Manchester marks 150 years of Japan relations

MANCHESTER is marking 150 years of diplomatic and business relations with Japan at an evening reception for the Japanese Embassy’s minister for economic affairs.

Manchester is now home to around 40 Japanese-owned companies and tonight’s reception will celebrate the strength of business and investment links between Japan and the Manchester city region.

Hiroshi Oka, minister for economic affairs at the Embassy of Japan, will speak at the event alongside the Lord Mayor of Manchester and Andrew Clare from Napthens Solicitors.

Delegates will also be welcomed by Peter Heginbotham, honorary consul for Japan in Manchester, and a number of senior representatives from Manchester’s Japanese business community set to attend.

The event, being held at HSBC in Spinningfields, forms part of the Japan-UK 150 series of events that have been running since last August to mark the anniversary of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1858.

Colin Sinclair, chief executive of MIDAS, Manchester’s inward investment agency, said: “MIDAS are delighted to support this landmark event celebrating the important links between Manchester, UK and Japan. The continued investment that Manchester has seen from Japanese firms, supplying cutting-edge innovations, has undoubtedly been instrumental to the growth of Manchester’s knowledge-based economy.

“The fact that the city region is now home to over 1,200 innovative foreign-owned companies bears testament to Manchester’s strength as a world-class location for business.”