ABSTRACT
IN MY MEMOIR Japan and Back and Places Elsewhere (Global Oriental, 1998) I stressed the importance placed on export promotion especially from the mid-1960s onwards. The British economy was suffering from serious problems and the balance of payments was severely strained. Britain had to increase its exports. The Japanese economy, following Prime Minister Ikeda's call to ‘double the national income’, was growing fast and following Japan's accession to GATT and OECD the Japanese market was beginning, even if only gradually, to open up to foreign imports; but high tariffs on some goods, continuing quota restrictions and various non-tariff barriers made Japan seem to many British exporters an unattractive target.
