard that during the 2012 Olympics, the ‘Hackney House’ hosted 17 days of promotion events to showcase key business sectors in the borough – it is estimated the house generated £1bn of investment into the borough, e.g. five new hotels Since 2012 the council has used Hackney House at the South By South West (SXSW) Festival in Austin, Texas – this year the house was a 700sqm networking venue which hosted 100 local businesses and saw 4,000 visitors and it is central to the council’s pro-active international strategy, as evidenced by the full ‘sister city agreement’ signed with Austin. The council has signed further ‘Business Friendship Agreements’ with, most recently, Oslo but also Berlin, Barcelona and New York.
The council is very firm that is not ‘twinning’ in the conventional sense, but purposeful international activity – ultimately international activity should be seen to promote education and research or cultural collaboration for economic benefit, staff heard. With the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games just six years away, staff felt able to take away some key lessons on innovative use of retail partnerships to promote local revitalisation.
Intercultural Approaches to Integration: JLGC visits Oslo City
In February, JLGC visited Oslo to investigate Oslo City’s participation in Intercultural Cities. Intercultural Cities is a joint Council of Europe and European Commission programme, creating a network of European cities dealing with immigration and integration issues. The programme has attracted attention in Japan, particularly from cities such as Hamamatsu with increasing numbers of foreign residents. In Norway, development of policy related to immigration is split between national and local governments, but responsibility for integration lies mainly with municipalities. Oslo City is a founding member of the Intercultural Cities programme and since 2004 has developed a number of successful innovative programmes to integrate foreign residents into Norwegian life. Oslo consistently ranks highly in the Intercultural Cities Index, which measures the progress of participating cities.
Ms Tone Skodvin, Chief Advisor, Department of Cultural Affairs and Business, Toralev Moe, Senior Advisor, Business Development, Diversity and Integration and Oyvind Bjerkestrand, Special Advisor, Department of Knowledge and Education, from the City of Oslo, kindly took time to explain Oslo’s approach. Achieving integration through education is a priority for Oslo City and strong measures are taken to ensure that ethnic segregation does not occur in city schools by providing additional funding and support for schools in more deprived areas of the city. Newly arrived migrant children of all ages are provided with special language and cultural support tailored to their specific needs until they are able to join mainstream classes. Teachers are also supported to undertake training in intercultural issues. In addition, cultural programmes to prevent discrimination have been developed in cooperation with other facilities such as the Intercultural Museum. Oslo City also recognises that too many migrants are unemployed, and so works closely with the business community to both support the migrant population to gain qualifications or start their own businesses, and to encourage businesses to recognise the value of an intercultural workforce.
According to Oslo City, participation in Intercultural Cities has provided access to international networks and the opportunity to actively engage in research and evaluation. It has also highlighted the importance of effective governance for integration issues, and facilitated the cooperation of local government, civil society and the private sector.
We were also lucky enough to observe some of these practices in progress. At Quo Vadis, for example, immigrants who have little or no education in their home countries work producing crafts (knitting, weaving, ceramics). In return they receive language lessons and qualify for welfare benefits, while at the same time becoming accustomed to Norwegian working customs in preparation for future employment. Produce is sold in a neighbouring shop (staffed by participants in the scheme) and any profit is reinvested into the project. Quo Vadis, which is partially funded by Oslo City, currently trains around 750 people.
We also visited the Intercultural Museum, an educational facility in Oslo City Centre which houses mock ups of various places of worship and interactive exhibits exploring the history and customs of religions represented in Oslo. The museum, which is funded by Oslo City, is open to the general public but is also used actively by local schools for educational visits.
We would like to thank Oslo City for their time, and hope that Japanese local authorities will be able to draw on Oslo’s experience when developing their own integration approach.
Local Growth, Local Links: Japan and the North East of England
JLGC Director Yuichiro Hanyu and Researcher Hannah Waterson made a visit to the North East this March to see first-hand the impact of Japanese investment in the region and the associated links that have developed between local authorities and communities in both countries.
We were privileged to see behind the scenes at several of the region’s largest Japanese investors, starting with NSK bearings in Peterlee, County Durham, the first company to locate in the region in the 1970s. We then moved on to Nissan, which has been based in Sunderland since 1984, and now directly employs over 7000 people. As well as receiving a factory tour, we were able to try out the new electric Leaf model. At the automotive parts manufacturer, Calsonic Kansei, we observed how the Japanese process of kaizen (improvement) had been incorporated into the plant, with all staff contributing to the continuous improvement of systems. In addition to the provision of jobs in the area, these companies provide training opportunities for young local people and stimulate further investment in new technologies. They are also involved in community based CSR activities and engage with local authorities and schools to generate interest in manufacturing as a career.
