Record Exports for Scots Cloth Firms
Manchester City Football Club will join forces with carmaker Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. to take advantage of the team’s growing popularity, Mancunian Matters reported on 12 June. The deal will see the oldest car manufacturer in Japan become the English Premier team’s official automotive partner in Indonesia next season—the first football club to do so in Daihatsu’s 106-year history. In summer, and as part of the club’s South-East Asian tour, City players will travel to Indonesia and film a TV advert for the motor firm.
LONDON PRESS SERVICE
Textile firms north of the border have secured record sales of £1.3mn in Japan over the past year, after adopting a new strategy to increase business in the Far East, the London Press Service reported on 2 April. The partnership among Scottish Development International, the Scottish government, Scottish Enterprise, and the Highlands and Islands Enterprise focuses on working with key individuals with influence and retailers in Asia to increase opportunities for firms in Scotland. The strategy has already proved successful. A Scottish fair at the Hankyu Hanshin Department Store, Inc. in November last year saw sales of £540,000 for the firms involved. Meanwhile, six firms—including Harris Tweed Hebrides— successfully showcased their products on a Japanese TV channel last December.
TV Show Spotlights Popular Lake District
Sandwich Index’s Priciest Cities Tokyo is the seventh most expensive city in the world while London is in eighth position, according to a survey for holidaymakers conducted by Hotels.com and released on 13 June. The Club Sandwich Index, now in its second year, uses the most common item— the club sandwich—on hotel menus around the world as an affordability barometer for holidaymakers. Geneva took the top spot as the most expensive city in the world in which to order the sandwich. The average price there
Football Team Sign Global Deal
is £19.96. The leading provider of hotel accommodation found that the same item costs, on average, the equivalent of £13.57 in Tokyo and £13.53 in London. New Delhi remained the cheapest destination in which to buy the sandwich (£5.97). The average price is calculated from actual prices paid by guests for the snack in 30 hotels—in five, four and three star categories—either in the capital or an important tourist city of the country being considered. In all, 840 hotels worldwide were surveyed.
Fashion Brand’s 30th Anniversary
Unusual Board to Be Displayed in Kent
A designer is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the opening of her first shop in Japan, the Daily Telegraph reported on 7 June. Today there are 94 Margaret Howell stores across Japan, nine having opened in the past year, and others scheduled to do so later in the year. In the UK, the brand has just four stores and one outlet. The designer attributes the brand’s success here to a combination of consistently highquality design and fabrics. Not only is Japan the third-most important market for the British fashion industry, but it is also often the starting point for the expansion of British brands in Asia.
Chiddingstone Castle in Kent is to exhibit a shogi board as part of its celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the establishment of British trade relations with Japan, Kent News reported on 6 June. Sets for playing shogi—a Japanese game similar to chess—traditionally have had pieces and the board made of wood, while more luxurious sets had lacquered boards, decorated with gold. However, the board to be exhibited in Kent—on loan from the Horniman Museum in London—is made of Japanese Kutani porcelain and is thought to date from the 19th century.
The Lake District is to be the focus of an episode of the Tabi Salad TV programme, broadcast to more than 9.6mn viewers in Japan, The Westmoorland Gazette reported on 14 June. The visit reflects an increased interest in the area, which has long been a popular destination for Japanese tourists due to their interest in the Beatrix Potter books. The area is the second-most popular destination in the UK for Japanese tourists.
Man Sues Travel Agency A man from Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, who believes he was abandoned by his tour guide at Heathrow Airport, is suing Hankyu Travel (Osaka), the Japan Daily Press reported on 7 June. The man, who speaks very little English, is seeking ¥4mn from the travel agency for the pain and suffering he claims he endured after being left alone in a strange place. There is a strict luggage screening policy at the airport and, it seems, the tourist missed his flight following his random selection to have his luggage inspected. Unable to find his tour guide he missed boarding his flight, and was left behind. The man’s lawyers believe the tour guide should have remained in the airport to help the passenger.
JULY 2013 | BCCJ ACUMEN | 9