Irish firms ‘missing huge opportunities in Japan’

IRISH companies are not doing enough to penetrate the huge Japanese market, according to the country’s ambassador to Ireland, Toshinao Urabe.

While some companies, like Glen Dimplex, were doing exceptionally well in Japan, there were more opportunities there, he said.

“Irish companies have tended to concentrate predominately on Europe and the US but some are now looking to Asia. That is a good thing but I feel that many more are not making the effort to break into the Japanese market.”

However, Mr Urabe said he greatly admired the hard work of the Irish people, which has seen Ireland prosper in recent years.

Less than a year in Ireland as ambassador, Mr Urabe is already a committed hibernophile. “I like Irish music, I enjoyed Riverdance and I play golf and have played in Royal Dublin, Portmarnock and Ballybunion. I am having a terrific time here.”

He said his mission was to cement the already good relationship between the two countries, which last year celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations.

“We have a lot in common. We are both island nations and share a history of want.

“Before the second world war, many Japanese went to South America in particular because we could not feed ourselves. In Brazil, to this day, you will still find many people of Japanese extraction.

“We also share similar musical tastes, a love of culture and there are similarities in our economies. Even though the Japanese economy is much larger, it is an open one, like Ireland. Like you, we have no major natural resources, so we have to import food and fuel. Neither are we a military power any longer, relying on the strength of our economy to bring prosperity to our people.”

Turning to the global financial crisis, Mr Urabe said that only a concerted effort by all major nations could effectively tackle it and it would take time.

“There will be no quick fix and no nation can do it alone,” said Mr Urabe, noting that leaders from 20 major economies are meeting in Washington at the weekend to examine ways of tacking the worldwide recession.

“The G20 meetings will, I think, be a meeting of minds. This new situation is a result of globalisation and, therefore, a concerted effort is needed to solve it. The problem is that nobody really knows what lies ahead. Even banks are now reluctant to lend to other banks. It will take some time to sort it out.”

However, he said he was confident in the resilience of the Japanese economy. “We make products that people need, sophisticated products like hybrids. We have the technology, the capital and the management know-how, so I think we will get through this.”

Mr Urabe will attend a conference in UCC today exploring the rise of Asia and its challenge for Europe.