politics

Japan needs to welcome foreign investment, UK minister says

18 Comments

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18 Comments
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The difference between uk and japan way of business is:

one concentrates on cutting costs

the other concentrates on delivery or product, function and the end use/service/customer experience.

In one country stuff works. In the other its cheap to source, but importantly only for the supplier as they will still slap a large markup - so essentially customer gets expensive and cra*PPy product/service.

If you want good service and latest products and higher standard of living, where are you going to live? Aahh but the the uk is way more casual and you dont have to work so hard so sometimes it doesnt matter if stuff doest work, food is rubbish, service was terrible, couldn't get there on time anyway, etc.

I'm sure all of that would be lost on mandleson. I suspect the Japanese govt or any Japanese with uk experience will already politely know that ( with out of course characteristically telling mandy that to his face)

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How could Japan benefit from the uk? the uk benefits from Japan because it has a a lot to learn from Japan.

However regardless of the money flow from Japan, the benefit is usually for the locals in the case of the uk. The uk is quite restrictive and expensive on Japanese coming over.

I think Japan should be a bit careful ( as it is)... it could be dreadful for Japanese people if the uk approach of business was used to run many of Japan's companies... a real step backwards... shall we start with the trains, cost cutting sh*t infrastructure and service, hotels, etc, etc

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Only through a pigs eye

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okay im british and i think japan has it right. Okay as foreigners we think japan should open up and let in our investments and companies. But look at the UK we sold everything off to other countries. We dont own our own electric / gas or telecom companies. We have no industry anymore. Look at japan, they dominate. They have a ton of industry that supplies the world, they own all their power companies. If anything we should have taken a leaf out of their book and protected what was ours rather than flog it off to the highest bidder for a quick buck. Good on japan for protecting it self from greedy arsed foreigners. I wished we had done the same. And Mandelson is an unelected arse who is only interested in making money not protecting the rights of britain and british people or workers.

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The problem with Japan welcoming more direct foreign investment is that it often comes along with actual foreigners. They can't go messing up the "wa" now can they?

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OneforAll

Mandelson speaks openly and honestly.

Mandelson and honesty are two words you don't often see in the same sentence.

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""OK world out there you buy our Japanese exports & we will return the profits to Japan & invest it appropriately for you, now leave us the hell alone, thank you for buy Japan goods!""

I just want to congratulate GW for his post. It is so funny !!! I know plenty of Japanese behaving like this !!!

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Japanese foreign investment for the most part works like this.

""OK world out there you buy our Japanese exports & we will return the profits to Japan & invest it appropriately for you, now leave us the hell alone, thank you for buy Japan goods!""

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Japan needs US/UK bashing, so does US/UK, they need Japan bashing.

Both sides learn more via this way.

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Japan needs to welcome foreigners to begin with. Then they can start thinking about investment.

Until the negativity that surrounds foreigners in Japan is at least reduced, its unlikely any major company is going to trust the gaijin with their Okaaaaane!

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this article could have originally been written in 1985...the fact that its still relevant tells you something about the japanese

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yeah - they want your money but not much else.

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"If you want to do business here, you have to learn the language. If you do not learn the language, then stay in your own country. Japanese that go over seas and invest, learn the languages of the host country and everything else about it."

the language is not a problem. The issue is protectionism. The language issue is trivial. When foriegn companies set-up operations here, the majority of hires are local with only top management being expats.

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Japan isn't interested in openness, only protectionism...

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Mandy can say what he like - he's on the way out. The next bunch will be so xenophobic they will probably never come to Japan.

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Mandelson speaks openly and honestly. The EU will take steps to keep things honest. They can build their own cars you know. And everything else. They are just asking for the same openness that they give. The US may be thinking the same things. Friends help each other and this is the way it will go. I wonder how open the Chinese are?

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What's the problem, he can go out and buy a few Toyota shares, a bit of Nikkei 225.

No need to get greedy and start buying whole companies now, Gordon Gekko.

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If you want to do business here, you have to learn the language. If you do not learn the language, then stay in your own country. Japanese that go over seas and invest, learn the languages of the host country and everything else about it.

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