15 Whitehall office
Staff changes
JLGC London has seen a few more staff changes since last spring. Karine Tollari has left JLGC after just over two years of working on a broad range of projects across the office, taking on responsibility and leading the shift online for our UK audience organising our annual JLGC Seminar and the virtual careers event for JET Programme alumni returning to the UK after working in Japanese schools and local government.
Fiona Stamp joined the office in April, after several years working in Fukushima on the JET Programme, followed by employment working in the international team at Fukushima City Hall.
Many thanks to Karine for her sterling work and huge input at JLGC and best of luck in your future career. Welcome also to Fiona, we’re happy to have you on the team!
Niigata Prefecture visit
JLGC staff were happy to support colleagues from our local government member organisation Niigata Prefecture. The Vice Governor and his team travelled to London to investigate potential marketing opportunities at a range of venues as well as discussions with the Japanese Ambassador and presentations from colleagues at JETRO on the current market conditions for saké and Japanese restaurants in the UK. Niigata Prefecture is ramping up its support for local businesses exporting to the UK and seeking to take advantage of market opportunities, with ever-increasing demand for Japanese food and drink products.
Many thanks to colleagues at Japan Centre, JETRO and Japan House London for hosting on the day and the warm welcome.
OECD Local Development Forum, Cork
JLGC colleagues travelled to Cork in Ireland to take part in the OECD’s Local Development Forum 15-17 June after receiving an invitation to join the event. Colleagues joined in the discussions on how to improve the quality of local jobs, and ensure that more people have the right skills to fill them, particularly in light of the digital and green transitions. Other topics discussed included leveraging a wider range of community assets for local development, such as the social economy and culture as well as how to share economic opportunities and inclusion to create places where all residents thrive. Many thanks to OECD colleagues for the invitation and hosting us in Cork.
Research and support
JLGC continues to support the international activities and research requests from various local governments in Japan. In recent months, several commissions have included:
- tech promotion and ecosystem policies of Copenhagen
- local councillors’ salaries and pensions in the UK and Sweden
- hybrid proceedings and remote voting among UK legislatures and local councils
- intercultural policy and best practice in Oslo
- online and social media campaigns around child product safety
- business rates reform
LGA Conference 2022 Harrogate
JLGC colleagues were delighted to be able to take part in the LGA Conference this year, despite the challenges of navigating the UK’s sometimes unreliable rail network to North Yorkshire. It was a great opportunity to take part in local government plenaries and see what the LGA is focusing on in 2022, get a better understanding of the issues facing the regions as well as tour the exhibition and see what the public sector is doing in a post-lockdown world.
Ms Moeko Nakamura, seconded from Tokyo Metropolitan Government and who attended, commented “At the keynote speech, LGA Chair Cllr Jamieson congratulated their first in-person meeting in two years, described the many challenges faced by local governments in the UK over the past two years, from responding to the pandemic to supporting people from Ukraine, and paid tribute to the impact on local governments and the work of their staff. Something I thought impressive was that LGA have launched their new ‘Debate Not Hate’ campaign, to stop abuse against councillors. They said seven out of ten local council members have experienced abuse or threats online or in person, and I was surprised because I haven’t heard of any discussions related to these problems in Japan.
Also, I joined a workshop where they discussed councils’ role of supporting arrivals from Ukraine. The Mayor of Mykolaiv in Ukraine participated online, and had discussions with the Minister of Refugees on the disasters they face now in Ukraine over the mental and physical support needed by councils for people who arrived in the UK.
Plus, the workshop about discussing the future of the high street was interesting as well. Staff from Scarborough Borough Council shared how they are tackling the impact of the pandemic and the increasing cost of living. Since the pandemic, the local residents have become more involved in the community than ever before, and Scarborough is taking advantage of its unique characteristics to attract people and money to the area by inviting remote workers to stay and work locally. The measures that they are taking advantage of this situation and using it as an opportunity to revitalise the local community was impressive.”
Online seminars
In addition to its annual JLGC Seminar which, once again, took place online on 15 February on the topic of Local Food Strategy in Japan and the UK, [link to video of the event] JLGC also continues holding its Online Seminar Series. These online talks held in Japanese are designed to give local government colleagues in Japan an insight into public policy and good practices in the countries within JLGC London’s purview (which includes the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Scandinavia).
The topics for JLGC’s recent seminars include “Supporting producers and companies in Europe by promoting the attractions of Japan’s region, leveraging Japan’s food and travel”, “The essence of SDGs and actions by local governments: 8 years until 2030, what local governments can do for the local community and the future” and “Learning from the Netherlands, creating a circular economy throughout regions”, all of which can be seen on our website here (Japanese only).
PR activity update
Recent PR support activities across our website and social media have included promoting a range of regional manga and anime competitions, for which the global audience is increasing while at the same time becoming a popular tool for destination marketing regions of Japan. Other PR support has seen promoting online registrations for the Kanazawa Marathon 2022 Online, as well as the Cycling Shimanami 2022 event, and regular updates from Tokyo Metropolitan Government WHAT’S UP newsletter.
Various updates from all over Japan can be seen on our regularly updated blog as well as on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, follow us now to get the updates as they come through.
