Scot with a yen for the land

THE Scots have long been generous when it comes to introducing other nations to the noble attributes of alcohol. Whisky, the water of life, now flows into glasses around the globe, and nowhere is it toasted as highly as in Japan.

Yet into the Land of the Rising Sun one intrepid Scot also brought beer. A close examination of the labels on Kirin, one of the nation's most popular brands, will reveal a mythical monster wearing what resembles a rather fetching moustache. The bristles are said to be in tribute to the man who founded not only the Japan Brewery Company, but also did more than almost any other to usher the nation into the modern world: Thomas Blake Glover.

Tonight, in the Caledonian Hall, at the Royal Botanic Garden, Alex Salmond will get hammered. This is not to suggest that the First Minister will over-imbibe, merely that he will join Mr Shin Ebihara, the Japanese Ambassador to Britain, in the traditional goodwill gesture of smashing open a large barrel of sake with a wooden hammer. The cause for celebration is the 150th anniversary of Japan-UK diplomatic relations which will be marked in Scotland with an array of events over the next year that will include tea ceremonies, manga movie screenings and art exhibitions.

Among the cause for celebration is the fact that today there are 65 Japanese companies in Scotland, employing more than 5,000 people; Scottish manufactured exports to Japan top £703 million and last year 26,000 Japanese visitors, mainly tourists, contributed around £15 million to Scottish economy.

So it is only appropriate that among the first to be toasted tonight will be Glover, the man from Fraserburgh who helped to creak open the door. It was James Bruce, eighth earl of Elgin who led the British Mission which concluded the Treaty of Amity and Commerce on 26 August, 1858 in the Imperial City of Edo, now Tokyo, and so ended the nation's isolation from the west which had lasted for 220 years. However, two years later, Glover arrived to make the most of the new commercial relationship.

Although Glover arrived in 1859 and began working with Jardine Matheson buying Japanese green tea, within two years he had set up on his own with the Glover Trading Co., quickly becoming a successful merchant for ships, guns and gunpowder which he sold to a number of rebellious clans. The Scotsman made his base in Nagasaki where he built the first western– style building in Japan and, in 1865, brought the first steam locomotive to the country. His fellow countrymen soon began to benefit from his contacts. Glover had helped to topple the Tokugawa Shogunate, and so was viewed favourably by the new government who made him responsible for commissioning warships for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Four ships in total were then built by the Alexander Hall & Co shipyard in Aberdeen.

It has often been reported that the life of Glover was the basis for Giacomo Puccini's opera, Madame Butterfly, but while it was, indeed, colourful there is no solid supporting evidence other than the fact that in one photograph, his wife, Yamamura Tsura, whom he met in the early 1870s, has a butterfly design on the sleeve of her kimono.

In recognition of Glover's many achievements, including the founding of the Mitsubishi corporation, the Japanese government awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun and, today, a statue of the Scotsman, complete with handlebar moustache, presides over Glover Garden in Nagasaki. Last week the Japan Society of Scotland launched the Thomas Glover Scholarship, with the support of Lord Bruce, the great-great grandson of the Treaty's signer. He explained its importance: "It is an extraordinary fact but 150 years ago when Japan was opened up to the West, Scots were in the vanguard of European arrivals; as engineers, teachers, administrators and businessmen. It is time to rebuild this historic relationship. We think of Scotland as an international trading nation – yet we need to invest in our links with Japan, the world's second largest economy. We need to encourage many more graduates to learn Japanese and gain work experience in Japan. By launching the Thomas Blake Glover Scholarship Fund, the Japan Society of Scotland hopes to draw attention to this great opportunity for young Scots."

It is an opportunity of which our young designers are only too aware. Later this month 50 Scottish companies and designers will fly over for Tokyo Design Week and take part in a special showcase: "From Scotland With Love". The exhibition will include a fashion show from Scottish designers and a number of designer master classes. The Japanese, who import £6.8 billion worth of fashion goods each year, have a particular fondness for Harris Tweed and brands like Pringles of Scotland. As James Sugden, group managing director of Johnstons' Cashmere and chairman of the Scottish Textile Industry Association, explained: "It's an excellent opportunity for Scottish textile and manufacturing companies to work with creative and exciting designers to showcase Scotland's high quality and versatile textiles on a global scale."

Between 1998 and 2005 the value of exports from Scotland to Japan rose by 19.5 per cent while the number of Japanese companies in Scotland has grown. Today Terumo Vascutek make vascular prosthetic grafts while Mizuno manufactures golf clubs. Canon have opened sales and service offices in Livingston, Glasgow and Aberdeen while Eurus Energy are developing wind farms. The fact that Scotland plays host to a Japanese Consulate office is a testament to the important commercial and cultural links between the two nations. "The links between Scotland and Japan are strong," said Mr Kenichi Suganuma, the Consul General of Japan in Edinburgh. "Japanese companies in Scotland employ over 5,000 people, Scottish Fund managers invest in Japanese equities, just last week Aberdeen Asset Management entered into a business and capital alliance with Mitsubishi Trust and Banking Corporation. In financial matters there is a lot of co-operation." In fact the Royal Bank of Scotland has doubled its workforce in Japan to 400.

While the Japanese have a twin fascination for golf and whisky (in 2006 they drank 13 million bottles worth £57 million in shipment value), the cultural fascination is a two-way street. Scots, in recent years, have become converts to the literary magic of the author Haruki Murakami, the visual splendour of manga (Japanese comics), animated films and, of course, sushi.

Kumiko Hatori, who founded the Japanese Association in Glasgow in 2001, teaches sushi classes and recently made 1,000 individual pieces for a Japanese/Pakistani wedding. As she said recently: "We're getting more and more people who're fascinated by what we are doing." The distance between Scotland and Japan may be almost 6,000 miles, but as Ms Hatori said: "Our cultures have connected in many ways."