3
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have expected was done for us.
McGhie was co-host with me for a party which went very well and was most useful. Farrar and his staff did a lot for us. Fred Warner gave us a fascinating talk, which to my great regret but for perhaps forgivable reasons was very poorly attended. Incidentally I heard him make a short speech at a Japanese party given by the new British Market Council which was a model of its kind.
6. We were all the more grateful for the help we received in Tokyo since it was obvious that the commercial side of the Embassy had had a real pounding lately. This made me feel remorseful at having given them so much work for a Mission which
so much less important than many of their recent visitors. One thing which did surprise me was the absence of a Commercial Counsellor. McGhie obviously had a great deal of work on the economic side of his job. I would have thought that in present circumstances the Commercial Department at Tokyo should have its own Head under the Minister (Economic & Commercial) and that the responsibilities of the job fully warranted a Counsellor's post. If no additional post is at present possible, a promotion sur place would, I would venture to think, be well earned.
7. We had a full working day at Osaka, but I am sorry that I really have no impression of the Consulate General. I think that something may have gone wrong over our visit there.
It was perhaps our fault for not suggesting anything beyond a call at the Consulate General and at the Chamber of Commerce. I had taken it for granted that the Consulate General would want to make some use of our visit in support of their export promotion effort generally. The Acting Consul General went away on store promotion business the day we got to Osaka and the Information Officer, whom I had hoped to see in his absence, was otherwise engaged all next day. I was hospitably received at the Consulate General by Owen but I was a little disappointed that we could not be of more use there. It was doubtless a question of priorities for hard pressed people. Luckily, thanks to the introduction of a Burmese member of our Mission we had in Osaka one of the very best things in our visit to Japan, a meeting with senior members of the huge Company Matsushita Electric. It emerged that they are thinking seriously of investing in production in the U.K. We made warmly encouraging noises I trust correctly.
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8. We had three working days in Hong Kong where Tom Aston and his staff really did us proud. He too had obviously been deluged with visitors and he had another Mission on his hands at the same time as ours. He looked very tired at times and I was horrified to hear that he virtually never gets a proper day off.
Nevertheless
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