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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Japan's foreign ministry has taken the unusual step of publishing a very public Message to the United Kingdom and the European Union (PDF) in which it outlines how it wants Brexit to happen in order to protect the substantial investments its businesses have made in Europe and especially in the United Kingdom.

The document opens by stating that "Uncertainty is a major concern for an economy", before going on to explain that Japanese businesses that have chosen to make major investments in the UK are worried about what Brexit will mean.

"What Japanese businesses in Europe most wish to avoid is the situation in which that they are unable to discern clearly the way the Brexit negotiations are going, only grasping the whole picture at the last minute." The document therefore asks that the UK and the European Union negotiate transparently, provide lots of information about ongoing negotiations and offer decent advance warnings of any changes. Japan also hopes, fervently, that certain things don't change between Blighty and its continental pals.

High on that list is "maintaining the current level of information protection and the free transfer of data." [...] Japan also wants uniform intellectual property rights across the EU and UK and for Japanese businesses based in the UK to be able to employ Europeans. And vice-versa.

Original Submission