Japan in Shock about the United Kingdom Leaving the European Union: Urgent Meeting Held

Japan in Shock about the United Kingdom Leaving the European Union: Urgent Meeting Held

Noriko Watanabe and Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

The government of Japan under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held an important meeting to discuss the ramifications of the United Kingdom (UK) leaving the European Union (EU). This is based on financial uncertainty, the role of Japanese investment and companies in the UK, volatility impacting on the bourse of Japan, – and other important areas in relation to leaving the EU.

Equally important, it remains to be seen how the EU will respond to events impacting on the UK. After all, Northern Ireland and Wales received many favorable investments and projects from the EU. Likewise, regions like Cornwall and major cities like London and Manchester, for completely different reasons, are alarmed by the possible consequences that will arise once the EU takes firmer action. At the same time, nobody knows the future political ramifications in relation to Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Not surprisingly, Abe is keen to take measures to steady the ship until normality returns and the real implications of the UK leaving the EU are fully known. Therefore, leading individuals at the Bank of Japan met government officials today in order to discuss the crisis.

The leader of Japan stressed, “The Tokyo market is going to open. We should take all possible measures to prevent negative impacts on Japan’s real economy and the nation’s small and midsize companies. It is important for all G-7 countries to take concerted action to continuously send out messages that they will intend to exert their utmost efforts to stabilize the markets.”

Market liquidity is worrying Abe and other major political and business leaders. Given this reality, the prime minister urged the Bank of Japan to work closely with other leading G-7 nations. Therefore, Abe wants the Bank of Japan to listen and liaise with other powerful central banks.

Indeed, the concern in Japan is extremely real and this can be seen by the request of Japan for Britain to listen to Japanese business companies. This is based on over one thousand companies from Japan trading in the UK. After all, the full ramifications of the UK leaving the EU remains unknown and this is causing alarm. The vacuum that is currently created, therefore, rightly concerns Japan and this equally applies to long-term investment projects that may be relocated to various EU nations.