Theresa May's Japan trip may have a major tech impact

1,000 companies and 140,000 jobs hang on the Prime Minister's high-wire balancing act in Tokyo.

The success or otherwise of the British Prime Minister's first trip to Japan may have far-reaching technology implications for the UK, and for British business relationships with Japanese providers.

As Theresa May begins day two of her three-day visit to Japan, the intention is to cement the UK's position as Japan's "strongest security partner in Europe", according to the Foreign Office.

The trip includes a bilateral summit and private dinner with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with both also addressing the UK-Japan Business Forum in Tokyo.

At a joint press conference this morning, Abe said that it is essential that there is a "smooth and successful" Brexit, with a level of transparency to ensure minimal impact on Japanese enterprises.

But his words will have real impact for many: Japan is the world's third largest economy, and second only to the US in inward investment to the UK.

Japanese companies currently invest more than £40 billion in the UK, while over 1,000 Japanese providers, including diversified tech giants such as Honda, Hitachi, Fujitsu, and Sony, employ over 140,000 people in Britain.

SoftBank is among several enterprises, including Nissan and Toyota, to commit to long-term investment in the UK post-Brexit, but the rest would appear to be up for grabs.

May said that she "would be listening" to Japanese companies, and added the UK and Japan are "perfect partners for the future", as both nations seek to build on their strong economic, trade, security and defence ties.

However, those are currently rooted in the UK's membership of the EU and its close friendship with the US - a fact acknowledged by Abe at the press conference, when he described the UK as "the gateway to Europe".

Asked about Japan's current relationship with Britain, he used an interesting analogy. He said that he had taken May to a tea ceremony, at which the cup was made in the UK. This symbolised their friendship, he said.

So the situation was porcelain-fragile when May landed in Japan yesterday, when she said, "When we leave the European Union, there's obviously a number of trade deals that the EU has with other countries and we are looking the possibility of those being able to be brought over into trade deals with the United Kingdom.

"What Japanese businesses and other businesses have asked us to look at is this issue of the certainty going forward of not having a cliff edge."

May's position in Tokyo, then, seems increasingly at odds with her own policy statements to date, which have talked about a hard Brexit and a clean cut with Europe. Both of those aims now appear to be completely nworkable as she opens talks with non-EU trading partners, which regard the UK's bridgehead position between the EU and the US as essential.

LibDem leader Vince Cable said, "This staggering statement by the government adds a whole new level of absurdity to their negotiating strategy. It is now saying that the best trade deal we can possibly hope for with Japan post-Brexit is the trade deal we already have as a member of the EU."

Indeed, and tens of thousands of technology jobs would appear to depend on it.

• Another key discussion point for May and Abe are the challenges of an ageing society in both countries, where robotics and autonomous systems (RAS) are proposed as being part of the future solution in health and social care. At present, Japan's investment of more than £160bn in RAS far outweighs the UK's, which currently totals roughly £300m over the next 10 years.