Business Memories of Japan
Moto Sugiura, the UK Club's Representative in Japan, with his family June 2010 I first became involved in Japan in 1972, when as a junior executive in Syndicate 1, I was called upon to look after visitors from our correspondents, Dodwell, Naga Kotsuru and Moto Sugiura. I took them, as was recommended, to a Japanese restaurant, Miyako, the first that I had ever been into in London. There I was introduced to sushi and the many other delights of Japanese cuisine. That was the start of a long love affair with Japan, which continues to this day. But it's not only built around friends and food, although both are important. Japan has also provided a vast amount of intellectual stimulation. I remember one of my first cases in the Syndicate was a Japanese tanker collision in 1974, just after the Arab Israeli war and the closure of the Suez Canal. The value of tankers soared overnight, and the owners of the "DAUPHINE" found that their ship was seriously under-insured...