Newsletter 24 January 2024

We hope the year of the dragon is off to a roaring start for you all!

BLCCJ BOARD 2024-2025

After the AGM 2023 we presented you the 13 new BLCCJ Directors.
They have amongst themselves elected a President, 2 Vice Presidents, a Treasurer and a Secretary General.

Fabrice Tilot (Triple-A Management Co., Ltd.) – BLCCJ President
Kazumasa Imoto (Solvay Special Chem Japan, Ltd.) – BLCCJ Vice President
Frederic Lucron (Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk) – BLCCJ Vice President
Samuel Blondel (Tiffany & Co.) – BLCCJ Treasurer
Kevin Dethoor (Platinum Games Inc.) – BLCCJ Secretary-General
Jo Anseeuw (Materialise Japan) – BLCCJ Director
Jean-Pierre Bernardino (Puratos Japan Co., Ltd.) – BLCCJ Director
Jerome Chouchan (Orchid Inc. (Godiva Japan Inc.)) – BLCCJ Director
Hironori Kato (Barco Co., Ltd.) – BLCCJ Director
Kazuma Kato (Kamiyacho International Law Office) – BLCCJ Director
Maxim Luxen (Port Cities Japan) – BLCCJ Director
Sandrine Monette (Lemon Boost) – BLCCJ Director
Laurent Swinnen (Industrial Partnership Promotion Office) – BLCCJ Director

BLCCJ EVENTS

The BLCCJ already wrapped up 2 events, and we are happy to announce many more:

–New Year Party 2024: don’t miss our annual gathering with the new Board of Directors, guests from both embassies, members and friends!
Tuesday 6 February, from 18:30 @ Le Petit Tonneau Toranomon

–Japan’s Path Forward: Economical and Political Outlook 2024: Thursday 8 February, 18:00-20:00 @ CCIFJ event space
Joint event with the French, Spanish and Swedish chambers

–8th Inter-Chamber Winter Networking: Saturday 17 February @ Okushiga Kogen, Nagano
Joint chamber event led by the Austrian chamber

–Towards Gender Equality and Women Empowerment: Insights from the GEAC 2023 Report: Wednesday 21 February, 18:45-20:30 @ CCIFJ event space
Joint event with the French, Dutch, Irish and Spanish chambers

–February beer gathering: Monday 19 February, from 19:00 @ l’abreuvoir
We will be welcomed by new member and owner Gregory Van Passel

–Meet the new BLCCJ Members: Wednesday 28 February, 18:30-19:30 @ Zoom
Presenting Azelis Japan (Hirotaka Kawano), Scania Japan (Alain Soudan) and Supa Ninki LLC. (Daniel Kwintner)

-Save the date! Joint Golf Tournament: Tuesday 28 May @ Tako CC

-Save the date! Gala 2024: Friday 22 November @ Conrad Tokyo

BLCCJ is also an official supporter of the:

–11th Asia Offshore Wind Day: 27 February @ Ritz Carlton Tokyo

–Smart Manufacturing Summit 2024: 13-15 March @ Aichi Sky Expo

If any BLCCJ company is interested to join one of these events, please contact our office.

BLCCJ MEMBER NEWS

-Former BLCCJ Vice President (and still member) Laurent Depus has been appointed President of the European Business Council as of 1 January 2024.
We wish him all the best in this new role!

-The BLCCJ is happy to welcome 2 new individual members to our network:

1) Mr. Abdel El Madrari
Abdel is Head of Product Portfolio management, Product Marketing & Fuso Value Parts @ Daimler Truck Asia – Mitsubishi Fuso

2) Mr. Vincent Brasseur
Vincent will start a Belgian food truck in Japan, and participate in the upcoming Niku Fes 2024 during Golden Week in Odaiba.

We hope to present both gentlemen to you soon!

-BLCCJ member companies Aqua Plannet and Grand Place are looking for staff for their shops.
Job offer Aqua Plannet
Job offer Grand Place

OTHER NEWS

On 4 March 2024, the EU Delegation to Japan is organising an event to mark the 5th anniversary of the EU-Japan EPA implementation.
Companies that are interested in exhibiting their products/services during the event, are invited to contact the event organisers (see attachment).
Green tech companies would be particularly welcome according to the Delegation.

A few NEWS HEADLINES of the past days

–Belgium holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from 1 January until 30 June 2024

-Japan agency receives data on Moon explorer landing (Kyodo News, Jan. 22)

-Stock market today: Asian stocks gain after Wall St’s latest record. Bank of Japan keeps policy lax (The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 23)

-Tokyo Stock Exchange to require top-tier listed firms to make disclosures in English (Mainichi Japan, Jan. 22)

-Japan trade deficit halves to 9.3 trillion yen in 2023 on record exports (Kyodo News, Jan. 24)

-Japan’s convenience store sales rise 4.1% to record high in 2023 (Mainichi Japan, Jan. 22)

-Japan’s supermarket sales grow 2.4% in 2023 on price hikes (Mainichi Japan, Jan. 23)

-Japan’s 2023 consumer prices rise at fastest pace in 4 decades (NHK World – Japan, Jan. 19)

-Japan bankruptcies surge in 2023 amid labor shortage, inflation (Kyodo News, Jan. 15)

-Japan set to drop to 4th largest economy after Germany (The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 16)

-Foreign visitors to Japan in 2023 jump over sixfold to 25.07 mil. (Kyodo News, Jan. 18)

We hope to welcome you soon at one of our events.
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