LATEST UK–JAPAN REPORTS
The British Council Japan is campaigning for its test to be included in the Japanese government’s plans to boost the nation’s English speaking ability, the Mainichi Shimbun reported on 19 July. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is considering introducing compulsory English language tests for entry to, and graduation from, public universities. The party is leaning towards major use of the US-based Test of English as a Foreign Language examination system. However the British Council, which promotes British culture and the English language across the world, feels students should be offered the option of taking the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test—the world’s most widely used Englishlanguage proficiency exam for higher education and migration, according to the British Council. About 4,000 Japanese students each year attend British universities and about 20,000 Japanese took IELTS tests last year.
© MAT WRIGHT
British Council Eyes English Test Inclusion
Leaders in Foreign Investment Japanese and US firms led the FY2012 increase in foreign investment into the UK, according to a report issued by the UK government on 24 July. As the UK attempts to revive its economy, the government has cut corporate tax rates to attract foreign firms. In addition, it has given more resources to UKTI, the organisation that promotes UK trade and investment overseas.
According to the report, financial services, advanced manufacturing and creative sectors attracted most of the investment. And, it states, the number of foreign investment projects started during the period rose almost 11% year-on-year to 1,559. While the document puts no monetary value on the projects, it does say that they had created 60,000 jobs and protected a further 110,000.
Researchers Make Discovery International research—including some from the UK and Japan—has confirmed that subatomic particles, called neutrinos, have a previously unseen identityshifting property, The Daily Mail reported on 19 July. The findings are further confirmation of Japan’s T2K neutrino experiment. This has shown that neutrinos oscillate in three ways, not just two, as previously had been thought. It is believed that this may, one day,
help scientists explain how all the antimatter has disappeared from the universe, leaving only matter. In 2011, the T2K collaboration— comprising 56 institutes in 11 countries— announced the first indication that there is a third way of oscillation. Now with 3.5 times more data available and a 7.5 sigma level of significance, the behaviour has been established firmly and so can be termed a discovery.
Update: Missing Tokyo Expat A missing British businessman appears to have left Japan—after withdrawing £40,000 of his firm’s money, The Times reported on 20 July. Police have stopped searching for 41-year-old Tokyo resident Garin Dart, as they believe he has left the country. Dart’s event management firm, Bluesilver, organised parties and fundraising events
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for some of the city’s biggest foreign firms, including banks, law firms and airlines. He had recently established an office in Hong Kong and had set up the Foreign Volunteers Japan network to help communities in north-eastern Japan that had been devastated by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Abenomics Boosts Property Deals During the first half of 2013, the number of property transactions rose 50% in Japan, but only 4% in the UK, according to a report by global real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. released on 17 July. Sales of offices, warehouses and retail space in Japan totalled $20.9bn for the first six months—the highest figure in five years. Australia saw a year-on-year sales increase of 10%, and Germany of 43%, while China saw a 20% drop in sales. Abenomics, it is believed, has helped boost property transactions in Japan.
Milton Keynes to Get Race Base Honda Motor Company, Ltd plans to build a European racing operations base in the UK, ahead of its 2015 return to Formula One racing, the Straits Times reported on 15 July. The automaker will return to the sport as an engine supplier to British team McLaren, in a bid to revive their championship-winning partnership after having pulled out in 2008 to cut costs during the economic downturn. The carmaker plans to build a new facility in Milton Keynes. There it will rebuild and maintain the power units developed at Honda’s research and development centre in Japan. A recent change in F1 rules that promotes the use of environmentally friendlier turbo engines has helped their comeback decision. Honda can readily transfer its technology to commercial vehicles.